436 NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND BIRDS 



June 17, 1852. I hear the' universal cock-crowing 

 with surprise and pleasure, as if I never heard it before. 

 What a tough fellow ! How native to the earth ! Neither 

 wet nor dry, cold nor warm, kills him. 



July 6, 1852. When the hen hatches ducks they do 

 not mind her clucking. They lead the hen. Chickens 

 and ducks are well set on the earth. What great legs 

 they have! This part is early developed. A perfect 

 Antaeus is a young duck in this respect, deriving a 

 steady stream of health and strength, for he rarely gets 

 off it, ready either for land or water. Nature is not on 

 her last legs yet. A chick's stout legs ! If they were a 

 little larger they would injure the globe's tender organi- 

 zation with their scratching. Then, for digestion, consider 

 their crops and what they put into them in the course of 

 a day ! Consider how well fitted to endure the fatigue of 

 a day's excursion. A young chick will run all day in pur- 

 suit of grasshoppers and occasionally vary its exercise by 

 scratching, go to bed at night with protuberant crop, and 

 get up early in the morning ready for a new start. 



July 25, 1852. As I came along, the whole earth 

 resounded with the crowing of cocks, from the eastern 

 unto the western horizon, and as I passed a yard, I saw 

 a white rooster on the topmost rail of a fence pouring 

 forth his challenges for destiny to come on. This salu- 

 tation was travelling round the world ; some six hours 

 since had resounded through England, France, and 

 Spain ; then the sun passed over a belt of silence where 

 the Atlantic flows, except a clarion here and there from 

 some cooped-up cock upon the waves, till greeted with 

 a general all-hail along the Atlantic shore. 



