Fauna in Eclogue 9

hos illi (quod nec vertat bene) mittimus haedos, "We are sending these kids for him (may it not turn out well)" (9.6).

A specific reference to the land appropriation, and a specific example of the kinds of things one who has been dispossessed may have had to do with his own former property.  We have, of course, seen haedos before (1, 2, 3, 5, 7), and they are appropriate for a pastoral setting.


Chaonias dicunt aquila veniente columbas, "[As much as] they say Chaonian doves with an eagle coming" (9.13).

Songs have no real power over weapons, a poignant point, especially for a bucolic poem.   As Williams says (1996: 127 n. 11-13): "Doves are called Chaonian from the famous oak groves of Dodona in Chaonia (Epirus) which were haunted by doves."
According to a Perseus word search, this is the only eclogue in which Vergil uses aquila and columba.  Noteworthy in and of itself, as most other animals have had some (and often many) other references.
I couldn't help but be reminded of one of Horace's odes when I saw the eagle and dove together.  4.4 is an ode to Drusus, Augustus's stepson, in honor of his miltary accomplishments over the Vindelici.  He compares Drusus to an eagle (first recounting the myth of Ganymede and the eagle's connection to Zeus), and at one point says neque inbellem feroces/ progenerant aquilae columbam, "Nor do savage eagles beget unwarlike doves" (4.4.31-2)
μελανάετος/ ἀετός in Greek.  Greek Birds (Thompson: 1-): sharp sight, never thirsty, tends to its young, long-lived, can eat grass, constellation (see swan section), thunder-bearer of Zeus/Jupiter.  


novas incidere lites/ ante sinistra cava monuisset ab ilice cornix, "To cut short the recent quarrels,/ [if] a crow on the left from a hollow oak had [not] warned me beforehand" (9.15).

Williams notes the crow on the left was considered a positive omen for his intended action.
κορώνη in Greek.  Greek Birds (Thompson: 97-100):  frequented cities, not a migrant; monogamous, thus invoked a weddings; proverbial long-life; owl is arch enemy; weather prophet;  crow on the left is unlucky?  So perhaps the crow warned him while the arguing was going on, and he stopped because it was a bad omen?; a crow never enters the acropolis at Athens.  


pasce capellas,/ et potum pastas age, "Pasture the she-goats,/ and, having eaten, led them to drink" (9.23-4).

Lines within Menalcas's quoted song.
capellae have been in every Eclogue except 5 and 6.
As Williams says (127 n. 23-5): "These lines are very closely modelled on Theocr. Id. 3.3-5."  Same exact set up (3.3-4):
Τίτυρ᾽ ἐμὶν τὸ καλὸν πεφιλαμένε, βόσκε τὰς αἶγας,
καὶ ποτὶ τὰν κράναν ἄγε Τίτυρε, 

5

occursare capro (cornu ferit ille) caveto (9.25)

capri have been in 3,  7, and 9
Theocritus Id. 3.4-5:
                                                       καὶ τὸν ἐνόρχαν 
τὸν Λιβυκὸν κνάκωνα φυλάσσεο, μή τι κορύψῃ.  



cantantes [tuum nomen] sublime ferent ad sidera cycni (9.29)

cycni were in 7 and 8, but we didn't look at those.
κύκνος in Greek.  I'll give some blurbs from Greek Birds (Thompson: 104-7): associated with the myth of Leda and the swan (Zeus); attacked by and subsequent victor of the eagle (constellation explanation/related to Leda and Swan myth); swan song could be considered portent of death; Common Swan cannot sing, so probably referring to Hooper or Whistling Swan, which only migrated to the local area in the winter months; applied as an epithet to a poet, esp. an old one.   
I found this for Whistling Swans on youtube.  Sound like a mixture of seagulls and geese to me. 


sic tua Cyrneas fugiant examina taxos,/ sic cystio pastae distendant ubera vaccae, "So may your (bee) swarms flee Cyrnean yew trees, so may the udders of your cows, having fed on clover, swell" (9.30-1).

Prayer-like formula wishing Moeris abundance and good luck, seemingly despite his present misfortune.  Lycidas is trying his best to butter Moeris up for a song.
Yew sap is poisonous, not just to bees.
examina were in 7.  apes were in 1, 5, and 6, and will be in 10.


sed argutos inter strepere anser olores, "But [I seem] a goose honking among melodious swans" (9.36).

Note the definitive Roman name for swan with olor instead of the cycni from a few lines previous.
Goose is χήν in Greek.  Greek Birds (Thompson 193-): goose of the Capitol, sacred to Juno; sacred to Venus in Cyprus; sacred to Priapus; erotic- obsessed with a boy, gift for a lover, term of endearment; kept, but not eaten, by Celts of Britain; goose-fat/flesh in medicine: damaging to crops; weather prophet; killed by laurel.
As Williams notes, the idea behind this line is familiar to one of Theocritus's (7.41) in which the person cannot be compared with good singers any more than a frog with grasshoppers:
βάτραχος δὲ ποτ᾽ ἀκρίδας ὥς τις ἐρίσδω


Here there is a rather large gap without animals.  We have plants and inanimate objects that are characteristic of pastoral life, but no animos.


hic haedos depone, tamen veniemus in urbem, "Put the kids here, we will still come to the city" (9.62).

The final (and first) reference to animals in this Eclogue, tying it back to the issue of dispossession.  Lycidas perhaps tries to take Moeris's mind off his troubles- he attempts to convince Moeris that they have the occasion to sing, an action which will reaffirm their pastoral identities and will also delay the inevitable selling of "Moeris's" kids.