34 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



grow combs when quite small, and so the sex may be known 

 when they are only a few weeks old. In other breeds the sex 

 may not be distinguished with certainty until the birds are several 

 months old, or, in some cases, until they are nearly full-grown. 



FIG. 15. White Polish male (crowing) and female. (Photograph from 

 Leontine Lincoln Jr., Fall River, Massachusetts) 



The adult male fowl is called a cock, and also, in popular 

 phrase, a rooster. The adult female fowl is called a hen. The 

 word " hen " is the feminine form of hana, the Anglo-Saxon 

 name for the cock. It is likely that the name " cock," which it 

 is plain was taken from the first syllable of the crow of the bird, 

 was gradually substituted for hana because it is shorter. Hana 

 means " the singer." A young fowl is called a chicken until the 



