BOOK X. Lii. 106-109 



then a sigh at the close ; in winter they are silent, 



but begin singing in spring. Nigidius thinks that a 



wood-pigeon when sitting on her eggs under a roof 



wlll leave her nest in answer to her name. They 



iay after midsummer. Pigeons and turtle-doves Hve 



eight years. On the other hand the sparrow, their 



equal in salaciousness, has a very small span of life : 



the cocks are said not to last longer than a year, the 



proof being that at the beginning of spring no black 



colouring is seen on their beak, which begins with 



summer ; but the hens have a rather longer span of 



life. However pigeons actually possess a certain 



sense of vanity — you woukl fancy them to be con- 



scious of their own colours and the pattern of their 



marldng; indeed this can be inferred from their 



flight — it is observed that they flap their wings in 



the sky and trace a variety of Hnes. During this Pigeonsand 



display they expose themselves to the liawk as if ^''"'**- 



fettered, folding their wings with a flapping noise 



that is only produced from the actual wing joints, 



though otherwise when flying freely they are much 



swifter. The highwayman hawk watches concealed 



in foliage, and seizes the exultant pigeon in the 



very act of showing off. For that reason the bird ngt-oiu and 



called kestrel must be classed with these ; for it ^"'"•'"■''''- 



defends the pigeons, and scares the hawks by its 



natural powerfulness so much that they fly from sight 



and sound of it. For this reason wood-pigeons have 



a special love for kestrels, and they say that if kestrels 



put in new jars with their mouths sealed up are 



hidden in the four corners of the dovecot the pigeons 



do not change their abode (a result that some 



people have also sought to obtain by cutting the joints 



of their wings with gold, the only way of making a 



361 



