LANGUAGE OF TOWIS. 247 



therefore, best understood. At first, — ^the peacock, with Ms 

 gorgeous train, demands our attention ; but, like moat of 

 the gaudy birds, his notes are grating and shocking to the 

 ear : the yelling of cats, and the braying of an ass, are not 

 more disgustfal. The voice of the goose is trumpet-like, 

 and clanking ; and once saved the Capitol at Eome, as grave 

 historians assert : the hiss also of the gander is formidable, 

 and full of menace, and " protective of his young." Among 

 ducks, the sexual distinction of voice is remarkable ; for, 

 while the quack of the female is loud and sonorous, the 

 voice of the drake is inward, and harsh, and feeble, and scarce 

 discernible. The cock-turkey struts and gobbles to his 

 mistress iu a most uncouth manner ; he hath also a pert and 

 petulant note when he attacks his adversary. "When a hen- 

 turkey leads forth her young brood, she keeps a watchful 

 eye ; and if a bird of prey appear, though ever so high in the 

 air, the careful mother announces the enemy with a little 

 inward moan, and watches him with a steady and attentive 

 look; but, if he approach, her note becomes earnest and 

 alarming, and her outcries are redoubled. 



No inhabitants of a yard seem possessed of such a variety 

 of expression, and so copious a language, as common poultry. 

 Take a chicken of four or five days old, and hold it up to a 

 vrindow where there are flies, and it wiL immediately seize 

 its prey with little twitterings of complacency ; but if you 

 tender it a wasp or a bee, at once its note becomes harsh 

 and expressive of disapprobation, and a sense of danger. 

 "When a pullet is ready to lay, she intimates the event by a 

 joyous and easy soft note. Of all the occurrences of their 

 life, that of laying seems to be the most important ; for, no 

 sooner has a hen disburdened herself, than she rushes forth 

 with a clamorous kind of joy, which the cock and the rest 

 of his mistresses immediately adopt. The tumult is not 

 confined to the family concerned, but catches from yard to 

 • yard, and spreads to every homestead within hearing, tiU at 

 last the whole village is in an uproar. As soon as a hen 

 becomes a mother, her new relation demands a new language; 

 she then runs clucking and screaming about, and seems 

 agitated as if possessed. The father of the flock has also a 

 considerable vocabulary ; if he finds food, he calls a favourite 

 concubine to partake ; and if a bird of prey passes over, with 



