Chapter XXVI.

1. The female deer usually copulates, as I observed before, from allurement; for she cannot endure the male on account of the hardness of the penis. Some, however, endure copulation as sheep do. When sexual desire is felt, they lie down beside each other. The male is changeable in his disposition, and does not unite himself to a single female, but in a short time leaves one for another. The season for sexual intercourse is in August and September, after Arcturus. The period of gestation is eight months. The female becomes pregnant in a few days, and frequently in one day.

2. She generally produces one fawn, though some have been known to bear twins. She produces her young by the road side, for fear of wild beasts. The growth of the fawns is rapid. The female has no purification at other times, but after parturition her cleansing is sanguineous. The female usually conducts her fawn to some accustomed place, which serves them for a refuge. It is usually an opening in a rock, with but one entrance, where they can defend themselves against those who would attack them.

3. There are fables about their long life. They do not, however, appear to be worthy of credit; and the period of gestation and growth of the young does not agree with the habits of long-lived animals. In the mountain called Elaphoïs, in Arginusa, in Asia, where Alcibiades died, all the deer have their ears divided, so that they can be known if they migrate to another place, and even the fœtus in utero has this distinction. The females have four nipples, like cows.

4. As soon as the females are impregnated, the males go and live apart from them, and, urged by their sexual desires, they each go apart and make a hole, in which they emit a strong smell like he goats, and their faces become black, by being sprinkled like those of goats. This continues till after rain, when they turn again to their pasture. The animal acts in this way on account of its violent sexual desires and its fatness. In summer time this is so great that they cannot run, but are taken by those who pursue them, even on foot, in the second or third race.

5. They frequent the water both on account of the heat and the difficulty of breathing. At the period of sexual intercourse, their flesh is inferior both in taste and smell, like that of he-goats. In winter they are thin and weak, and in the spring are most active for the chase. When chased, they sometimes rest awhile, and remain standing till their pursuers come up with them, when they start afresh. They seem to do this from a pain in their intestines; for their viscera are so thin and weak that if they are only struck gently they are ruptured, though the hide remains sound.