HEN. 97 



to which, in other respects, it is nearly allied. The plu- 

 mage is ash-coloured, and two large tufts of feathers spring 

 from the pinion of each wing, bearing some resemblance to 

 hair, which the bird can erect or depress at pleasure. In 

 former times, their feathers were often set in gold, and 

 worn in the caps of persons of distinction by way of or- 

 nament. 



THE HEN. 



The fecundity of the hen is great ; she lays generally 

 two eggs in three days, and continues to lay through the 

 greatest part of the year, except during the time of 

 moulting, or shedding their feathers, which lasts about two 

 months. After having laid about twenty-five or thirty 

 eggs, she prepares for the painful task of incubation. If 

 she should be deprived of her own eggs, she will cover 

 those of any other kind, or even fictitious ones of stone or 

 chalk. 



A sitting hen is a lively emblem of the most affectionate 

 solicitude and attention : she covers her eggs with her 

 wings, fosters them with a genial warmth, changing them 

 gently, that all parts may be properly healed. She seems 

 to perceive the importance of her employment, and is so 

 intent on her occupation, that she neglects, in some 

 measure, the necessary supplies of food and drink ; she 

 omits no care, overlooks no precaution, to complete the 

 existence of the little incipient beings, and to guard 

 against the dangers that threaten them. Though naturally 

 timorous, she is now a heroine at the head of her troop of 

 chickens ; she is no longer acquainted with fear ; she 

 springs to the eyes of the stoutest dog, and is inspired with 

 so much courage by her new dignity, that she would 

 venture to encounter the fiercest animal in their defence. 



Buffon, with his usual elegance, observes, " that the 

 condition of a sitting hen, however insipid it may appear 

 to us, is perhaps not a tedious situation, but a state of 

 continual joy." 



Chickens have been long hatched in Egypt by means of 

 the artificial heat of an oven. In order to make a 

 calculation of the number thus hatched, it has been sup- 

 posed that, upon an average, each brood consists of about 

 30,000; from which it also appears, that the ovens of 

 Egypt annually give life to at least 92,640,000 of these 

 animals! K 



