300 
plint's natueal history. 
[Book VIII. 
some reason or other, that their first milk, after parturition, 
should be impregnated with the juice of these plants. They 
then exercise the young ones in running, and teach them how 
to take to flight, leading them to precipices, and showing them 
how to leap. The sexual passion of the male having been now 
satisfied, he repairs to the pasture lands with the greatest eager- 
ness. When they feel themselves becoming too fat, they seek 
some retired spot, thus acknowledging the inconvenience arising 
from their bulk. Besides this, they continually pause in their 
flight, stand still and look back, and then again resume their 
flight when the enemy approaches. This pause is occasioned 
by the intense pain which they feel in the intestines, a part 
which is so weak, that a very slight blow will cause them to 
break within. The barking of a dog instantly puts them to 
flight, and they always run with the wind, in order that no 
trace of them may be left. They are soothed by the shep- 
herd's pipe and his song when their ears are erect, their 
sense of hearing is very acute, but when dropped, they become 
deaf.*^ 
In other respects the stag is a simple animal, which regards 
every thing as wonderful, and with a stupid astonishment ; so 
much so, indeed, that if a horse or cow happens to approach 
it, it will not see the hunter, who may be close at hand, or, if 
it does see him, it only gazes upon his bow and arrow. Stags 
cross the sea in herds, swimming in a long line, the head 
of each resting on the haunches of the one that precedes it, 
each in its turn falling back to the rear. This has been par- 
ticularly remarked when they pass over from Cilicia to the 
island of Cyprus. Though they do not see the land, they still 
are able to direct themselves by the smell. The males have 
horns, and are the only animals that shed them every year, at 
a stated time in the spring ; at which period they seek out 
with the greatest care the most retired places, and after 
losing them, remain concealed, as though aware that they 
chorion here means the name of a plant, and they have proposed to sub- 
stitute the word chorion for aros in the text. — B. Aros is probably the 
present *' Arum maculatum," or wake-robin. See p. 307, N. 78. 
Aristotle, Plutarch, and Xenophon speak of the influence of music on 
these animals. — B. 
^9 Aristotle, ubi supra, mentions this respecting their ears ; the same 
takes place, to a certain extent, with all animals that have large external 
auricles. — B. 
