224 NATURAL HISTORY 



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 petu- 

 lant 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 care- 

 ful 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 

 it's prey, with little twitterings of complacency ; but if you 

 tender it a wasp or a bee, at once it's 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 thrt 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 the rest of his mistresses im- 

 mediately adopt. The tumult is not confined to the family 

 concerned, but catches from yard to yard, and spreads to every 

 homestead 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 ; and if 

 a bird of prey passes over, with a w r arning voice he bids his 



