In very few animals do the males ever attempt to protect the
females, even where the latter have their young to take care
of. When the hen with her brood of chickens is attacked, it is
not the cock that ruffs his feathers and defends them with his
spurs; it is the mother herself that defends them. The cock is
always found with hens that have no chickens, and only uses
his spurs in fighting with other cocks that have no notion of
injuring the females. In the entire animal kingdom the cases
where the male uses his great powers to protect the female or
the young, or to bring them food, are so rare that where they
are observed they are recorded as curious approximations to the
social state of man. (Text.)--LESTER F. WARD, _The
Forum_.
(1070)