BOOK VIII. XIV. 3-6 



for there is another kind which is of various colours 

 and, originally wild, has been tamed and become a 

 domestic bird, but it is not so prolific and commands 

 a lower price, and so should certainly not be reared. 4 

 The most suitable time for coupling geese is from the 

 height of winter onwards, and then for laying eggs 

 and sitting on them from the first of February or 

 March until the summer solstice, which falls in the 

 last part of the month of June. They couple not 

 standing on the ground, like the birds of whom we 

 dealt before, but generally in a river or pond ; and 

 each hen-bird lays a clutch of eggs three times a year 

 if prevented from hatching them out, which is a better 

 plan than if they sit on their own eggs ; for the young 5 

 are better reared by ordinary hens and also the 

 result is a much larger flock. At each laying they 

 produce the following numbers of eggs, at the first 

 five, at the next four and at the last three. Some 

 people allow the geese themselves to rear the last 

 clutch, because for the rest of the year they will be 

 taking a holiday from laying. The female birds 

 must not on any account be allowed to lay outside 

 the enclosure, but, when they seem to be looking for 

 a nesting-place, they must be stopped and must be 

 examined ; for if they are near laying, the eggs, which 

 are in the nearest part of the genital organs, can be 

 felt with the finger. Wherefore they ought to be 6 

 taken to the goose-pen and shut up there so that they 

 may lay their eggs ; and it is enough to have done 

 this once with each of them since every one of them 

 returns to the place where it first laid an egg. But, 

 after the last laying, when we wish the geese 

 themselves to sit, the eggs of each Avill have to be 

 marked so that they may be put under those which 



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