ANCIENT IMPORTANCE OP THE COCK. 229 



day-beams to surprise us without timely warning ; their 

 crowing announces the hour of the morning, and the 

 crowing itself is announced by the clapping of their 

 wings. Each farm-yard has its peculiar king, and 

 amongst these monarchs, as amongst the princes of our 

 race, empire is the meed of victory. They seem to un- 

 derstand the design of those weapons with which their 

 feet are furnished. Two rivals sometimes perish to- 

 gether in the combat. If one be conqueror, he imme- 

 diately chants forth his own supremacy, while the 

 other retreats and disappears, ashamed of his defeat. 

 The gait of the cock is proud and commanding ; he 

 walks with head erect and elevated crest. He alone, of 

 all birds, looks habitually upwards to the sky, raising at 

 the same time his curved and scythe-formed tail, and 

 inspiring terror in the lion himself, that most cou- 

 rageous of animals. Some of these birds seem born for 

 nothing but warfare, so as to render the countries that 

 produced them famous, such as Rhodes and Tanagra. 

 The second rank is assigned to those from Melos and 

 Chalcis, birds truly worthy of the homage they receive 

 from the Roman people. Their repasts are solemn pre- 

 sages ; they regulate daily the conduct of our magis- 

 trates, and open or close to them their own houses. 

 They prescribe repose or movement to the Roman 

 forces ; they command or prohibit battles ; they have 

 announced all the victories gained throughout the uni- 

 verse ; in a word, they lord it over the masters of the 

 world. Their prolonged notes in the evening, and at 

 extraordinary hours, constitute presages. By crowing 

 all night long, they announced to the Boeotians a cele- 

 brated victory over the Lacedaemonians ; thus did the 

 diviners interpret it, because this bird never crows when. 

 he is conquered." 



Domestic fowls are supposed to be of Persian origin, 

 but are now inhabitants of most parts of the world. 

 There are many varieties, of which the principal are 

 the Dorking (so called from a town in Surrey), a large 



