John Minsheu's The Dictionarie in Spanish and English (1599) has "Birdes of a feather will flocke togither". It is simple to know the cause, for just as birds of one kind and color always flock and fly together, so the Papists will always be together, that they may help each other – not only with sheer numbers as starlings do when threatened by a hawk, but also to consult and plan together as to how their religion may be best maintained, promoted, and popularized.
Which may be rendered in 21st century English as It is easy to know the cawse for as byrdes of on kynde and color flok and flye allwayes together / so the papistes will euer be to gether / that on may euer help another / not only with numbre as sterlynges do when they ar aferde of the hauk / but also to consult & take counsel together how theyr sect myght be best promoted manteyned & set forward aferde of the hauk" flock and maneuver to thwart a bird of prey (to right of flock) The first known use of the idiom in original English writing is 1545, when William Turner used a version of it in his anti-Catholic satire "The Rescuing of the Papist Fox": Other renderings give "Birds roost with their own kind, so honesty comes home to those who practice it" ( New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition, 1989), "Birds nest with their own kind, and honesty comes to those who work at it" ( New American Bible Revised Edition, 2011), and so forth. Richard Challoner's 1752 version of the Douay–Rheims Bible translates this asīirds resort unto their like: so truth will return to them that practise her. Verse 27:9 of this Greek version of Sira's Hebrew original is
This was translated into Greek sometime after 117 BC (probably), and it is this Greek version that has commonly been used, even in the Septuagint used by diaspora Jews. The first known written instance of metaphorical use of the flocking behavior of birds is found in the second century BC, where Ben Sira uses it in his apocryphal Biblical Book of Ecclesiasticus, written about 180–175 BC. This behavior of birds has been observed by people since time immemorial, and is the source of the idiom ("of a feather" means "of the same plumage," that is, of the same species). In nature, birds of the same species in flight often form homogeneous groups for various reasons, such as to defend against predators. 3 Equivalent phrases in other languages.
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