Thomas of Cantimpré [circa 1200-1272 CE] (Liber de natura rerum, Birds 5.72): The komor is a bird of Arabia, as Aristotle says, and it is the best feathered bird among all kinds of wild birds. For five or six times in the year they lay eggs and produce young, and no wild bird does more than this. But birds that stay in houses, such as pigeons and chickens, lay eggs frequently. With the komor this is quite surprising, because they do not mate easily, but only when some star appears in the firmament, so they store the seed in the middle of the season; and the appearance of these stars is said to give old birds the power of fertilizing eggs. - [Badke translation/paraphrase]