128 HISTORY OF 



parental pride seems to overpower every other 

 appetite ; but that decreases in proportion as her 

 young ones are more able to provide for them- 

 selves, 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 in- 

 creasing that heat with which they are incom- 

 moded. 



CHAPTER II. 



OF THE COCK. 



ALL birds taken under the protection of man 

 lose a part of their natural figure, and are altered 

 not only in their habits, but their very form. Cli- 

 mate, food, and captivity, are three very power- 

 ful 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. 



