58 NATURAL HISTORY 



Of all the occurrences of their life that of 

 laying seems to be the most important ; for 

 no sooner has a hen disburthened herself, 

 than she rushes forth with a clamorous 

 kind of joy, which the cock and the rest 

 of his mistresses immediately adopt. The 

 tumult is not confined to the family con- 

 cerned, but catches from yard to yard, and 

 spreads to every homestead within hearing, 

 till at last the whole village is in an uproar. 

 As soon as a hen becomes a mother her 

 new relation demands a new language ; she 

 then runs clucking and screaming about, 

 and seems agitated as if possessed. The 

 father of the flock has also a considerable 

 vocabulary ; if he finds food, he calls a 

 favourite concubine to partake ; and if a 

 bird of prey passes over, with a warning 

 voice he bids his family beware. The gal- 

 lant chanticleer has, at command, his amo- 

 rous phrases and his terms of defiance. 

 But the sound by which he is best known 

 is his crowing : by this he has been distin- 

 guished in all ages as the countryman^s 



