{Sint} <Sunt>, inquit[1], qui aut aqua replentur, aut cibo, plumbei canales, quos magis utiles esse, quam ligneos, [234] aut fictiles compertum est. Hi superpositis operculis clauduntur, et a lateribus super mediam partem altitudinis per spatia palmaria modicis forantur cavis, ita ut avium capita {pussint} <possint> admittere. .Nam nisi operculis muniantur, quantulumcunque aquae, vel ciborum inest, pedibus {evertitur} <everritur>. Sunt qui a superiore parte foramina ipsis operculis imponant, quod fieri non oportet, nam supersiliens avis proluvie ventris cibos, et aquam conspurcat.

Columella says: There are leaden troughs which are filled with either water or food, and which, it has been established, are more suitable than wooden or earthenware ones. They are closed by lids placed over them, and are pierced with small holes above the middle of their height a hand’s span apart from each other, so that they admit the heads of the chickens. For if they are uncovered whatever small quantity of water or food that remains within will be swept out by their legs. Some people make holes in the upside of the covers themselves, which should not be done because by climbing on the chicken dirties food and water with what comes out from its belly.

Eiusmodi vasa in Hollandia, sed fictilia, propter minorem impensam passim, cum agris ab agricolis, tum in urbibus fiunt, ut audio, sed aquam tantum, non autem cibum imponunt, vasaque singulis {hebdomatibus} <hebdomadibus> ad minus semel setaceo quodam instrumento, quod indige<n>te sermone ab officio de wasser appellant, quasi lavatorem dicas, abstergunt, ne aqua intus fundo, marginibusque adhaerens putrescat; verum non in Gallinaceo genere tantum, sed in Columbaceo etiam, atque ab hoc nomen obtinere, dici autem Duvepotten, id est, vasa Columbacea. Caeterum cum vino aspergi cibum ante ex veteribus rusticae artis scriptores dixerint, agricolas in primis monitos velim, ut a vino, aut eius faecum vapore collecto vi ignis liquore abstineant. Is enim Gallinis pestifer, let{h}alisque existimatur, uti etiam ius e carne salsa.

As I hear, vessels of this kind are prepared in Holland by farmers in the countries as well as in the cities, but made of earthenware since less expensive, but they place in them only water, no food, and once a week, at least, they clean these vessels with a tool made of bristles which because of language’s poverty they call de wasser from its function, as you say washer, so that inside the water adhering to bottom and sides does not putrefy. To tell the truth they use them not only for gallinaceous genus but for pigeons too, and hence they take their name, for they are said duvepotten, that is, dove vessels. Furthermore, since the ancient writers on agriculture said the food be sprinkled with wine, first of all I would like to warn farmers to abstain from wine or from the liquid obtained with fire’s strength by the condensation of the vapor coming from wine’s dregs. For this is regarded as dangerous and lethal to hens, as well as the broth of salted meat.

NATURA. MORES. INGENIUM.

CHARACTER - BEHAVIOR - INTELLIGENCE

Gallinae teste Aristotele[2], ut reliquae aves non altivolae, pulveratrices sunt. Impendio autem pulvere gaudent. Unde dicebat Ephesius Heraclitus[3] coeno sues {laetari} <lavari>[4], velut cohortales pulvere, aut cinere. Id vero triplicem maxime ob causam faciunt, ut scilicet ita sese volutando velut quodammodo scabant, plumas, pinnasque emendent, et pulices excutiant. Quae omnia alio modo se praestare non posse optime norunt natura docente. Cuius ductu etiam quietum ad pariendum requirunt locum, et cubilia sibi nidosque construunt, eosque quam possunt mollissime substernunt, quasi non ignorent ova alias facile collidenda iri, si ea in duriori loco ponerent. Sed in eo non tam ingenii sui acumen produnt, quam cum iam pullos excluserunt, quos ita tueri norunt, ut et pennis foveant, ne ab ambiente frigore, vel calore laedantur.

According to Aristotle, like the other not high-flying birds, hens are dust-bathing. They enjoy the dust very much. Hence Heraclitus of Ephesus said that pigs wash themselves with mud as barnyard fowls with dust or ashes. And they do this particularly for three reasons, and precisely, when they roll about in the dust, for scraping themselves in some way, for cleaning their plumes and feathers, and for getting rid of lice. Under the lessons of Nature, they outstandingly learnt that they cannot obtain all these things in a different way. Under Nature’s guidance they also seek a quiet place in which to lay their eggs and build sleeping places for themselves and nests, and cover them as softly as possible, as knowing that eggs would easily collide each other if they laid them on a harder place. But in this matter they don’t show their wit’s sharpness as when hatched by then their chicks, whom they knew to defend to such an extent that they protect them also by the use of their feathers lest they be injured by surrounding cold or heat.

Hos tanto prosequuntur amore, ut si noxium quodpiam animal, utpote vel Milvum, vel mustelam, vel maius etiam aliud eis insidiari viderint, vel aliquatenus cognoverint, receptis eis primum sub alarum umbra, seu tegumento sese acerrimas tutrices opponant cum maximo clamore hostibus pavorem incutientes, rostroque alis sese defendentes, adeo ut propriam mortem potius obire in pullorum tutelam, quam illis hostibus relictis fuga salutem quaerere malint. Qua in re egregium nobis specimen exemplarque filios amandi praebent, tum etiam quando dum illos pascunt, et cibos subinde collectos ore porrigunt se suamque famem negligant. Quem amorem Homerus[5] sub Achillis persona olim descripsit. Hic enim suos, quos pro Graecis subierat labores, et pericula prae nimia in eos benevolentia conferens matricis avis (Gallinae nimirum per excellentiam) in pullos affectui, ita apud illum loquitur.

Ὡς δ’ὄρνις ἀπτῇσι {νεοοσοῖσι} <νεοσσοῖσι>[6] προφέρῃσι
Μάστακ’, ἐπεί< >κε λάβῃσι. κακῶς δ’ἄρα οἱ πέλει αὐτῇ.

Sicut autem avis implumibus pullis affert
Escam postquam acquisiverit, male autem est ei ipsi.

They follow their chicks with such a great love that, if they saw any harmful animal, such as a kite or a beech marten or someone even larger animal laying an ambush for their little ones, or they recognized them at a certain distance, the hens first gather them under the shadow or covering of their wings, then place themselves in front of enemies like very fierce defenders, striking fear into their enemies by a frightful clamor, defending themselves with beak and wings, so that they would rather die in defense of chicks than seek safety in flight, leaving them at the mercy of the enemies. In this regard they give us an excellent example and pattern in love of offspring, also when they neglect themselves and their own hunger while they graze them offering with beak the food they have just got. Long ago Homer described this kind of love in the character of Achilles. For the former, comparing the labors the latter had undergone on behalf of Greeks as well as the dangers because of his exceeding kindness toward them, to the affection towards chicks of a bird which is mother (par excellence certainly to that of a hen), he speaks through him in this way.

Ηøs d’órnis aptêisi neossoîsi prophérëisi
Mástak’, epeíke lábëisi. kakôs d’ára oi pélei autêi.

For like the hen offers to featherless chicks
the food after she got it, this fact goes against herself.

Citat haec verba alibi Plutarchus[7], ubi haec eius verba leguntur {Ὅτι} <Ὥσπερ> ἡ Ὁμηρικὴ ὄρνις τῷ ἑαυτῆς τρέφει λιμῷ τὰ ἔγγονα καὶ τὴν τροφὴν τῆς γαστρὸς ἁπτομένην, ἀποκρατεῖ καὶ πιέζει τῷ στόματι, μὴ λάθῃ καταπιοῦσα. Gybertus Longolius sic vertit. Homerica avis sua fame parvulos natos pascit, et nutrimentum quod ventri suo destinaverat, ore retinet, ne eo in ventrem delapso in oblivionem ipsa adducatur. Sed lector, inquit Ornithologus, considerabit, an sic potius reddi debeant verba posteriora. Ventris sui alimentum ore tenens, abstinet tamen, et ne forte nolens etiam diglutiat mordicus premit. Ut ut est, verba illa flagrantissimum Gallinae erga pignora amorem testantur: de quo alibi idem Plutarchus[8]: Quid vero Gallinae, inquit, quas observari nostris oculis quotidie domi conspicamur, quanta cura, et sedulitate pullos custodiunt, et gubernant? Aliis alas, quas subeant, remittunt; aliis dorsum, ut scandant, reclinant: neque ulla pars corporis est, qua non fovere illos, si possent, cupiant: neque id sine gaudio, et alacritate, quod et vocis sono testari videntur.

Plutarch cites these words in a passage, where the following his own words are read: Høsper hë Homërikë órnis tøi heautês tréphei limøi tà éggona kaì tën trophën tês gastròs haptoménën, apokrateî kaì piézei tôi stómati, më láthëi katapioûsa. - As the Homeric bird nourishes their chicks at the price of his own hunger and prevents the nourishment to reach his stomach, he holds it in his beak being afraid of swallowing it without his knowledge. Gisbert Longolius translates as follows. The Homeric bird feeds its little young with its own hunger and the food she had intended for her own stomach she keeps in her mouth lest when it has descended thither she should be led to forget. But the Ornithologist says the reader will consider whether the last words should not rather be translated as follows. Holding the food for her stomach in her mouth she nevertheless abstains from it and keeps it firmly lest she gulps it down even against her will. Be that as it may, those words testify a very ardent love of the hen toward her children. Plutarch himself wrote about it in another passage: What to say of the hen, whom we observe each day at home, with what care and solicitude they guard and lead their chicks? For some of them they let down their wings for the chicks to come under, for others they turn back their backs for them to climb up: and there is no part of their bodies with which they do not wish to protect them if they can: nor they do this without joy and enthusiasm, which they seem to testify by the sound of their voice.