50 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 



that had attacked a chick of hers. She did not allow it time 

 to seize the chicken, but struck at it with both beak and 

 spurs." H. IL, July 13, 1848. 



"But all Hens are not alike: they have their little whims 

 and fancies, likes and dislikes, as capricious and unaccountable 

 as those of other females. Some are gentle, others sanguinary ; 

 some are lazy, others energetic almost to insanity. Some can 

 scarcely be kept out of the house ; others say, l Thank you, but 

 Td rather be left to myself/ 



" Finally, they differ in manners and disposition ; for besides 

 that some are called Domestic, others Wild, even among the 

 Domestic ones, some by their very nature are so mild and 

 familiar that they cannot get through life without the society 

 of mankind; of which I am an eye-witness. For, some years 

 ago, I kept at my country-seat a Hen, which, besides keeping 

 by herself all day long, and wandering about the house apart 

 from the companionship of her fellows, in the evening would 

 go to rest nowhere but close to me among my books, and those 

 rather big ones, (eosque majores), although she was often driven 

 away. Some, on the other hand, so far from taking pleasure 

 in the society of men, are so shy as to avoid them utterly; 

 others are cruel to their own young; others suck the eggs that 

 themselves have laid/'- Aldrovandi. 



A fact respecting Fowls, that has not been sufficiently re- 

 garded, but which goes far to prove their high antiquity, is 

 the permanent character of the different varieties. Before 

 attending much to the subject, people fancy that crossings and 

 intermixtures may be infinitely multiplied and continued, re- 

 stricted only by the algebraic law of Permutation and Combi- 

 nation ; and such is the current opinion among many who are 

 accustomed to see the diverse colours and appearance of Fowls 

 promiscuously bred in a farm-yard. But the observant breeder 

 knows that such is not the case. Nothing is more difficult 

 than to establish a permanent intermediate race between even 



