186 CLASS AVES. • 



They appear to comprehend the design of those weapons 

 with which their feet are armed. It is not uncommon for 

 two rivals to perish in the combat. If one be conqueror, he 

 immediately sings forth his triumph, and proclaims his own 

 supremacy : the other retreats and disappears, ashamed of 

 his defeat. The gait of the cock is proud and commanding ; 

 he walks with head erect, and elevated crest. Alone of all 

 birds, he habitually looks up to the sky, raising at the 

 same time his curved and scythe-formed tail, and inspiring 

 terror in the lion himself, that most intrepid of animals. 

 Some of these birds seem actually bom for nothing but 

 warfare and battles ; some have rendered the countries which 

 produced them famous, such as Rhodes and Tanagra. The 

 second rank is assigned to those from Melos and Chalcis — 

 birds truly worthy of the homage they receive from the 

 Roman purple ! Their repasts are solemn presages ; they 

 regulate daily the conduct of our magistrates, and open or 

 close to them their own houses. They prescribe repose or 

 movement to the Roman fasces ; they command or prohibit 

 battles ; they have announced all the victories gained 

 throughout the universe ; in a word, they lord it over the 

 masters of the world. Their very entrails and fibres are not 

 less agreeable to the gods than the richest victims. Their 

 prolonged notes in the evening, and at extraordinary hours, 

 constitute presages. By crowing all night long, they an- 

 nounced to the Boeotians a celebrated victory over the Lace- 

 demonians ; thus did the diviners interpret it, because this 

 bird never crows when he is conquered." 



The cock has a full body, a gait slow and firm. His glance 

 is lively and animated, his air proud and independent, with- 

 out any thing menacing or ferocious. He is a being confi- 

 dent in his own strength and courage, conscious of his own 

 worth, but not disdainful of others. Certain of his own 

 superiority, and of the right which he assumes, he knows 



