Daedalus and Perdix
Daedalus was so proud of his achievements that he could not bear the idea of a rival. His sister had placed her son, named variously as Perdix, Talus, or Calos, under his charge to be taught the mechanical arts. He was an apt scholar and showed striking evidence of ingenuity. Walking on the seashore, he picked up the spine of a fish. According to Ovid, imitating it, he took a piece of iron and notched it on the edge, and thus invented the saw. He put two pieces of iron together, connecting them at one end with a rivet, and sharpening the other ends, and made a pair of compasses. Daedalus was so envious of his nephew's accomplishments that he took an opportunity. When they were together one day on the Acropolis of Athens, Perdix was asking Daedalus about his son who had died, Icarus. Daedalus, who cannot stand speaking of the subject, took one of the mechanical bugs he had been tinkering with and threw it off of a cliff. Perdix, who wished to save the toy, not seeing he would fall to his death, fell off the cliff arms outstretched. As he was falling, Athena, who favors ingenuity, saw him falling and arrested his fate by changing him into a bird called after his name, perdix, the partridge. This bird does not build his nest in the trees, nor take lofty flights, but nestles in the hedges, and mindful of his fall, avoids high places. For this crime, Daedalus was tried and banished. To always remind Daedalus of his treachery, Athena branded him with an image of the bird, so that he would never forget the crime he committed.
Read more about this topic: Daedalus