426 THE FEATHERED TllIBES. 



established in England, has an unusual length of spur, his natural weapon of combat. 

 The flesh of this variety is delicately white, and of the finest flaronr; the plumage is 

 brilliant, and the form symmetrical; but from their pugnacious temper, there is great 

 difficulty in rearing even those of the same brood. 



BufFon describes a curious scene, of which he was a witness. A sparrow-hawk alighted 

 in a populous court-yard, when a young cock, of that year's hatching, instantly darted at 

 him, and threw the foe on his back. In this situation the hawk defended himself with 

 his talons and his bill, intimidating the hens and turkeys, which screamed tumultuously 

 around him. When he had slightly recovered, he rose, and was taking wing ; when the 

 cock rushed on him a second time, overturned him again, and held him down so long, 

 that he was caught. 



Some mowers near Berwick cut a partridge on her nest, and immediately brought the 

 eggs, fourteen in number, to the house of the gentleman on whose laud they were 

 employed. He ordered them to be put under a verj' large and beautiful hen, and her 

 own to be taken away. They were hatched in two days, and the hen brought them up 

 perfectly well, till they were five or six vre^cs old. During that time they were con- 

 stantly kept confined in an outhouse, without being seen by any of the other poultry. 

 But one day, the door happening to be left open, the cock got in. The housekeeper, 

 hearing the cries of the hen in distress, ran to her assistance, but did not arrive in time 

 to save Ser life. The cock, finding her with a strange brood, fell on her, though she had 

 been his greatest favourite, and killed her .on the spot. Although, when found by the 

 housekeeper, she was fluttering in the last agony, she found him tearing her botli with 

 his beak and his spurs. 



The patience and perseverance of the hen while hatching are truly extraordinary. 

 She covers her eggs with her wings, fostering them with a genial warmth, often turning 

 them, and changing their situation, that all their parts may. receive an equal degree of 

 warmth. So intent is she on her task, as to neglect, in some degree, even the ordinary 

 supplies of food and drink. In about three weeks, the young brood burst from their 

 confinement, when, from being one of the most cowardly and voracious, she becomes the 

 most daring and abstemious of all animals. If she casts her eyes on a grain of corn, or 

 even a crumb of bread, she will not touch it, but gives her numerous train immediate 

 notice of her success by a peculiar call, which they aU understand. Instantly they floclc 

 around her, and the precious morsel is divided among them. Though by nature timid, 

 and apt to fly from the smallest assailant, yet, when marching at the head of her brood, 

 she is fearless of danger, and will fly in the face of the fiercest animal which ofiers 

 to annoy her. 



Mr. Jesse says : " I am always sorry to see the anxiety and misery of a lien who has 

 hatched ducks instead of her natural progeny. "When they take to the water she is in a 

 perfect agony, nnming round the brink of the pond, and sometimes fl\-ing into it, in 

 hopes of roscumg her brood from the danger she apprehends them to be in. A friend of. 

 mine observed a remarkable instance of the degree to which this natural apprehension for 

 lier brood may be overcome in the hen by the habit of nursing ducks. A hen who had 

 reared three broods of duclcs in three successive years, became habituated to their taking 

 to the water, and would fly to a large stone in the middle of a pond, and patiently and 

 quietly watch her brood as they swam about it. The fourth year she hatched her ow-n 

 eggs, and finding that her chickens did not take to the water, she flow lo (he stone 

 in the pond, and called to them with the utmost eagerness." 



The possibility of the existence of wild cocks in Anu-rica has .sunalimcs been denied. 

 But it should not be said that, since these birds inhabit India, China, and tlio Islands 

 of the Eastern Archipelago, in a state of freedom, it cannot follow that America possesses 

 none of thein in tho sanu^ static ; for facts to flu> conlriiry may easily be cited.' 



