THE POULTRY KIND. 



493 



as each knows his strength, he seldom tries 

 a second time the combat where he has once 

 been worsted. 



In this manner, all of this kind seem to 

 lead an indolent voluptuous life ; as they are 

 furnished internally with a very strong sto- 

 mach, commonly called a gizzard, so their 

 voraciousness scarcely knows any bounds. 

 If kept in close captivity, and separated from 

 all their former companions, they still have 

 the pleasure of eating left; and they soon 

 grow fat and unwieldy in their prison. To 

 say this more simply, many of the wilder spe- 

 cies of birds, when cooped or caged, pine 

 away, grow gloomy, and some refuse all sus- 

 tenance whatever; none, except those of the 

 poultry kind, grow fat. who seem to lose all 

 remembrance of their former liberty, satis- 

 fied with indolence and plenty. 



The poultry kind may be considered as 

 eensual epicures, solely governed by their ap- 

 petites. The indulgence of these seems to 

 influence their other habits, and destroys 

 among them that connubial fidelity for which 

 most other kinds are remarkable. The ea- 

 gle and the falcon, how fierce soever to other 

 animals, ;ire yet gentle and true to each other; 

 their connexions, when once formed, con- 

 tinue till death; and the male and female, in 

 every exigence, and every duty, lend faithful 

 assistance to each other. They assist each 

 other in the production of their young, in pro- 

 viding for them when produced ; and even 

 then, though they drive them forth to fight 

 their own battles, yet the old ones still retain 

 their former affection to each other, and sel- 

 dom part far asunder. 



But it is very different with this luxurious 

 class I am now describing. Their courtship 

 is but short, and their congress fortuitous. 

 The male takes no heed of his offspring ; and 

 satisfied with the pleasure of getting, leaves 

 to the female all the care of providing for 

 posterity. Wild and irregular in his appetites, 

 he ranges from one to another; and claims 

 every female which he is strong enough to 

 keep from his fellows. Though timorous 

 when opposed to birds of prey, yet he is in- 



credibly bold among those of his own kind ; 

 and but to see a male of his own species is 

 sufficient to produce a combat. As his 

 desires extend to all, every creature be- 

 comes his enemy that pretends to be his 

 rival. 



The female, equally without fidelity or at- 

 tachment, yields to the most powerful. She 

 stands by, a quiet meretricious spectator of 

 their fury, ready to reward the conqueror 

 with every compliance. She takes upon her- 

 self all the labour of hatching and bringing 

 up her young, and chooses a place for hatch- 

 ing as remote as possible from the cock. In- 

 deed, she gives herself very little trouble in 

 making a nest, as her young ones are to leave 

 it the instant they part from the shell. 



She is equally unassisted in providing for 

 her young, that are not fed with meat put in- 

 to their mouths, as in other classes of the fea- 

 thered kind, but peck their food, and, for- 

 saking their nests, run here and there, fol- 

 lowing the parent wherever it is to be found 

 She leads them forward where they are like 

 ly to have the greatest quantity of grain, and 

 takes care to show, by pecking, the sort pro- 

 per for them to seek for. Thougli at other 

 times voracious, she is then abstemious to an 

 extreme degree ; and intent only on providing 

 for, and showing her young clutch their food, 

 she scarcely takes any nourishment herself. 

 Her parental pride seems to overpower every 

 other appetite; but that decreases in pro- 

 portion as her young ones are more able to 

 provide for themselves, and then all her vo- 

 racious habits return. 



Among the other habits peculiar to this 

 class of birds is that of dusting themselves. 

 They lie flat in some dusty place, and with 

 their wings and feet raise and scatter the 

 dust over their whole body. What may be 

 their reason for thus doing, it is not easy to 

 explain. Perhaps the heat of their bodies is 

 such, that they require this powder to be in- 

 terposed between their feathers, to keep 

 them from lying too close together, and thus 

 increasing that heat with which they are in- 

 commoded. 



4C 



