156 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



times be observed to be related to slight differences of situa- 

 tion. Thus the cackle of a hen when she leaves her nest after 

 laying an &g^ is quite different from that which is made by 

 the same hen when, during the period of incubation, she quits 

 her eggs in search of food and water. 



It is not unlikely that the eminent domesticability of our 

 common fowls is in a way associated with the singular variety 

 of their notes. This variety indicates that the creatures are 

 in constant and effective communication with one another ; in 

 a word, they are very sympathetic. With this intellectual 

 helpfulness naturally goes the love of the domicile and a 

 disposition to submit to control. 



So nice and well understood are the differences between 

 the sounds which these birds give forth, and so well are their 

 notes appreciated by their companions, that the creatures 

 may well be said to have a language. Though it probably 

 conveys only emotions and not distinct thoughts, it still must 

 be regarded as a certain kind of speech. The modes of 

 expression indicate that in this creature, as in the other 

 feathered forms, the intellectual life consists largely in the 

 movements inspired by the emotions. On the rational side 

 our fowls seem weaker than many other less interesting 

 species. In their nesting and other habits there are no 

 evidences of constructive ingenuity ; and in all my observa- 

 tions on them I have never seen any evidence which showed 

 either considerable powers of memory or a capacity to act 

 in any complicated way with reference to an end. It is 

 evident, however, that they make a very good classifica- 

 tion of the world about them. They have, for the limited 

 field over which they roam, a keen topographic sense ; they 

 never are lost, and this in connection with their sympathetic 



