.

The Sixth Labor: The Stymphalian Birds

  For the sixth Labor, Eurystheus decided to make Hercules get rid of a huge flock Hercules was to drive away an enormous flock of birds which were said to be man-eaters. These birds could always be found at a lake near the town of Stymphalos.

So Hercules went to the lake but could not figure out how to make the birds go away. Suddenly the goddess Athena came to his rescue. She gave him a pair a bronze krotala, which were noisemaking clappers. But since Hephaistos, the god of the forge had made these; they were not ordinary and could produce a noise as loud as thunder.

So Hercules climbed to the top of a mountain and crashed the krotala together as hard as he could, then shot the birds as they flew away.