The Bird Men were a race of beastfolk who inhabited City Isle in Cyrodiil in the Middle Merethic Era. The name they gave themselves, if any, is lost to history. The only known record of their existence comes from the epic poem Father of the Niben, which describes the adventures of the legendary Aldmer explorer Topal the Pilot, who charted the coasts of Tamriel and discovered the Niben River and Topal Bay. In the poem, while Topal and his crew strove to return home to Firsthold, they traveled up the Niben River to Lake Rumare, where they encountered "brilliant flightful creatures of glorious colors" with "taloned feet". Topal's crew taught the Bird Men their language, and in return the Bird Men made Topal their lord and granted him the "eight islands" that would later make up City Isle. After Topal's departure, the Bird Men are never mentioned again in recorded history, and are believed to have met their extinction at the hands of the Khajiit long before the Ayleids migrated to Cyrodiil.