BIRDS. 275 
dious hours of a long voyage. It is a great pity that a 
custom, which originated in barbarous times, should still 
continue, to the disgrace of a philosophic and enlightened 
age. The Cock has been a subject of considerable inte- 
rest with the poets ; and, in consequence, he has been 
very commonly called by them " Chanticleer." 
Within this homestead lived, without a peer 
For crowing loud, the noble Chanticleer. DRYDEN. 
The feathered songster, Chanticleer, 
Had wound his bugle-horn, 
And told the early villager 
The coming of the morn. CHATTERTON 
THE RING-DOVE, OR CUSHAT, 
( Columba palumbus,) 
Is the largest Pigeon found in our island, and may at once 
be distinguished from all others by its size ; its weight is 
about twenty ounces : its length eighteen inches, and its 
breadth about thirty. It is usually known as the Wood 
