B. V.] THE HISTORY OF ANIMALS. Ill 



breed twice, but the first brood of the cottyphus is killed 

 by the cold, for it is the earliest breeder of all birds. It 

 is able, however, to bring up the other brood. But the 

 domestic birds, and those capable of domestication, breed 

 frequently, as pigeons during the whole summer, and do- 

 mestic fowls. For these birds have sexual intercourse, and 

 produce eggs all the year round, except at the winter 

 solstice. 



2. There are many kinds of pigeons, for the peleias and 

 peristera are different. The peleias is the smaller, but 

 the peristera is more readily tamed. The peleias is black 

 and small, and has red and rough feet, for which reason 

 it is never domesticated. The phatta is the largest of 

 the tribe, the next is the cenas, which is a little larger than 

 the peristera, the trygon is the least of all. If the peristera 

 is supplied with a warm place and appropriate food, it will 

 breed and bring up its young at any season of the year. If 

 it is not properly supplied, it will only breed in the summer. 

 Its young ones are best during the spring and autumn, 

 those produced in the hot weather in summer are the worst. 



CHAPTER XII. 



1. ANIMALS also differ in the age at which sexual inter- 

 course commences. For in the first place the period at 

 which the spermatic fluid begins to be secreted, and the age 

 of puberty is not the same, but different j for the young of 

 all animals are barren, or if they do possess the power of 

 reproduction, their offspring are weak and small. This is 

 very conspicuous in mankind, and in viviparous quadrupeds 

 and birds, for in the one the offspring, in the other the 

 eggs, are small. The age of puberty is nearly the same in 

 the individuals of each kind, unless any alteration takes 

 place, either as ominous, or from an injury done to their 

 nature. 



2. In men this period of life is shown by the change of 

 voice, and not only by the size but by the form of the 

 pudendum and of the breasts in women, but especially by 

 the growth of hair on the pubes. The secretion of the 

 spermatic fluid commences about the age of fourteen, the 

 power of reproduction at twenty-one. Other animals have 

 no hair on the pubes, for some have no hair at all, and 



