274 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



a premium ; the preferences of Fowls for particular 

 hens are, however, well known, and Chaucer makes 

 a great point of this in his story of Chanticleer and 

 Partlet. I have myself seen a large half- Spanish 

 cock always accompanied by bantam hens, where 

 the attachment must have been mutual, as he was 

 master of the yard and could have had his choice, 

 while he could not have compelled the attendance 

 of such active little creatures had they not actually 

 preferred him to the bantam cocks. 



A Buff Cochin which was the pride of my boyish 

 poultry-fancying also was much in love with the 

 smallest and prettiest of our mongrel hens, and 

 a Globose Curassow cock at the Zoo was devoted 

 to a hen of the handsome zebra-marked aber- 

 rational type described as Grax hecki, preferring 

 her to three normal brown hens. He bred with 

 her twice, and when separated from her on the 

 second occasion lest his fury in defence should 

 endanger the chick (which, by the way, is a hen, 

 and typical globicera), moped and would not eat 

 for some days. Such grief is not unusual among 

 birds of strong character ; Rogeron cites a case in 

 which a Carolina Drake died of nothing else but 

 shock at the death of his mate, and Hume gives 

 two instances justifying the current belief in 

 India that if one of a pair of Sarus Cranes is shot 

 the other will pine to death. 



Besides love, birds exhibit hatred in a very 

 marked degree ; their general rancour against 

 Owls is very noticeable, and high-spirited species 



