in fabulous history, the daughter of Icarus, married Ulysses, by whom she had Telemachus. During the absence of Ulysses, who was gone to the siege of Troy, and who staid 20 years from his dominions, several princes, charmed with Penelope's beauty, told her that Ulysses was dead, offered to marry her, and pressed her to declare in their favour. She promised compliance on condition they would give her time to finish a piece of tapestry she was weaving; but at the same time she undid in the night what she had done in the day, and by this artifice eluded their importunity till Ulysses's return.

ornithology: A genus of birds of the order of gallinae, the characters of which are: The beak is bare at the base; the head is covered with feathers; the neck is quite bare; the tail consists of twelve principal feathers; and the feet are for the most part bare. Linnaeus, in the Systema Naturae, enumerates six species. 1. Meleagris satyrus, or horned pheasant. Latham calls it the horned turkey. This species is larger than a fowl, and smaller than a turkey. The colour of the bill is brown; the nostrils, forehead, and space round the eyes, are covered with slender black hairy feathers; the top of the head is red. Behind each eye there is a fleshy callous blue substance like a horn, which turns backward. On the fore-part of the neck and throat, there is a loose flap of a fine Synopis blue colour, marked with orange spots, the lower part of which is beset with a few hairs; down the middle it is somewhat looser than on the sides, being wrinkled. The breast and upper part of the back are of a full red colour. The neck and breast are inclined to yellow. The other parts of the plumage and tail are of a rufous brown, marked all over with white spots, encompassed with black. The legs are somewhat white, and furnished with a spur behind each. A head of this bird, Mr Latham tells us, was sent to Dr Mead from Bengal, together with a drawing of the bird, which was called napaul-pheasant. It is a native of Bengal.

2. The meleagris cristata, called by Ray penelope jacu-peme, and by Edwards the guan, or quan, is about the size of a fowl, being about two feet five inches long.—The bill is two inches long, and of a black colour; the irides are of a dirty orange colour; the sides of the head are covered with a naked purplish blue skin, in which the eyes are placed: beneath the throat, for an inch and a half, the skin is loose, of a fine red colour, and covered only with a few hairs. The top of the head is furnished with long feathers, which the bird can erect as a crest at pleasure; the general colour of the plumage is brownish black, glossed over with copper in some lights; but the wing coverts have a greenish and violet gloss. The quills mostly incline to a purple colour; the fore-part of the neck, breast, and belly, are marked with white spots; the thighs, under tail coverts, and the tail itself, are brownish black; the legs are red; the claws black. Some of these birds have little or no crest, and are thence supposed to be females.—They inhabit Brazil and Guiana, where they are often made tame. They frequently make a noise not unlike the word jacu. Their flesh is much esteemed.

3. Crax Cumanensis, called by Latham, &c. jacou. It is bigger than a common fowl. The bill is black; the head feathers are long, pointed, and form a crest, which can be erected at pleasure. The irides are of a pale rufous colour; the space round the eyes is naked, similar to that of a turkey. It has also a naked membrane, or kind of wattle, of a dull black colour.—The blue skin comes forward on the bill, but is not liable to change colour like that of the turkey. The plumage has not much variation; it is chiefly brown, with some white markings on the neck, breast, wing coverts, and belly; the tail is composed of twelve feathers, pretty long, and even at the end; the legs are red. This species inhabits Cayenne, but is a very rare bird, being met with only in the inner parts, or about the Amazon country, though in much greater plenty up the river Oyapoc, especially towards Camourpi; and indeed those which are seen at Cayenne are mostly tame ones, for it is a familiar bird, and will breed in that state, and mix with other poultry. It makes the nest on the ground, and hatches the young there, but is at other times mostly seen on trees. It frequently erects the crest, when pleased, or taken notice of, and likewise spreads the tail upright like a fan, in the manner of the turkey. It has two kinds of cry; one like Penelope, that of a young turkey, the other lower and more plaintive; the first of these is thought by the Indians to express the word couvouvoit, the other yacou.

4. The pipile, or, as it is called, crax pipile, is black in the belly, and the back brown stained with black. The flesh on the neck is of a green colour. It is about the bigness of the former, and has a hissing noise.—The head is partly black and partly white, and is adorned with a short crest. The space about the eyes, which are black, is white; the feet are red. It inhabits Guiana.

5. The marail is about the size of a fowl, and shaped somewhat like it. The bill and irides are blackish; the space round the eyes is bare, and of a pale red; the chin, throat, and fore-part of the neck, are scarcely covered with feathers; but the throat itself is bare, and the membrane elongated to half an inch or more; both this and the skin round the eyes change colour, and become deeper and thicker when the bird is irritated. The head feathers are longish, so as to appear like a crest when raised up, which the bird often does when agitated; at which time it also erects those of the whole body, and so disfigures itself as to be scarce known: the general colour of the plumage is a greenish black; the fore part of the neck is tipped with white; the wings are short; the tail is long, consisting of 12 feathers, which are even at the end, and commonly pendent, but can be lifted up, and spread out like that of the turkey; the legs and toes are of a bright red; the claws are crooked, and somewhat sharp. In a collection (says Latham) from Cayenne was a bird, I believe, of this very species. It was 28 inches long; the bill is like that of a fowl, brown, and rather hooked; round the eye bare; the head is crested; the feathers of the fore-part of the neck are tipped with white; the breast and belly are rufous brown; the rest of the plumage is greenish brown; the tail is 11 inches long, and rounded at the end; the quills just reach beyond the rump; the legs are brown, and the claws hooked. This species is common in the woods of Guiana, at a distance from the sea, though it is much less known than could be imagined; and found in small flocks for the most part, except in breeding-time, when it is only seen by pairs, and then frequently on the ground, or on low shrubs; at other times on high trees, where it roosts at night. The female makes her nest on some low bushy tree, as near the trunk as possible, and lays three or four eggs. When the young are hatched, they defend with their mother, after 10 or 12 days. The mother acts as other fowls, scratching on the ground like a hen, and brooding the young, which quit their nurse the moment they can shift for themselves. They have two broods in a year; one in December or January, the other in May or June. The best time of finding these birds is morning or evening, being then met with on such trees whose fruit they feed on, and are discovered by some of it falling to the ground. The young birds are easily tamed, and seldom forsake the places where they have been brought up: they need not be housed, as they prefer the roofing on tall trees to any other place. Their cry is not inharmonious, except when irritated or wounded, when it is harsh and loud. Their flesh is much esteemed.

Buffon supposes this bird to be the female of the yacou, or at least a variety; but that this cannot be, the anatomical inspection will at once determine. The windpipe of this bird has a singular construction, passing along the neck to the entrance of the breast, where it rises on the outside of the flesh, and, after going a little way downwards, returns, and then passes into the cavity of the lungs. It is kept in its place on the outside by a muscular ligament, which is perceivable quite to the breast-bone. This is found to be the case in both male and female, and plainly proves that it differs from the yacou, whose windpipe has no such circumvolution in either sex.

If this be the bird mentioned by Fermin, in his History of Guiana, p. 176, he says that the crest is cuneiform, and of a black and white colour; and observes that they are scarce at Surinam; but it does not seem quite certain whether he means this species or the yacou.

Bancroft mentions a bird of Guiana by the name of Marrodce, which he says is wholly of a brownish black; the bill the same; and the legs grey. These, he says, are common, and make a noise not unlike the name given it, perching on trees. The Indians imitate their cry to exactly, as to lead to the discovery of the place the birds are in, by their answering it. The flesh of them is like that of a fowl: it is therefore most likely the marail.

6. The vociferating penelope. The bill of this bird is of a greenish colour; the back is brown, the breast green, and the belly is of a whitish brown. Latham calls it the crying curassaw. It is about the bigness of a crow.

PEDESTICA, (Antonine), a town of the Helvetii, situated between the Lacus Laufonius and Salodurum; called Petenisca by Peutinger. Thought now to be Biel, (Cluverius); the capital of a small territory in Switzerland.

PENEUS, (Strabo); a river running through the middle of Thessaly, from west to east, into the Sinus Thermaicus, between Olympus and Off, near Tempe of Thessaly, rising in mount Pindus, (Ovid, Val. Flaccus).