Book II. O^^IT HO LO QT. t?y 



laftly, by its long Spurs, it is abundantly diftinguifhed from all other birds Of its kind^ 

 and eafily known at firft fight. The Dunghil Cock, alone of all diurnal Birds ( ex- 

 cepting the Nightingale) fings or crows by night, viz. after Midnight two or three 

 times at intervals before break of day. The number of quill-feathers in each Wing, 

 computing all to the very leaft, is twenty feven. The Tail confifts of fourteen, 

 which, as far as I know, is peculiar to this Species : For the reft of the Poultry kind 

 have eighteen, or at leaft fixteen feathers apiece in their Tails. Ofthefethe two 

 middlemoft are in Cocks the longeft,and elegantly rerle&ed or arcuate , Sickle feathers 

 the Vulgar call them. 



The Cock being a moft falacious bird doth fuddenly grow old,and becomes lefs fit for 

 generation. For his fpirits being fpent,and the radical moifture,as they call it,confumed, 

 by the immoderate ufe of Venery, his body mult neceflarily wax dry, and his heat of 

 luft be extinguifhed. Aldrovandus writes, that himfelf hath found by experience, that. 

 Cocks when they are above three years old do indeed impregnate Hens, but that they 

 become more, impotent and infufficient for fuch exercifes. Hens alfo, fith they do for 

 the greateft part of the year daily lay Eggs, cannot long fuffice for fo many births, but 

 for the moft part after three or four years become barren and effete. For when they 

 have fpent allthe Seed-Eggs which from the beginning were in their bodies^ they muft 

 needs ceafe to lay, there being no new ones generated within. 



How long thefe Birds would live,were they let alone, I cannot certainly determine, 

 though Aldrov. limits their age to ten years. For they being kept Only for profit, and 

 within a few years ( as we faid before ) becoming unfit for generation, who is there 

 that without allhope of gain will keep them only to make experiment how long they 

 will live ? But that they are in their kind (hort-lived we may rightly infer from their 

 fiilacioufnefs and intemperate luft, which infeebles the body, waftes the fpirits, and 

 haftens the end. 



Cocks, being very couragious and high fpirited birds, that will rather die than 

 yield, are wont by our Countrymen to be with great care and exact, diet fed and 

 trained up for the combat. For in Cities and great Towns there are frequent Cock- 

 fightings, yet not upon fet days, but appointed by the Cock-mafters at their pleafure 3 

 or when they agree among themfelves. Yea, in many places there are Theaters built, 

 ( Cock-pits they call them ) where fuch (hows are exhibited, to which there is com- 

 monly a great concourfe of people. There are matches made, and great Wagers laid, 

 befides bettings on either fide of great fums of money, which they carry away whofe 

 Cocks get the vict ory. Right and well bred Cocks of the Game, will fooner die upon 

 the fpot, than yield and give over the fight, or turn tail and run away. 



No better flefh in the world (in my opinion ) than that of a year-old Pullet well 

 fed, or a fat Capon } nothing inferiour to, not to fay better than that of a Pheasant or 

 Partridge, Some there are that think, and we alfo incline to their opinion, that the 

 flefh of thofe Hens is moft fweet and delicate, which are fed at the Barn-door,running 

 about, and exercifing themfelves in getting their food, by fcraping with their feet t 

 And that the flefh of thofe is lefs pleafant and wholfom, that are fhut up in Coops and 

 cram'd. Some are fo curious that they think thofe limbs moft wholfom which are 

 moft exercifed, and therefore in Wild-Fowl they prefer the Wings, in Tame the 

 Legs. 



A particular Anatomical defcription of the Ovarium, or Egg-clufter, the womb and 

 other parts of generation in a Hen may be feen in Aldrovandus his Ornithology, torn. 2, 

 p. 199, dw\ but a more exact, in Dr. Harvey's Exer 'citations De Generation. Of 

 the Coition of Cock and Hen, laying of Eggs, fitting, and hatching of Chickens 

 the fame Authors may be confulted 5 as alfo that great Anatomift and Naturalift Mar- 

 cellus Malpighius, in his little Tractate de Ovo, who of all others doth moft exactly de- 

 fcribe the procefs of generation, or of the formation, and growth of the Chicken in 

 the Egg, during the whole time of incubation, and hath alfo illuftrated his defcripti- 

 ons with Figures. Of the ufe of the flefh, Eggs, and all other parts of Pullen both in 

 Food and Phy fie, Gefner and Aldrovandus have writ fufficiently 5 to whofe works we 

 refer thofe who defire to know all thofe particulars. 



That the Lion is afraid of a Cock, cannot endure the fight of him, yea, is terrified 

 by his very crowing, hath been delivered and received by Ancients and Moderns with 

 unanimous confent and approbation, and divers reafons fought and affigned for this 

 antipathy : When as the thing it felf is by experience found to be falfe. 



We have beheld more than once, not without pleafure and admiration, a Capon 

 bringing up a brood of Chickens like a Hen, clocking of them, feeding of them, and 



X 2 brooding 



