THE POULTRY KIND. 137 



the functions of the tenderest parent. A capon 

 once accustomed to this service, will not give 

 over ; but when one brood is grown up, he may 

 have another nearly hatched put under him, 

 which he will treat with the same tenderness he 

 did the former. 



The cock, from his salaciousness, is allowed to 

 be a short-lived animal ; but how long these 

 birds live, if left to themselves, is not yet well as- 

 certained by any historian. As they are kept 

 only for profit, and in a few years become unfit 

 for generation, there are few that, from mere mo- 

 tives of curiosity, will make the tedious experi- 

 ment of maintaining a proper number till they 

 die. Aldrovandus hints their age to be ten years ; 

 and it is probable that this may be its extent. 

 They are subject to some disorders, which it is 

 not our business to describe ; and as for poisons, 

 besides nux vomica, which is fatal to most ani- 

 mals except man, they are injured, as Linnaeus 

 asserts, by elder-berries, of which they are not 

 a little fond. 



CHAPTER III. 



OF THE PEACOCK. 



THE Peacock, by the common people of Italy, is 

 said to have the plumage of an angel, the voice 

 of a devil, and the guts of a thief. In fact, each 



