BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 75 



one of her wings, aud disappointing him with a 

 mouthful of feathers. 



The Uses of Volatilcs. 



The uses of the poultry kind, especially of such as 

 are domesticated, are too obvious to be enumerated; 

 it may, however, be remarked, that the common 

 Hen, if well supplied with food and water, is said 

 to lay sometimes two hundred eggs in a year; and 

 the fecundity of the Pigeon in its domestic state is 

 so great, that from a single pair, near fifteen thou- 

 sand may be produced in four years. 



The flesh of the .Grouse kind is esteemed for its 

 delicacy; the Peacock, in some countries, is consi- 

 dered as a luxury; and although it is in a great mea- 

 sure for his singular plumage that man has been 

 tempted to follow the Ostrich in his desert retreat, 

 some of the African tribes are very fond of his flesh, 

 and even the Romans appear to have considered it a 

 dainty; for it is recorded of Heliogabalus, that he 

 had the brains of six hundred of these animals, at a 

 feast, served up in one dish! He should immediately 

 after partaking of that dish, have buried his head in 

 the sand, and been ashamed to resume the erect form 

 of man, whose character he had disgraced. There 

 are, besides, many parts of this animal which are 

 supposed to be very salutary for medicinal purposes, 

 and their strength and swiftness seem to render them 

 very fit for the purposes of travelling or carrying bur- 

 dens; fop Moore relates, that at Joar in Africa, he 



