194 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Greeks and Romans were well acquainted with this bird ;
and Pliny says, “Next to the peacock, the birds which are
most sensible to glory are those active sentinels which na-
ture has produced to rouse us from our matin slumbers, and
send us to our daily occupations. They do not suffer the
day-beam to surprise us without timely warning ; their crow-
ing announces the hour of morning, and the crowing itself
is announced by the clapping of their wings. Each farm-
yard has its peculiar king ; and amongst these monarchs, as
amongst princes of our race, empire is the meed of victory.”

Fowls are mentioned in 1 Kings iv. amongst the provi-
_ sion for the household of Solomon: “Ten fat oxen, and
twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, be-
sides harts, and roebucks, and fallow-deer, and fatted fowl.”
This last expression shows that fowls were domesticated and
reared purposely for consumption. The provision here men-
tioned appears enormous, until we have some knowledge of
oriental courts, and the number of persons maintained in
them. The daily consumption of food in the court of Cyrus
was inscribed on a brazen pillar at Persepolis, and the prin-
cipal items were as follow :—upwards of a thousand bushels
of wheat; the same of barley-meal; four hundred sheep ;
three hundred lambs; one hundred oxen; thirty horses;