AVES— COCK. 589 



pursuits, walls cannot easily confine it ; it strips the tops of houses of their 

 tiles or thatch, it lays waste the labors of the gardener, roots up his choicest 

 seeds, and nips his favorite flowers in the bud. Thus its beauty ill recom- 

 penses for the mischief it occasions ; and many of the more homely looking 

 fowls are very deservedly preferred before it. 



The peahen seldom lays above five or six eggs in this climate before she 

 sits. Aristotle describes her as laying twelve ; and it is probable, in her 

 native climate, she may be thus prolific : for it is certain, that, in the forests 

 where they breed naturally, they are numerous beyond expression. The 

 bird lives about twenty years ; and not till its third year has it that beautiful 

 variegated plumage that adorns its tail. 



THE DOMESTIC COCK.* 



ji asS 



Of all birds, the cock seems to be the oldest companion of mankind, to 

 have Leen first reclaimed from the forest, and taken to supply the accidental 

 failure of the luxuries or necessaries of life. As he is thus longest under 

 the care of man, so perhaps he exhibits the greatest number of varieties, 

 there being scarcely two birds of this species that exactly resemble each 

 other in plumage and form. 



It is not well ascertained when the cock was first made domestic in 

 Europe; but it is generally agreed that it was first brought there from the 

 kingdom of Persia. It came to America with the early European settlers. 

 The cock is found wild in the island of Tinian, in many others of the Indian 

 ocean, and in the woods on the coasts of Malabar ; his plumage is black and 

 yellow, and his comb and wattles are yellow and purple. There is another 

 peculiarity also in those of the Indian woods ; their bones, which, when 



1 Gallus domesticus, Temm. This genus has the bill of medium size, strong, base 

 naked ; upper mandible arched, convex, bent towards the point ; head surmounted by a crest 

 or plume ; ears naked ; three toes before, united to the first joint; the hind toe raised from 

 the ground ; tarsus with a long and bent spur; middle feathers of the tail arched • wings 

 short. 



50 



