NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 239 



very noisy and loquacious ; as cranes, wild-geese, wild-ducks, and 

 the like ; their perpetual clamour prevents them from dispersing 

 and losing their companions. 



In so extensive a subject, sketches and outlines are as much as 

 can be expected ; for it would be endless to instance in all the 

 infinite variety of the feathered nation. We shall therefore confine 

 the remainder of this letter to the few domestic fowls of our yards, 

 which are most known, and therefore best understood. And first 

 the peacock, with his gorgeous train, demands our attention ; but, 

 like most of the gaudy birds, his notes are grating and shocking 

 to the ear : the yelling of cats, and the braying of an ass, are not 

 more disgustful. The voice of the goose is trumpet-like, and 

 clanking; and once saved the Capitol at Rome, as grave historians 

 assert; the hiss, also, of the gander, is formidable and full of 

 menace, and " protective of his young." Among ducks the 

 sexual distinction of voice is remarkable ; for, while the quack of 

 the female is loud and sonorous, the voice of the drake is inward 

 and harsh, and feeble, and scarce discernible. The cock turkey 

 struts and gobbles to his mistress in a most uncouth manner ; he 

 hath also a pert and petulant note when he attacks his adversary. 

 When a hen turkey leads forth her young brood she keeps a 

 watchful eye ; and if a bird of prey appear, though ever so high in 

 the air, the careful mother announces the enemy with a little 

 inward moan, and watches him with a steady and attentive look ; 

 but, if he approach, her note becomes earnest and alarming, and 

 her outcries are redoubled. 



No inhabitants of a yard seem possessed of such a variety of 

 expression and so copious a language as common poultry. Take 

 a chicken of four or five days old, and hold it up to a window 

 where there are flies, and it will immediately seize its prey, with 

 little twitterings of complacency ; but if you tender it a wasp or a 

 bee, at once its note becomes harsh, and expressive of disappro- 

 bation and a sense of danger. When a pullet is ready to lay she 

 intimates the event by a joyous and easy soft note. Of all the 

 occurrences of their life that of laying seems to be the most 

 important ; for no sooner has a hen disburdened herself, than she 

 rushes forth with a clamorous kind of joy, which the cock and 



