AND TURKEY. 
243 
one saved the Capitol of Rome, as grave historians as- 
sert : the hiss also of the Gander is formidable and full 
of menace, and 1 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 in 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 window where there are flies, and 
it will 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 dis- 
approbation 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 
