172 FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 



I have a new Brown Leghorn rooster, 

 master of the clan vice the first incumbent, 

 incapacitated, and since transferred to an 

 other sphere. And he is a true squire of 

 dames, brilliant in his plumage, imposing 

 in his carriage, and withal courtly and 

 generous in his manners. In the latter 

 respect, I confess that he greatly surprised 

 me, after my experience with his cousin 

 from Minorca. He quickly ventured to 

 take grain from my hand, or from the 

 ground close beside me, but instead of im 

 mediately swallowing it, would hold it in 

 his beak, clucking an encouraging invita 

 tion to the ladies of his family, and, as if 

 realizing that their enterprise might not 

 be sufficient to bring them quite so close 

 to the great ogre, man, would move off 

 two or three steps, and lay the grain upon 

 the ground, continuing his cheering calls. 

 Often he has to pick up and lay down the 

 same grain two or three times, before he 

 finds a customer for it, but at length it will 

 be called for, and he will look on most 

 benignly while it is being disposed of. 

 Sometimes it is necessary for him to go 

 through the process of laying down the 

 grain, and scratching about it, before his 

 coy consorts can be encouraged to approach. 



