86 A HISTORY OF 



his desires extend to all, every creature becomes his enemy that pre- 

 tends to be his rival. 



The female, equally without fidelity or attachment, 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 herself all the labour of hatching and bringing up her 

 young, and chooses a place for hatching as remote ;is possible from 

 the cock. Indeed, she gives herself very little trouble in making a 

 nest, as her young ones are to forsake it the instant they part from 

 the shell. 



She is equally unassisted in providing for her young, that are not 

 fed with meat put into their mouths, as in other classes of the feather- 

 ed kind, but peck their food, and forsaking their nests, run here and 

 there, following the parent wherever it is to be found. She leads 

 them forward where they are likely to have the greatest quantity of 

 grain, and takes care to show, by pecking, the sort proper for them to 

 seek for. Though 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 scarce takes any nourishment her- 

 self. Her parental pride seems to overpower every other appetite, 

 but that decreases in proportion as her young ones are more able to 

 provide for themselves, and then all her voracious 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 

 interposed between their feathers, to keep them from lying too close 

 together, and thus increasing that heat with which they are incom- 

 moded. 



CHAPTER II. 



OP THE COCK. 



ALL birds taken under the protection of man lose a part of theii 

 natural figure, and are altered not only in their habits but their very 

 form. Climate, food, and captivity, are three very powerful agents 

 in producing these alterations ; and those birds that have longest felt 

 their influence under human direction, are the most likely to have the 

 greatest variety in their figures, their plumage, and their dispositions. 



Of all other birds, the cock seems to be the oldest companion of 

 mankind, to have been first reclaimed from the forest, and taken to 

 supply the accidental failure of the luxuries or necessities of life. As 

 he is thus longest under the care of man, so of all others perhaps 

 he exhibits the greatest number of varieties, there being scarce two 



