THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 7 



proclaim the same, and bear its figure stamped upon 

 them. Nor is its delineation - absent on other relics of 

 remote periods. In Camparini's " Etruscan Tombs," 

 we see several persons reclined on a sort of couch, 

 taking wine and bread after the burial of some friend. 

 Under one of the tables a cock and hen are depicted, 

 and under another a cat is seen insidiously creeping 

 towards them. Figures of the domestic fowl are carved 

 in relief on the marbles lately brought into England 

 from Lycia, in Asia Minor, by Sir C. Fellows, and 

 their outlines are represented to be remarkable for 

 accuracy. 



Among the Greeks and Romans the fowl figured in 

 the public shows. It was dedicated to Apollo, to 

 Mercury, to ^Esculapius, and to Mars ; and its courage 

 and watchfulness were well appreciated. The Rhodian 

 fowls, and those of Delos, Chalcis, Media, and Persia, 

 were celebrated for their superiority in fight, and for 

 the excellence and delicacy of their flesh. Cock-fight- 

 ing, as might be expected, was a diversion in conson- 

 ance with the tastes of the Romans, and they were as 

 much devoted to it as the Malays of the present day, 

 who will stake all upon the issue of the battle. To 

 the rearing of these birds for the table, the greatest 

 attention was paid by the luxurious. They had their 

 gallinaria, and were accustomed to cram their fowls 

 with meal, and keep them in the dark that they might 

 the more readily fatten ; nor were the capon, (gallus 

 spado,) and the poularde, (gallina spadonia,) unknown, 



Herodotus does not mention the fowl as among the 

 domestic birds of Egypt, though he speaks of the goose, 

 the vulpanser, or chenalopex, the duck, the quail, 

 small birds, and two sorts of ibis ; neither does it occur 

 on any of the ancient monuments of that country. 



Aristotle, who wrote about 350 years before Christ, 

 speaks of them as familiarly as a natural historian 

 of the present day would. It is unnecessary more than 

 to allude to the beautiful comparisons taken from them 

 in the New Testament. The Roman authors of tho 



