394 WHETHER DOMESTIC POULTllY WERE 
The hen is timorous enough, when she has no brood, 
and runs away from those that approach her ; but the case 
is different, when she is surrounded by her young. She 
then displays a courage and boldness, which repel and inti- 
midate man and beast. She often puts dogs to flight, and 
sometimes kills rats, which are for devouring the eggs or 
the brood. 
She is determined at all hazards to defend her offspring, 
and perish rather than desert them. Nothing can exceed 
her anxiety for their safety. It is lovely to see her bestir- 
ring herself to find out their food, and inviting them to the 
feast, without touching it herself. After they are satisfied, 
and disposed to rest, how does she cover them with her 
wings, and cherish them with her heat ! 
The maternal fondness of the hen is not more delight- 
ful to consider, than the striking, manner in which the cock 
proclaims the dawn. He has long been celebrated as the 
herald of the morn, and to this office alone he is entitled, 
for the notice taken of him in the New Testament, if that 
notice be direct, and not metaphorical. 
When our Lord^s trial before the chief priests and 
rulers of the Jews approached, he is represented in Mat- 
thew, Luke, and John, as saying to Peter, " Before the 
cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice;^' but in IMark, " Be- 
fore the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.'' 
In these accounts, there is no real contradiction. The 
other evangelists seem to have given the general sense of our 
Lord's expressions, but Mark his very words. Of course 
his account is more accurate, because more particular. 
According to the Jewish reckoning, there were three 
cock-crowings ; but heathen authors speak only of tw^o. 
The cock, we believe, does not observe any set times. Cer- 
tainly, he crows once during the night; often twice, and 
sometimes thrice. 
