DOMESTIC FOWLS. 215 



And first the peacock, with his gorgeous train, demands our 

 attention ; but, like most of the gaudy birds, his notes are 

 grating and shocking to the ear : the yelling of cats, and the bray- 

 ing of an ass, are not more disgustful. The voice of the goose 

 is trumpet-like, and clanking; and one saved the Capitol of 

 Rome, as grave historians assert : the hiss also of the gander is 

 formidable and full of menace, and "protective of his young." 

 Among ducks the sexual distinction of voice is remarkable ; for, 

 while the quack of the female is loud and sonorous, the voice of 

 the drake is inward and harsh, and feeble, and scarce discernible. 

 The cock turkey struts and gobbles to his mistress in a most un- 

 couth manner ; he hath also a pert and petulant note when he 

 attacks his adversary. When a hen turkey leads forth her young 

 brood she keeps a watchful eye : and if a bird of prey appear, 

 though ever so high in the air, the careful mother announces 

 the enemy with a little inward moan, and watches him with a 

 steady and attentive look ; but, if he approach, her note becomes 

 earnest and alarming, and her outcries are redoubled. 



No inhabitants of a yard seem possessed of such a variety of 

 expression and so copious a language as common poultry. Take 

 a chicken of four or five days old, and hold it up to a window 

 where there are flies, and it will immediately seize its prey, with 

 little twitterings of complacency ; but if you tender it a wasp or 

 a bee, at once its note becomes harsh, and expressive of dis- 

 approbation and a sense of danger. When a pullet is ready to 

 lay she intimates the event by a joyous and easy soft note. Of 

 all the occurrences of their life that of laying seems to be the 

 most important ; for no sooner has a hen disburdened herself, 

 than she rushes forth with a clamorous kind of joy, which the 

 cock and the rest of his mistresses immediately adopt. The 

 tumult is not confined to the family concerned, but catches from 

 yard to yard, and spreads to every homestead within hearing, 

 till at last the whole village is in an uproar. As soon as a hen 

 becomes a mother, her new relation demands a new language ; 

 she then runs clocking and screaming about, and seems agitated 

 as if possessed. The father of the flock has also a considerable 

 vocabulary ; if he finds food, he calls a favourite concubine to 

 partake ; and if a bird of prey passes over, with a warning voice 

 he bids his family beware. The gallant chanticleer has, at com- 

 mand, his amorous phrases and his terms of defiance. But the 

 sound by which he is best known is his crowing : by this he has 



