And, by the way, unlike animals elsewhere, they require to drink
more in wintertime than in summer: for they acquire the habit of not
drinking in summer, owing to the circumstance that there is usually no
water then; and the mice, if they drink, die. Elsewhere also
bastard-animals are born to heterogeneous pairs; thus in Cyrene the
wolf and the bitch will couple and breed; and the Laconian hound is
a cross between the fox and the dog. They say that the Indian dog is a
cross between the tiger and the bitch, not the first cross, but a
cross in the third generation; for they say that the first cross is
a savage creature. They take the bitch to a lonely spot and tie her
up: if the tiger be in an amorous mood he will pair with her; if not
he will eat her up, and this casualty is of frequent occurrence.
29
Locality will differentiate habits also: for instance, rugged
highlands will not produce the same results as the soft lowlands.
The animals of the highlands look fiercer and bolder, as is seen in
the swine of Mount Athos; for a lowland boar is no match even for a
mountain sow.
Again, locality is an important element in regard to the bite of
an animal.
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