29 o 



COCK COCKCHAFFER. 



The hen is ready to commence laying after ^it- 

 has moulted or changed tier plumage, and is not at 

 die trouble of making a regular nest. A simple 

 hole, scratched in the ground, in some retired place, 

 serves her purpose, and she generally lays from 

 twelve to fifteen eggs before she begins to sit upon 

 them for the purpose of liutching. Having thus 

 taken possession of her nest, she becomes a model 

 of enduring patience, remaining fixed in her place 

 until the urgency of hunger forces her to go in search 

 of food. A short time suffices ; she runs eagerly 

 about in quest of sustenance, and soon resumes her 

 charge. Her eggs are diligently tunied and shifted 

 from the centre to the edge of the nest, so that each 

 may receive a due degree of genial warmth, and it is 

 not until about twenty-one days have elapsed that 

 the incubation is completed. The strongest of the 

 progeny then begin to chip the shell with the bill, 

 and are successively enabled to burst their brittle 

 prisons. She continues .upon tin- nest till the whole 

 are hatched and dry, and then leads them forth in 

 search of food. The hen, except when accompanied 

 by a young brood, is always timid, and ready to fly 

 from disturbance ; but when she is engaged in dis- 

 charging the duties of maternity, her whole nature 

 is clianged. She fiercely and vigorously attacks all 

 aggressors, watches over the safety of her young with 

 the utmost jealousy, neglects the demands ot' her 

 own appetite to divide the food she may obtain 

 among her nurslings, and labours with untiring dili- 

 gence to provide them sufficient sustenance. The 

 limits within which we are restricted forbid the 

 attempt to give a complete history of this valuable 

 species, which is, in every point of view, interesting. 

 To detail all that would be necessary to illustrate it, 

 as an object of natural history and domestic economy, 

 the modes of breeding, rearing, preparing for the 

 table, &c., would require a small volume. Fortu- 

 nately, almost every one, who will employ his own 

 observation, may readily arrive at such knowledge. 

 Very full histories of the species are given by Bufibn 

 and other standard authors. Temminck has, per- 

 haps, offered the most complete, in his Histoire des 

 Gallinaces. See Incubation. 



Cock-fighting was an amusement of the Greeks and 

 Romans. An annual cock-fight was instituted at 

 Athens, and ./Eschines reproaches Timarchus, and 

 Plato the Athenians in general, with their fondness 

 for the cock-pit. The breeds of Rhodes and of Tan- 

 agra in Bceotia were in great esteem in Greece. The 

 Romans seem to have used quails and partridges also 

 for Uiis purpose. Mark Antony was a patron of the 

 pit, but, in his matches with Octavius, it was observ- 

 ed that Cassar's cocks were always victorious. This 

 barbarous and brutalizing spectacle, it is well known, 

 has been a favourite sport with the English, although 

 repeatedly denounced and prohibited by the laws ; 

 but it is now deservedly in disrepute. Many nice 

 rules are given for the training and dieting of cocks, 

 and for the choice of individual combatants. " The 

 best cocks," says one of the many English writers on 

 this subject " should be close hitters, deadly heelers, 

 steady fighters, good mouthers, and come to every 

 point." Great difference of opinion has prevailed as 

 to the size most proper for game-cocks. Hoyle set- 

 tles it at not less than 4 Ibs. 8 oz., nor above 4 Ibs. 

 10 oz. The strain from which the cock is chosen 

 ought to be distinguished for victory. For the com- 

 bat, they are armed with steel or silver spurs, or gaf- 

 fles. The place appropriated to fighting is called 

 thejpiV, and consists generally of a mound of earth, 

 covered with sod, and surrounded by seats in circu- 

 lar tiers. The battle is conducted by two setters, 

 who place the cocks beak to beak. V r hen they are 

 once pitted, neither of the setters-to can touch his 



cock, so long as they continue to fight, unless their 

 weapons get entangled. Cock-fighting is prevalent 

 in China, Persia, and Malacca. 



Cock-pit ; the place where cock-fights are held. 

 In navigation, the cock-pit of a man or' war comprises 

 the apartments of the surgeon and his mates, being 

 the place where the wounded men are dressed in 

 battle, or at other times. It is situated under the 

 lower deck. 



COCKADE (from cocardc) ; a plume of cock's fea- 

 thers, with which the Croats adorned their caps. A 

 bow of coloured ribbons was adopted for the cockade 

 in France, which soon became a national emblem and 

 party signal. During the French revolution, the tri- 

 coloured cockade became the national distinction. 

 National cockades are now to be found over all Ku- 

 rope. In some countries, the law requires every citi- 

 zen to wear one, and the deprivation of them is a 

 disgraceful punishment, as in Prussia. In point of 

 fact, the rule requiring them to be worn is but little 

 observed. 



COCKCHAFFER ; a species of coleopterous in- 

 sect, belonging to the genus rnelolontha (Fab.), re- 

 markable for the length of its life, in the worm or 

 larve state, as well as for the injury it does to vege- 

 tation, after it has attained its perfect condition. By 

 Linnaeus, this species, which is also known by the 

 trivial names of' may-bug, door beetle, &c., was placed 

 in the genus scarabeeus, or beetle (see Beetle) and it 

 is true, that the melolontha have the general aspect, 

 conformation, and habits of the beetles. They differ 

 from them, however, in having the body less depress- 

 ed, swelling out above and below into a sort of 

 hump. The head is engaged in the corselet, which 

 is slightly narrowed in front, and most commonly at- 

 tached to the elytra behind. The antenna which 

 are foliated in a mass, are composed of ten joints, the 

 last of which terminates the mass like a plume, 

 which the insect displays at will, sometimes to the 

 number of seven plates, larger and more perfectly 

 developed in the males than females. The bodies of 

 melolontha are very often velvet-like, and covered 

 with hairs and imbricated scales, differently coloured 

 like the butterflies. Some species are very highly 

 adorned in this way, and present combinations of 

 brilliant and beautiful colours. 



The may-bug (melolontha vulgaris) is hatched from 

 an egg which the parent deposits in a hole about six 

 inches deep, which she digs for the purpose. Her 

 eggs are oblong, of a bright yellow colour, and are 

 placed regularly side by side, though not included in 

 any common envelope. At the end of about three 

 months, the bisects come out of the eggs as small 

 grubs or maggots, and feed upon the roots of vege- 

 tables in the vicinity with great voracity. As they 

 increase in size and strength, they become able to 

 make their way with ease under ground, and continue 

 their ravages upon the roots or plants. When the 

 worm has attained its greatest size, it is an inch and 

 a half long by more than half an inch thick, perfectly 

 white, with a red head, having a semicircular lip, 

 and a strong pah* of jaws, with which it cuts the 

 roots, for the purpose of sucking out their fluids. It 

 has two antennas, but is destitute of eyes. The sub- 

 terranean existence of these animals is extended to 

 four years, and, as their food is not accessible during 

 the cold season, they bury themselves sufficiently 

 deep in the soil to be safe from the frost, and pass 

 the whiter in a state of torpidity. When the spring 

 restores them to animation and activity, they revisit 

 the upper stratum of the ground, having, at each 

 annual awakening, undergone a change or skin. 



At the end of the third year, they have acquired 

 their full growth as larves ; they then cease eating, 

 and void the residue of their food, preparatory to the 



