Page:The Works of William Harvey (part 1 of 2).djvu/293

 well as in the hen. Wherefore, though I readily believed (if by fecundity we are to understand a greater number of larger eggs), that the hens of poor people, indifferently fed in all pro- bability, will lay both fewer and smaller eggs unless they have the company of a cock ; agreeably to what the philosopher quoted avers, viz. : " that hens which have once been trodden continue to lay larger, better, and a greater number of eggs through the whole of the year," (a result on which the abun- dance and the good quality of the food has unquestionably a great influence) ; still that hens should continue for a whole year to lay prolific eggs after a few addresses of the cock, appeared to me by no means probable : for, had a small number of con- tacts sufficed for the purposes of generation during so long a period, nature, which does nothing in vain, would have con- stituted the males among birds less salacious than they are ; nor should we see the cock soliciting his hens so many times a day, even against their inclination.

We know that the hen, as soon as she quits the nest where she has just laid an egg, cackles loudly, and seems to entice the cock, who on his part crowing lustily, singles her out and straightway treads her, which surely nature had never permitted unless for purposes of procreation.

A male pheasant kept in an aviary was so inflamed with lust, that unless he had the company of several hen-birds, six at the least, he literally maltreated them, though his repeated ad- dresses rather interfered with their breeding than promoted it. I have seen a single hen-pheasant shut up with a cock-bird (which she could in no way escape) so worn out, and her back so entirely stript of feathers through his reiterated assaults, that at length she died exhausted. In the body of this bird, how- ever, I did not discover even the rudiments of eggs.

I have also observed a male duck, having none of his own kind with him, but associating with hens, inflamed with such desire that he would follow a pullet even for several hours, would seize her with his bill, and mounting at length upon the creature, worn out with fatigue, would compel her to submit to his pleasure.

The common cock, victorious in a battle, not only satisfies his desires upon the sultanas of the vanquished, but upon the body of his rival himself.

13