THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 91 



of a certain foppery in the care that he bestows upon his 

 appearance. While other birds fight with beak and wing, 

 the cock is furnished by nature with a dagger, a formidable 

 weapon, especially in that branch of the family in which the 

 martial qualities are carried to their highest development 

 the game fowl. The cock can use his beak with effect, 

 but it is upon his spur that he mainly 

 relies for victory. Throughout the 

 whole of the gallinacese the same 

 characteristics are observable in a 



more or less marked degree. The male of the pheasant, 

 grouse, blackcock, and their numerous cousins and relations, 

 are all pugnacious to a degree, proud of displaying their 

 airs and graces to their wives, and ready to answer the 

 most distant challenge uttered by another male. 



The period at which the fowl was first domesticated is 

 lost in obscurity. The early Greek writers mention it as 

 a bird held from remote antiquity in high honour, and 

 Peisthetserus says that it is called the Persian bird, and at 



