278 WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS. 



pigs. Doubtless some of the enemies of gallin- 

 aceous birds could be driven off or intimidated 

 by a combined attack, although, as has been 

 remarked above, the weapons of the jungle-cock 

 would not prove of much use against such a 

 foe as a wild cat or a jackal. St John states 

 that the fowls in a farmyard made a combined 

 attack upon a hawk which had destroyed a 

 number of chicks. The unlucky robber had 

 been caught in a trap and disabled so that its 

 beak and claws could do no damage, and the 

 indignant hens soon pecked it to death. A hen 

 will often defend her brood with the most reck- 

 less bravery, and always resorts to the stratagem 

 of rufflingf out her feathers so as to give herself 

 a formidable appearance. 



The vehement, hysterical cackling, flapping of 

 wings, and general excitement shown by a fowl 

 which is frightened, is doubtless the remains of 

 an artifice exceedingly common among wild birds 

 which live chiefly upon the ground. It can 

 hardly be said that the bewildering noise thus 

 made is sufficient to intimidate a formidable 

 enemy, and yet it is by no means difficult to 

 show how useful such a habit may be as a 

 means of protection. Every one who has flushed 



