206 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



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 com- 

 placency ; but if you tender it a wasp or a bee, at once its 

 note becomes harsh, and expressive of disapprobation 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 her- 

 self, than she rushes forth with a clamorous kind of joy, 

 which the cock and the rest of his mistresses immediately 

 adopt. The tumult is not confined to the family concerned, 

 but catches from yard to yard, and spreads to every home- 

 stead within hearing, till at last the whole village is in an 

 uproar. As soon as a hen becomes a mother her new rela- 

 tion demands a new language ; she then runs clocking and 

 screaming about, and seems agitated as if possessed. The 

 father of the flock has also a considerable vocabulary ; if 

 he finds food, he calls a favourite concubine to partake ; 



