ensive a subject, sketches and outlines are as much as can be
expected; for it would be endless to instance in all the infinite variety
of the feathered nation. We shall therefore confine the remainder of
this letter to the few domestic fowls of our yards, which are most known,
and therefore best understood. And first the peacock, with his gorgeous
train, demands our attention; but, like most of the gaudy birds, his
notes are grating and shocking to the ear: the yelling of cats, and the
braying of an ass, are not more disgustful. The voice of the goose is
trumpet-like and clanking; and once saved the Capitol at Rome, as grave
historians assert; the hiss, also, of the gander, is formidable and full
of menace, and "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 disapprobation 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
forth with a clamorous kind of joy, which the cock and the rest of his
mistresses immediately adopt. The tumult is not confined to the family
concerned, but catches from yard to yard, and spreads to every homestead
within hearing, till at last the whole village is in an uproar. As soon
as a hen becomes a mother her new relation demands a new language; she
then runs clocki