THE POULTRY KIND. 129 



Of all other birds, the cock seems to be the 

 oldest companion of mankind, to have been first 

 reclaimed from the forest, and taken to supply 

 the accidental failure of the luxuries or neces- 

 saries of life. As he is thus longest under the 

 care of man, so of all others perhaps he exhibits 

 the greatest number of varieties, there being 

 scarce two birds of this species that exactly re- 

 semble each other in plumage and form. The 

 tail, which makes such a beautiful figure in the 

 generality of these birds, is yet found entirely 

 wanting in others ; and not only the tail, but the 

 rump also. The toes, which are usually four 

 in all animals of the poultry kind, yet in a species 

 of the cock are found to amount to five. The 

 feathers, which lie so sleek and in such beautiful 

 order in most of those we are acquainted with, 

 are in a peculiar breed all inverted, and stand 

 staring the wrong way. Nay, there is a species 

 that comes from Japan, which instead of feathers 

 seems to be covered over with hair. These and 

 many other varieties are to be found in this ani- 

 mal, which seem to be the marks this early pri- 

 soner bears of his long captivity. 



It is not well ascertained when the cock was 

 first made domestic in Europe, but it is generally 

 agreed that we first had him in our western 

 world from the kingdom of Persia. Aristophanes 

 calls the cock the Persian bird, and tells us he 

 enjoyed that kingdom before some of its earliest 

 monarchs. This animal was in fact known so 

 early, even in the most savage parts of Europe, 

 that we are told the cock was one of the forbid- 



VOL. IV. I 



