Chapter VIII.

1. In many birds the male alternates with the female in the duty of incubation, as we observed in speaking of pigeons, and takes her place while she is obliged to procure food for herself. In geese the female alone sits upon the eggs, and having once begun, she never leaves them during the whole process of incubation. The nests of all water birds are situated in marshy and grassy places, by which means they can keep quiet and still have food within their reach, so that they do not starve all the while. The females alone, among the crows, sit on the eggs, which they never leave; but the males bring them food and feed them.

2. The females of the pigeons begin to sit at twilight, and remain on the nest the whole night, till dawn; and the male the rest of the time. Partridges make two nests of eggs, upon one of which the male sits, on the other the female; and each of them hatches and brings up its own: and the male has sexual intercourse with its young as soon as they are hatched.