BOOK VIII. XI. 3-5 



But the possession of these birds is a rare circum- 3 

 stance and so an unusual amount of care must be 

 exercised in inland districts, and the following pro- 

 cedure must be followed. A flat piece of land covered 

 with grass and trees is enclosed with a high fence to 

 three sides of which galleries are attached, while on 

 the fourth side there are two huts, one for the 

 dwelling-place of the custodian, the other as a 

 peacock-house. Then in the galleries enclosures are 

 made with reeds in a row to form coops such as are 

 placed on the roofs of a pigeon-house. These en- 

 closures are separated from one another by barriers 

 as it were of reeds which run between them, so 

 arranged as to have one entrance on either side. The 4 

 peacock-house ought to be entirely free from damp, 

 and in the floor short stakes are fixed in a row, the 

 tops of which have carefully hewn tenons for insertion 

 into holes made in the transverse perches. More- 

 over, these perches which are placed on the top of 

 the stakes are cut square, so that they may give a 

 foothold to a bird when it leaps onto them, but they 

 are made so as to be removable in order that, when it 

 is necessary, they may be detached from the stakes 

 and give free access to those who are sweeping out the 

 peacock-house. 



This kind of fowl, when it has completed its first 5 

 three years, breeds excellently, but at a tenderer age 

 it is either sterile or not very prolific. The male bird 

 has the salaciousness of the farmyard cock and so 

 requires five hens ; for if it frequently covers one or 

 two of them that have been laying, it spoils eggs 

 which are hardly yet formed in the womb and does 

 not allow them to be bi'ought to birth, since they fall 

 out of the genital parts while they are still immature. 



377 



