1. Many animals in their mode of life appear to imitate mankind,
and one may observe greater accuracy of intellect in small than in
large animals; as the manufacture of its dwelling by the swallow is
remarkable among birds; it has the same method of combining chaff with
mud, for it mixes the mud with straw, and if mud is not to be found,
it dips in the water and rolls itself in the dust; it uses straw in
making its nest as men use it, for it places the largest at the bottom,
and makes it commensurate with its own bulk; both the male and female
labour in support of the young. They feed each in turn, observing by
some agreement the one which was first fed that none may receive food
twice; at first they turn the dung out of the nest, but as the young
birds increase in size, they teach them to turn themselves, so as to
eject their excrement out of the nest.
2. There are some observations which may be made on pigeons, for
they will not pair with many mates, nor do they forsake their first
companion, unless they become widowed. The care and anxiety of the male
at the time of parturition are remarkable, for if the pain causes the
hen to feel languid when near the nest, he beats her and drives her in.
When the young are hatched, the parent provides salt earth, which is
injected into the open mouth of the young birds, as a preparation for
the reception of food. When it is time for them to leave the nest, the
male copulates with them all.
3. In this manner they have usually a great affection for each other.
Some females will copulate with males that are not their own mates.
This bird is contentious, they fight together, and attack each other's
nests, though not frequently, for although they are beaten when at a
distance, they will fight to the last when near their nests; it appears
to be characteristic of the pigeon, phaps, and turtle not to lean back
when they drink, unless they have had sufficient. The turtle and phatta
always remain faithful to the same male, and will not permit another to
approach them, and the male and female share the labour of incubation.
The male and female are not easily distinguished, except by their
internal structure.
4. The phatta is long-lived, they have been known to live for
twenty-five or thirty years, some even forty years; their claws grow
when they become aged, and pigeon breeders cut them off, and in no
other respect are they inferior when aged. The turtle and the pigeon,
if they have been blinded by those who use them as decoy birds, will
live eight years. The partridge lives fifteen years, the phaps and the
turtle always build in the same places.
5. On the whole, males also live longer than females, but in these
birds they say that the males die before the females; this conclusion
is derived from the observation of those which are brought up in houses
for decoy birds. Some persons say that cock-sparrows only live for one
year, considering this as a proof, that early in the spring there are
no birds with black beneath the chin; but they have it afterwards,
as if none of the former birds had survived. The hen-sparrows have a
longer life, for these are taken among the young birds, and are easily
known by the hard portion about their bills. The turtle lives during
the summer in cold places, and during the winter in warm places. The
finch lives during the summer in warm places, and in cold places during
winter.