of which is very visible: one of these is the left ventricle, and the other the root of the great artery. At the fiftieth hour, one auricle of the heart appears, resembling a noose folded down upon itself. The beating of the heart is first observed in the auricle, and afterwards in the ventricle. At the end of seventy hours, the wings are distinguishable; and on the head two bubbles are seen for the brain, one for the bill, and two others for the fore and hind part of the head. Towards the end of the fourth day, the two auricles, already visible, draw nearer to the heart than before. The liver appears towards the fifth day. At the end of a hundred and thirty-one hours, the first voluntary motion is observed. At the end of seven hours more, the lungs and stomach become visible; and four hours after this, the intestines, the loins, and the upper jaw. At the hundred and forty-fourth hour, two ventricles are visible, and two drops of blood instead of the single one which was seen before. On the seventh day, the brain begins to have some consistence. At the hundred and ninetieth hour of incubation, the bill opens, and the flesh appears in the breast; in four hours more, the breast-bone is seen; and in six hours after this, the ribs appear to be forming from the back, and the bill is very visible, as well as the gall-bladder. The bill becomes green at the end of two hundred and thirty-six hours; and if the chicken be taken out of its 'coverings, it evidently moves itself. The feathers begin to shoot out towards the two hundred and fortieth hour, and the skull becomes gristly. At the two hundred and sixtyfourth hour, the eyes appear. At the two hundred and eighty-eighth, the ribs are perfect. At the three hundred and thirty-first, the spleen draws near the stomach, and the lungs to the chest. At the end of three hundred and fifty-five hours, the bill frequently opens and shuts; and at the end of the eighteenth day, the first cry of the chicken is heard. It afterwards gets more strength, and grows continually, till at length it is enabled to set itself free from its confinement. In the whole of this process, we must remark that every part appears exactly at its proper time: if, for example, the liver is formed on the fifth day, it is founded on the preceding situation of the chicken, and on the changes that were to follow. No part of the body could possibly appear either sooner or later, without the whole embryo suffering; and each of the limbs becomes visible at the fit moment. This ordination, so wise and so invariable, is manifestly the work of a Supreme Being: but we must still more sensibly acknowledge his creative powers, when we consider the manner in which the chicken is formed out of the parts which compose the egg. How astonishing must it appear to an observing mind, that in this substance there should be, at all, the vital principle of an animated being! That all the parts of an animal's body should be concealed in it, and require nothing but heat to unfold and quicken them! That the whole formation of the chicken should be so constant and regular! That, exactly at the same time, the same changes should take place in the generality of eggs! That the chicken, the moment it is hatched, should be heavier than the egg was before! But even these are not all the wonders in the formation of a bird from the egg: (for this instance will serve to illustrate the whole of the feathered tribes:) there are others, altogether hidden from our observation; and of which, from our very limited faculties, we must ever remain ignorant. I cannot take leave of this animal, without a few observations on the savage diversion of cock-fighting; which (to the disgrace of a Christian nation) is encouraged, not merely by the lowest and meanest, but by some persons even in the highest ranks of society. The Shrove-Tuesday massacre of throwing at these unfortunate animals is, indeed, almost discontinued; but the cock-pit yet remains a reproach to the character of Englishmen. The refinements which in this country have taken place in the pitting of these courageous birds against each other, would strike almost the rudest of the savage tribes of mankind with horror. The Battleroyal and the Welsh-main would scarcely be tolerated by any other nation of the world. In the former an unlimited number of Cocks are pitted, of which only the last surviving bird is accounted the victor. Thus, suppose there was at first sixteen pair of Cocks: of these, sixteen are killed; the remaining sixteen are pitted a second time; the eight conquerors of these are pitted a third time; the four conquerors a fourth time; and lastly, the two conquerors of these the fifth time: so that (incredible barbarity!) thirty-one Cocks must be inhumanly murdered in a single battle. Are these your sovereign joys, Creation's lords? The greatest rivals of the English in the practice of cock-fighting, are the inhabitants of Sumatra and some other parts of the East. They indeed pay, perhaps, a greater attention to the training and feeding of the birds than we ever did. They arm one of the legs only, not with a slender gaff as we do, but with a little implement in the form of a scymeter, with which the animals make the most terrible destruction. The Sumatrians fight their cocks for vast sums: a man has been known to stake his wife or children, and a son his mother or sisters, on the issue of a battle. In disputed points, four arbitrators are appointed; and if they cannot agree, there is no appeal but to the sword. Some of these people have a notion that their Cocks are invulnerable: a father on his death-bed has, under this persuasion, been known to direct his son to lay his whole property on a certain bird, fully persuaded of consequent success. OF THE PINTADO TRIBE*. The four species of Pintado hitherto known are all * The bill is strong and short, and the base is covered with natives of Africa, and of islands adjacent to the African coast. Their mode of feeding is similar to that of the domestic poultry: they scrape the ground with their feet, in search of insects, worms, and seeds. THE COMMON GUINEA-FOWL*. In a wild state it is asserted that these birds associate in numerous flocks. Dampier speaks of having seen betwixt two and three hundred of them together, in the Cape de Verd Islands. They were originally introduced into our country from the coast of Africa, somewhat earlier than the year 1260. They are now sufficiently common in the poultryyards of Great Britain; but, from the young-ones being difficult to rear, they are not bred in numbers at all equal to those of the domestic poultry. The females lay and hatch their eggs nearly in the same manner as the common hens. The eggs, however, are smaller than those of the hen, and have a harder shell. M. de Buffon states that there is a remarkable difference betwixt the eggs of the domestic Guinea-fowls, and of those which are wild; the latter being marked with small, round spots, like those on the plumage of the birds; and the former being, when first laid, of a tolerably bright red, and afterwards of the faint colour of a dried rose. The young birds, for some time after they come into the world, are destitute of the helmet, or callous protuberance which is so conspicuous on the heads of the old ones. The voice of the Guinea-fowl is harsh, and, to some a warty or carunculated cere, which receives the nostrils: on the head there is a horny or callous protuberance. The tailfeathers are short, and bend downward. The feathers of the body are speckled. + SYNONYMS. Numidia meleagris. Linn.-La Pintade. Buffon.-Guinea Pintado. Willughby.-Pintado, Pearled Hen, and Gallina, in various parts of England.-Bew. Birds, i. 305. persons, unpleasant. It consists chiefly of two notes, ca-mac, ca-mac, ca-mac, frequently repeated. The Guinea-fowl is a restless and clamorous bird. During the night it perches on high places; and, if disturbed, alarms every animal within hearing, by its unceasing cry. These birds delight in rolling themselves in the dust, for the purpose, as some naturalists have conjectured, of ridding themselves of insects. If trained when young, Guinea-fowls may soon be rendered tame. M. Bruë informs us, that when he was on the coast of Senegal, he received as a present from an African princess, two Guinea-fowls. Both these birds were so familiar, that they would approach the table and eat out of his plate; and, when they had liberty to fly about upon the beach, they always returned to the ship, when the dinner or supper bell rang. It is even said that the wild birds will sometimes receive food from the hand, almost immediately after they are caught. These delight chiefly in marshy and morassy places, where they subsist almost wholly on insects, worms, and seeds. Guinea-fowls are found in nearly all the countries of the western part of Africa, from Barbary, southward, to the Cape of Good Hope. They are natives likewise of the Islands of France and Bourbon, of Madagascar and Cape de Verd. Amongst the Romans they were in great repute for the table; and, on account of their scarcity, were generally sold for high prices. They are at present much esteemed in this country, their flavour being considered, by some persons, to resemble that of the pheasant. The eggs are a very delicate food. OF THE GROUS IN GENERAL*. The birds of this tribe which are known in Great The Grous have strong, convex bills; and some of the |