THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 95 



even a lath, placed above his perch, so as to prevent him 

 raising his head to the fullest, will effectually silence him. 

 To the negro race the attractions of the domestic bird are 

 simply irresistible, being shared, however, by those of the 

 melon. In the United States it is found that even the most 

 irreproachable conduct in every other respect, together with 

 a close chapel membership, fail to brace him to resist their 

 temptations, and that the fowl-house and melon patch are 

 attractions irresistible to the negro. Indeed, a yielding to 

 temptation in this respect is regarded by him as no more 

 serious an offence than is the purloining of an umbrella or 

 the cheating the Customs by an Englishman. 



The domestic fowl, although itself affording delicate 

 eating, is in no way particular about its own food, and is in 

 this respect almost omnivorous. Insects, slugs, and worms 

 are doubtless its natural food, but it delights in grain of all 

 kinds, and will eat with avidity vegetable refuse and kitchen 

 scraps of every description. Neither fish, flesh, nor fowl 

 comes amiss to it, nor does it, as far as it is known, suffer 

 from indigestion, although occasionally inconvenienced by 

 over-eating. But as the greater part of humanity also suffer 

 from partaking of a much larger quantity of food than is 

 necessary for existence, it would be unfair to blame the fowl 

 on this account. Upon the whole, the cock and his wife 

 are, except for a tendency to be quarrelsome and an inordinate 

 fondness for lifting up his voice on the part of the former, 

 a couple deserving our highest admiration, alike for the 

 courage and valour of the male, the domestic virtues of 

 the female, and the assiduity which they display not only in 

 the multiplication of their race, but in the provision of a 

 large supply of most wholesome and nutritious food to man. 



