■m natural history. 
(both African birds), are crested, and different from ours by 
some varieties in their plumage. 
J’he Cock. This bird, though perhaps the most com- 
mon of all, is by no means sufficiently known, except to those 
who have made the productions of nature their peculiar study. 
So great indeed is the variety in this race of animals, that 
even the naturalist himself finds it difficult to point out its 
distinctive characters. If we take for the mark of the genus 
its four toes, what then becomes of the peculiar species which 
has five on each foot ? If the erect and peculiar position of 
the tail be assumed, there is a species wholly destitute of 
this character. If we would say that the cock is only fea- 
thered to the lower joint of the leg, there are some breeds 
which are feathered even to the toes, and that of Japan has 
feathers even to the very nails. In fine, if we would class 
him among granivorous birds, we must allow some latitude 
even in this, since he devours greedily not only earth worms, 
but in many cases both fish and flesh. 
Oi all birds the cock seems to be the oldest companion of 
mankind, to have been first reclaimed from the forest, and 
taken to supply the accidental failure of the luxuries or ne- 
cessaries of life. As he is thus longest under the care of 
man, so perhaps he exhibits the greatest number of varieties, 
there being scarcely two birds of this species that exactly re- 
semble each other in plumage and form. 
It is not well ascertained when the cock was first made do- 
mestic in Europe; but it is generally agreed that we first had 
him in our western world from the kingdom of Persia. The 
cock is found wild in the island of Tinian, in many others of 
the Indian ocean, and in the woods on the coasts of Malabar; 
his plumage is black and yellow, and his comb and wattles 
yellow and purple. There is another peculiarity also in those 
of the Indian woods; their bones, which, when boiled with 
us, are white, as every body knows, in those are black as 
ebony. W hether this tincture proceeds from their food, as the 
bones are tinctured red by feeding upon madder, we leave to 
the discussion of others : satisfied with the fact, let us de- 
cline speculation. 
In their first propagation in Europe, there were distinctions 
then that now subsist no longer. The ancients esteemed 
those fowls whose plumage was reddish as invaluable ; but as 
for the white it was considered as utterly unfit for domestic 
purposes. These they regarded as subject to become a prey 
to rapacious birds; and less fruitful than the former. No 
animal in the world has greater courage than the cock, when 
