56 LAYING INCUBATION. [CHAP, 11, 



case he does not pine in solitude very long, but goes 

 and searches out his careless helpmate, and with close 

 pursuit, and a few sharp pecks, if necessary, insists 

 upon her attending to her business at home. Like the 

 good husband described in Fuller's " Holy State," " his 

 love to his wife weakeneth not his ruling her, and his 

 ruling lesseneth not his loving her. Wherefore he 

 avoideth all fondnesse, (a sick love, to be praised in 

 none, and pardoned onely in the newly married,) whereby 

 more have wilfully betrayed their command, and ever 

 lost it by their wives' rebellion. Me thinks the he-viper 

 is right enough served, which (as Pliny reports) puts 

 his head into the she-viper's mouth, and she bites it 

 off. And what wonder is it if women take the rule to 

 themselves, which their uxorious husbands first sur- 

 render unto them ? " * Well, the cock Pigeon is no 

 he-viper, and so the hen obeys, occasionally, however, 

 giving some trouble ; but at last she feels that she 

 must discontinue general visiting and long excursions ; 

 she enters the modest establishment that has been pre- 

 pared for her performance of her maternal duties. A 

 day or two after she has signified her acceptance of the 

 new home, an egg may be expected to be found there. 

 Over this she (mostly) stands sentinel, till, after an 

 intervening day, a second egg is laid, and incubation 

 really commences ; not hotly and energetically at first, 

 as with Hens, Turkeys, and many other birds, but gently 

 and with increasing assiduity. 



And now the merits of her mate grow apparent. He 

 does not leave his lady to bear a solitary burden of ma- 

 trimonial care, while he has indulged in the pleasures 



* Book I. chap. iii. 



