IX 

 THE GALLINACEOUS TRIBES 



I. In Anxiext Times 



In Germany the cock is actually a 



When did poultry become domestic animals ? weathercock on the steeples of Catholic 



Probably before they were brought from Asia. churches ; whereas that on the Lutheran 



At all ex'ents it is from Asia, and especially from steeples is a swan. 



her \'ast plains — which still hide so many of The cock must ha\'e appeared in Greece 



Nature's secrets — that our gallinaceous tribes about the middle of the second century B.C., 



have come. The dog and the cock were, reaching other parts of Europe in the next 



according to Zoro- 

 aster, sacred ani- 

 mals, — one as the 

 guardian of the 

 house and hearth, 

 the other as the 

 herald of the dawn 

 and thus the symbol 

 of light and the sun. 

 C o n s e q u e n 1 1 }■ we 

 find Idomeneus and 

 Pasiphae, descend- 

 ants of the Sun, 

 bearing the image of 

 a cock upon their 

 shields. In later 

 times the cock has 

 remained the s)-mbol 

 of vigilance and of 

 knowledge. How 



man)' interpretations have been gi\'en of its 

 crow ! It is said to indicate the place of buried 

 treasure. Black cocks are in communion with 

 the Evil Spirit ; they addle eggs, they predict 



Mr. Cock 



century, but not be- 

 fore. Saint Peter 

 had good cause to 

 know of it in the 

 first centur)' a.u. ; 

 and in the fourth 

 century the monas- 

 teries began to apply 

 themseh'es gener- 

 ally to the breeding 

 of poultry. Bishop 

 Martin sent great 

 numbers from Ital)' 

 into France and Ger- 

 many, where, after a 

 while, the peasantry 

 were allowed to pay 

 their taxes in poul- 

 try and eggs, a fact 

 greatly 



w h i c h 

 fa\ored the propagation of fowls. 



II. PouL'iKV IN Europe and in America 

 It was inexitable that the raising of poultry 

 ill luck, they tell people's fortunes by pecking should excite the interest of farmers through- 

 grain, with which they form letters and words out Europe. Countries like France, Belgium, 

 — an art that was called alectryomancy, in and Denmark have from this source within a 

 honor of one of the three Furies, who presided few years annually increased the national 

 o\'er the performance. To this dav in Bohemia wealth bv several millions. Italy, Hungary, 

 and Silesia the peasants tie a black cock to and Russia are the countries that supply Eng- 

 a tree, round which they dance ; and if a mar- land, France, Germany, Belgium, and the 

 riage is contracted dui-ing Lent they solemnly Netherlands with what they lack. If we read 

 tie a cock in a chair, |iut a red cap on its head, statistics we are amazed at the enormous quan- 

 decapitate it, and eat it to the strains of funereal tity of eggs sent from the East to the West ; 



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