Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/798

 782 COCK discovered, and protecting them from the at- tacks of all enemies. Now and then a hen essays to crow, but she is generally a barren and useless fowl, despised by her associates and the pest of the farm yard. The cock is very pugnacious, and will always measure his strength with one of his own sex; this pro- pensity is noticed in very young specimens. The male begins to propagate at about the age of three months, and his vigor lasts about three years, though he may live to the age of ten ; one is sufficient for 15 or 20 females. The cock is a very clean bird, and spends much of his time in arranging his feathers ; his voice, if not soft and melodious, is clear, sonorous, and ex- hilarating. The cock was a favorite bird with the Greeks and Romans, and is frequently rep- resented on their coins; the ancient philoso- phers dedicated it to Apollo, Mercury, Mars, and ^Esculapius, and thought it the most ac- ceptable sacrifice they could offer to their dei- ties; in later times, the crowing of the cock was supposed to be the signal at which all spirits, whether good or evil, must retire from mortal sight. Like other domesticated races, cocks and hens are very liable to monstros- ity; double-headed and four-footed chickens are common in collections. Hens, if properly housed, will lay even in the coldest weather in temperate regions; having laid 18 or 20 eggs, they show a disposition to sit upon them, but if the eggs are taken away they continue laying. As the gallina can eat without assist- ance as soon as they leave the egg, instinct teaches the hen to lay as many eggs as she can cover and keep warm with her body. Like all birds, the hen, if left free to act, will lay her eggs and hatch her brood in some hidden place, and return to the poultry yard with her chickens in excellent condition. The young leave the egg on the 20th day. The affection of the hen for her young is remarkable ; as the cock is a model husband and father, the hen is the pattern of a tender and faithful mother. For epicurean purposes, man has from ancient times been in the habit of removing the testes of the cock ; this mutilation renders the birds, called capons, indifferent to sexual and fighting propensities, and causes them to grow fat, with all the whiteness, tenderness, and delicacy of a chicken ; the voice loses its shrillness, and their whole demeanor renders them liable to the in- sult of both cocks and hens, and they require special protection that they may eat, drink, sleep, and grow fat. Capons may be taught to perform some of the offices of the female ; they have been taught 'to hatch out eggs by covering them with their bodies, and to take the care of the young brood. Hens are sometimes de- prived of their ovaries, and the flavor of their flesh is said to be thereby much improved. Various artificial processes of incubation have been tried ; the ancient Egyptians were pecu- liarly successful in their processes, and their hatching ovens furnished in old times 100 millions of chickens annually ; other nations, the French particularly, have invented various kinds of hatching apparatus. By the Egyp- tian process more than two thirds of the eggs produced chickens, while the hen, upon an average, cannot hatch more than half of the eggs. Domestication has produced many changes in the form and size of the cock, especially in the crest, wattles, and arrange- ment of the feathers on the body and legs. The game cock stands at the head of the do- mestic varieties, from which it does not appear to differ except in its superior strength and courage; the best breed is generally believed to be the Cf. Bankiva without any crossing with other varieties ; the East Indians prize the G. giganteus and the 0. Sonneratii as game cocks. Cock fighting was practised among the Greeks and Romans, and was in- troduced into England by the latter nation, and it is a favorite sport in the East Indies and in Spanish America. In this sport the plumage is trimmed, to make the bird lighter and more active and give its antagonist less hold upon Game Cock. it; the legs are armed with an artificial steel spur, called a gaff or gaffle, capable of inflicting a speedily fatal wound. When cock fighting was the favorite sport of kings and nobles, as much attention was paid to keeping the breed pure as was bestowed upon the race horse. The game cock is valuable, independently of his courage; the hens are small eaters, good layers, determined sitters, strong, rarely sick, and very solid and heavy. Preeminent among the modern favorites are the large Malay and Chinese varieties, embracing the Chittagongs, Shanghais, Cochin Chinas, and Brahmapootras, which are probably all varieties of the 0. gi- gantem, variously crossed. The Chittagongs were originally brought from Malacca ; they stand high on their legs, are long-necked, and are usually dark brown, streaked with yellow or white ; they present a very striking appear- ance, and form an excellent cross with the common fowl, possessing the hardiness of the latter with the large size of the foreign stock. The Shanghai variety weigh as much when