630 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



hidden tliere. Not finding him, the victor strutted about, too ex- 

 cited to eat, and crowed long and loud over his unprecedented 

 triumph. The other cock was entirely wiped out of existence, 

 and our old fighter, who would crow defiantly in our arms when- 

 ever he found himself being carried off the premises, knowing 

 from experience that a set-to was coming, could scarcely credit his 

 senses. 



Of the many feelings which human beings and poultry have 

 in common, one is the sense of mortification. On a fine summer 

 morning a group of cockerels, of various ages, were lounging 

 about in the door-yard, when they began a crowing tournament. 

 Some of the smallest and most humble stood contentedly on the 

 ground, but soon one flew upon the carriage-step and crowed from 

 that elevation. He was promptly eclipsed by another, who gave 

 vent to an exultant challenge from the top of the hitching-post. 

 Then the proudest and handsomest of them all walked a few 

 steps with an air of conscious superiority, and flew straight up to 

 the highest bar of the reel of a reaper near by. It was a simple 

 reel of light horizontal bars, not connected with the rake, and 

 revolved very easily. While the young dandy's wings were still 

 flapping in triumph and he had not yet begun to crow, the reel 

 turned under his weight and lowered him swiftly to the ground. 

 Without a sound the crestfallen rooster walked away, too 

 ashamed to look around. We often enjoyed a still more amusing 

 exhibition of this sort on the part of the proudest old cock on the 

 place. He was a very gallant Mormon, and intensely self-con- 

 scious when among the hens ; but if coaxed off by himself, on a 

 side of the house where no other fowl was in sights he could be 

 easily frightened out of his dignity. A hat thrown at him would 

 send him squawking around the corner of the building, his plum- 

 age disarranged, and his whole appearance eloquent of blind 

 terror. We always managed it that he should run straight into 

 a group of hens, and the desperate haste with which he choked 

 down his wild cackling and began to murmur amorous nothings 

 to the ladies of his harem was only less ridiculous than the in- 

 stant change in his whole appearance, which became that of a 

 pompous and leisurely sultan. He generally overacted a little, 

 making an extra display of his careless gallantry and elegance to 

 show how absurd it was to suspect that he could have been in the 

 least alarmed. A laughable instance of similar mortification in 

 the biggest turkey on the farm was noticed one late autumn day, 

 when this great gobbler and numerous others, much younger and 

 smaller, were eating grass and strutting in the door-yard. Just 

 as the old gobbler spread his tail for a tremendous strut, a young 

 turkey stepped quickly up behind him and pecked sharply at 

 the small spot of skin exposed in the center of the big fellow's 



