Formerly, Isaiah the Prophet pointed out that the sirens and ass-centaurs and hedgehogs will come into Babylon and dance [cf. Is. 13:21 and 34:14]. Physiologus treated the nature of each one, saying of the sirens that they are deadly animals living in the sea which cry out with odd voices, for the half of them down to the  navel bears the figure of a man, while the other half is that of a bird. [They sing a most pleasing song so that through the sweetness of the voice they charm the hearing of men sailing far away and draw them to themselves. By the great sweetness of their extended song they charm the ears and senses of the sailors and put them to sleep. When they see the men lulled by most heavy sleep, they attack them and tear them to pieces. Thus, they deceive men unacquainted with the persuasion of their voices and kill them. Just so are those men deceived who delight in the charms of the world, in games and the pleasures of the theater. Dissipated by tragedies and various melodies and lulled to sleep, these men become the prey of their enemies.

Physiologus
Quoted from the 1979 University of Texas Press edition
pp.23-24, Translated by Michael J.Curley