THE POULTRY KIND. 127 



the care of providing for posterity. Wild and 

 irregular in his appetites, he ranges from one to 

 another, and claims every female which he is 

 strong enough to keep from his fellows. Though 

 timorous when opposed to birds of prey, yet he 

 is incredibly bold among those of his own kind, 

 and but to see a male of his own species is suf- 

 ficient to produce a combat. As his desires ex- 

 tend to all, every creature becomes his enemy 

 that pretends to be his rival. 



The female, equally without fidelity or attach- 

 ment, yields to the most powerful. She stands 

 by, a quiet meretricious spectator of their fury, 

 ready to reward the conqueror with every com- 

 pliance. She takes upon herself all the labour of 

 hatching and bringing up her young, and chooses 

 a place for hatching as remote as 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, which are not fed with meat put into their 

 mouths, as in other classes of the feathered kind, 

 but peck their food, and, forsaking their nests, 

 run here and there, following the parent where- 

 ever it is to be found. She leads them forward 

 where they are likely to have the greatest quan- 

 tity 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 provid- 

 ing for and showing her young clutch their food, 

 she scarcely takes any nourishment herself. Her 



