CHAP. IX.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 199 



yet if a stand be made against him he will 

 run away ; but should another cock intrude 

 upon his rights as constituted lord and master 

 of his mates, the antagonists fight for the 

 hen as desperately as do those of any other 

 fowl. They spread out and erect their tail, 

 strutting pompously back and forward with 

 their head drawn back to the shoulders, and 

 uttering a succession of puffs from the lungs. 

 Having thus for some time alternately sur- 

 veyed each other, with their feathers ruffled, 

 the struggle then commences by striking each 

 other violeatly with their spurs and wings 

 until one is brought to the ground ; and, if 

 not separated, will not improbably be killed 

 by his opponent. The cock has also a great 

 antipathy to the colour of scarlet, and will 

 undauntedly commence an attack upon any 

 person wearing it, with a gobbling note of 

 preparation for battle. 



In courtship, his movements as well as 

 those of the hen are yet equally studied with 

 seeming affectation. They move around each 

 other with an amusing air of dignity, which 

 has been not unaptly compared to the ancient 

 formal mode of a couple dancing a minuet : 



