Under James II.
the functionary was named William Sampson, Cock, and received for his crow L9, 2s.6d.

annually.
The memoirs of Catherine II.

inform us that at St.Petersburg, scarcely a hundred years since, whenever the czar or czarina was displeased with a Russian prince, he was forced to squat down in the great antechamber of the palace, and to remain in that posture a certain number of days, mewing like a cat, or clucking like a sitting hen, and pecking his food from the floor.
These fashions have passed away; but not so much, perhaps, as one might imagine.

Nowadays, courtiers slightly modify their intonation in clucking to please their masters.

More than one picks up from the ground--we will not say from the mud--what he eats.
It is very fortunate that kings cannot err.