THE OWL KIND. 205 



ihore limn three eggs at a time, which are rather larger 

 than those of a hen : the young ones, as soon as hatch- 

 ed, are very voracious, and the parents are indefatiga- 

 ble in their endeavours to supply them with food. 



The lesser owl of this kind never takes the trouble of 

 forming a nest for itself, but takes possession of one that 

 has been made by another bird, where it deposits four or 

 five eggs, and generally produces a milk-white brood, 

 which, in th« course of about a fortnight, become tinged 

 with a yellowish brown. Every species of this animal is 

 completely indocile, and difficult to be tamed ; if, after 

 a certain age, they are shut up in an aviary, they will 

 refuse all sustenance, and pine themselves to death. 



CHAP. V. 



OF THE POULTRY KIND. 



FROM the most rapacious and noxious kind of birds 

 we are making a transition to those which are most 

 tame, and which not only contribute to the delicacies 

 of the table, but, as articles of traffic, prove of the 

 most essential use. 



Under birds of the poultry kind, we rank all those 

 that have white flesh, and bodies bulky, when compared 

 with the size of their head and limbs : in this class is 

 included the common cock, the peacock, the turkey, the 

 pintado, or guinea-hen, the pheasant, the partridge, the 

 grous, the bustard, and the quail. As Nature has 

 formed the rapacious class for war, so she seems equally 

 to have fitted these for peace, and given them a fond- 

 ness for socral enjoyments, which carnivorous animals 

 are not calculated to taste: their wings are short, which 

 prevents them from wandering, and may be the means 



