UNIVERSITY OF B.C. LIBRARY

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U.B.C. UBRARY

THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY OF
BRITISH COLUMBIA

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THE

AMERICAI POULTEY YARD;

COMPRISING THE

ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND DESCRIPTION

OF THE DIFFERENT BREEDS

OF

DOMESTIC POULTRY;

WITH

COMPLETE DIRECTIONS FOR THEIR BREEDING, CROSSING, REARING
FATTENING, AND PREPARATION FOR MARKET ; INCLUDING SPE-
CIFIC DIRECTIONS FOR CAPONISING FOWLS, AND FOR
THE TREATMENT OF THE PRINCIPAL DISEASES TO
WHICH THEY ARE SUBJECT; DRAWN FROM
AUTHENTIC SOURCES AND PER-
SONAL OBSERVATION;

ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
BY D. J. BROWNE,

AUTHOR OF THE SYLVA AMERICANA.

AN APPENDIX,

EMBRACING THE COMPARATIVE MERITS OF DIFFERENT
BREEDS OF FOWLS,

BY SAMUEL ALLEN.

NEW YORK :

PUBLISHED BY C. M. SAXTON.
18 51.

Knteitd according to Act ofl-ongress, in the year IMi, l>j-

K.rHUAIM BLANCHARD.

la the Cleik'f Oflicc of the District Court of the United Statrs Tor the Southom

District of New York.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The "American Poultry Yard" being now completed, the publisher has thought
proper to offer a few preliminary remarks on its design and the manner in whicli it
has been got up.

Actuated by the most liberal motives, he has, in the fii'st place, endeavored to keep
pace with the improvements of the ago, in obtaining the best information on the sub-
ject, that could bo procured, suited to the general reader, and answering, at the same
time, the piu-poscs of practice and economy.

Mr. Browne, the ostensible author of this work, was bred and brought up a practical
fiu-mer, and was favorably known as editor of " The Naturalist," a monthly periodical,
published in Boston some twenty years ago, and more recently as a civil engineer oa
our public works, and as tho writer of a treatise on American trees. He is an enthu-
siastic devotee to tho natiu-al and exact sciences, particularly to agricultm-e and rural
economy, having travelled and resided for a considerable time in various parts of
North and South America, tho West Indies, Europe, and Western Africa, with the
express object of practically investigatmg the agricultxn-e and natural features of those
countries. From his intimate knowledge of tho history and habits of om' domestic
animals, having devoted, probably, more attention to the subject, as a whole, by read-
ing and observation, than any other individual in the country, the task of preparing
this work was assigned to liim.

Mr. Allen, who has very generously looked over the proof sheets, and favored the
public with a valuable Apppendix, is well known as the father and co-laborer of the
editors of the " American Agricultm-ist," and as an experienced and successful breeder
of stock, as wcU as of the choicer vai-ieties of domestic fowls.

The publisher, therefore coufldenlly presents the " American Poultry Yai'd " to
the public with tlie full belief that it combines the utmost economy and utility, united,
at the same time, with elegance and the facility of obtaining the desu-ed end.

C. M. SAXTON.

Nbw York, January 2, 1850.

PREFACE.

TnK scop3 and intention of tlie present treatise, perhaps, is suflBcicntly lioclared in
the title page. Therefore, to waste the reader's time by furtlicr details would be aa
imiMjrtinent as unneccssarj'. The hasty manner in which these pages have been com-
piled, the want of a more intimate knowledge of the history and pedigree oi the vari-
ous breeds of our domestic birds, of which but few records are to be found, together
with the limited nature of the work itself, are the only apologies the author has to
offer for any errors and deficiencies with which lie doubtless may be charged. With-
out great aid from those who have written before him, the volume, though not
large, never could have appeared ; yet, moat of the current books on poultrj' are but
compilations of matter, valuable only to those practically acquainted with the sub-
ject, and many of them unsiiitcd to our economy as weU as to our climate, and full
of errors and confusion, that would be obviovia to the attentive reader, even though
be never had seen a fowl in his life.

In order to write a perfect work on poultry, two important desiderata would be
required for its attainment ; one or the other of them would be indispensable — the
first, a complete set of full-sized colored figures of every vsuriety, giving both Iho
male and female, the egg, and the newly-hatched chick, with accurate and technical
descriptions of their plumage and their characteristic properties ; the second, a col-
lection of stuffed spocimeiia of the rcpres<mtntivc8 of everj' bri-ed for comjiar'son and
reference. Tlie flr't of these might be accomplished by a person, or an as9<x;iation of
persons of fortune, by procuring a complete colli-ction of all the varieties whoso
characti-rs arc decideilly distinct, both of this country and from al>ro;ul, and breeding
them in-a7i(/-in for a series of ye.irs, as well as by judicious crossing with one an-
other. An enterprise of this kind, conducted with jiroper intelligenco and expcri-
i^ncc, however trivial it nuiy appear in the eyes of many, would be worth millions to
the country, and |>rove a boon to mankind.

In order that he may not bo acciiscKl of the reproach of "stnittinu' in borrowetl
plumes," the author has the candor to confess that ho bus made a free us*; of the
labors of I'liny, Colunu-lla, Cuba, Aldrovnndi, Ma-fcall, lU'aumur, Moubrny, Par-
monlipr, I'lourens, VV. It. Oickson, .I..T. Nolan, W. C. I.. Martin, imd the Kev. I'dmund
H. I)ix'.in, particularly of those of the four gcntlenicn last named, without giving
them, in ninm-rnus instiuicivs, such credit as the ])Unrtilicius critic would seoin to
demand, lie this iis it miiy, Ihf nulhor h.ns eiuloavored not to deviate from <>stab-
llshiHl custom, except in cnw^ whero ho deomod it (>xpodient to chanu'e the lun:;uage,
in pnrt, for the sake of brevity, elucidation, or .linrricnnMinf the sulijiTl, or adapting
it to our climate, economy, ami social c<mdition. Much of Mm matter, however, and
MTTrnl of the illustrBtlons, he rlalnig to \w original. With this avowal, he will de-
clare no more than his fidl trust In a candid consideration of whatever merit his
book may doecrve. |)_ j, \\

JVtie IVn-i, Dicemitr VIO(A, 1940.

THE DOMESTIC FOWL

ORIGIN AND HISTORY.

fowls were prepared for me, and also onco

in ten days, store of all sorts of wine."

Holt Writ.

The cJommon Fowl, as well as the pea fowl, are of
Indian origin, and we learn nothing respecting them
till within a comparatively recent epoch. It will natu-
rally be asked, What is the earliest date of poultry-
keeping ? Nobody knows. It is thought by some to
be coeval with the keeping of sheep by Abel, and the
tilling of the ground by Cain — a supposition which
cannot be far from probability, if there is any founda-
tion for the legend that G-omer, the eldest son of
Japhet, took a surname from the cock. Indeed, it
would be to him that Western Europe stands indebted
for a stock of fowls from the ark itself For, it is
supposed by the erudite, and shown by at least probable
arguments, that the descendants of G-omer settled in
the northern parts of Asia Minor, and then spread into
the Cimmerian Bosphorus and the adjacent regions,
and that from them the numerous tribes of the G-auls,
Germans, Celts, and Cimbrians descended. It is true
that there is no mention of fowls by name in the Old
Testament, except a doubtful allusion in the Vulgate

(5 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

translation of the book of Proverbs, (xxx. 31,) which
is lost in the authorised version. There is another
equally disputable passage in Ecclesiastes, xii. 4.
" And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the
sound of the grinding is hnv, and he shall rise up at
the voice of the bird, (that is, at cock-crowing,) and all
the daughters of music shall be brought low." A still
le.ss certain evidence occurs in the book of Job, xxxviii.
36. " Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts ? or
who hath given understanding to the heart ?"

The apparent omission of the name of the domestic
fowl from the Old Testament may possibly have arisen
from this cause, namely, that tending them would be
the occupation of women, whose domestic employments
are less prominently brought forward by oriental
writers than the active enterprises of men ; and, also,
that the birds specially named there are the unclean
birds, which are to be avoided, whereas those which
may be eaten are classed in a lump as '• clean." See
Leviticus, xi. 13, and Deuteronomy, xiv. 11.

That the fowl was domesticated and extensively
spread at a very remote period, is very evident ; but
it docs not seem clear whether it was possessed by the
Israelites before the consolidation of the nation under
Solomon, when commerce began to flourish, and the
arts of life to be strenuously cultivated. After the
Babylonish captivity, we cannot doubt that the fowl
was among the domestic animals of Palestine, and it
is to this bird, most probably, that Nehemiah, (b.c.
445,) alludes, when in his rebuke he says, " Now that
which was jirepared for mo tlaily was one ox, and six
choice sheep, also fowls were pteparcd for me, and also
once in ten days, .store of all sorts of wine" (v. 18).
Antecedently to this period, the fowl was abundant in
I'ersia. Thus Pcisthctjcrns relates why the cock is
called the " Persian bird," and how it reigned over
that country before Darius and Megahazus (u.c. 521).
Not only d(i the classic poots and historians speak of
*ho high antiquity of the fowl, but medals and coins

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 7

proclaim the same, and bear its figure stamped upon
them. Nor is its delineation absent on other relics of
remote periods. In Camparini's " Etruscan Tombs,"
we see several persons reclined on a sort of couch,
taking wine and bread after the burial of some friend.
Under one of the tables a cock and hen are depicted,
and under another a cat is seen insidiously creeping
towards them. Figures of the domestic fowl are carved
in relief on the marbles lately brought into England
from Lycia, in Asia Minor, by Sir C. Fellows, and
their outlines are represented to be remarkable for
accuracy.

Among the G-peeks and Romans the fowl figured in
the public shows. It was dedicated to Apollo, to
liercury, to iEsculapius, and to Mars ; and its courage
and watchfulness were well appreciated. The Rhodian
fowls, and those of Delos, Chalcis, Media, and Persia,
were celebrated for their superiority in fight, and for
the excellence and delicacy of their flesh. Cock-fight-
ing, as might be expected, was a diversion in conson-
ance with the tastes of the Romans, and they were as
much devoted to it as the Malays of the present day,
who will stake all upon the issue of the battle. To
the rearing of these birds for the table, the greatest
attention was paid by the luxurious. They had their
gallinaria, and were accustomed to cram their fowls
with meal, and keep them in the dark that they might
the more readily fatten ; nor were the capon, (gallus
spado,) and the poularde, (gallina spadonia,) unknown.

Herodotus does not mention the fowl as among the
domestic birds of Egypt, though he speaks of the goose,
the vulpanser, or chenalopex, the duck, the quail,
small birds, and two sorts of ibis ; neither does it occur
on any of the ancient monuments of that country.

Aristotle, who wrote about 350 years before Christ,
speaks of them as familiarly as a natural historian
of the present day would. It is unnecessary more than
to allude to the beautiful comparisons taken from them
in the New Testament. The Roman authors of the

8 THE DOMES nC FOWL.

con./nencement of the Christian era record that they
were classed into such a number of distinct varieties
as could only have been the result of long cultivation.
Whether we suppose that different breeds were col-
lected and imported from difl'erent native stations, or
assume that the difterences of those breeds were the
artificial result of domestication, — whichever case we
take, domestic fowls must have been held in familiar
esteem for many, many ages before we have any clear
record of them. Either supposition attaches to them
a highly interesting and quite mysterious degree of
antiquity.

When the Romans, under Julius Caesar, invaded the
shores of Britain, they found both the fowl and the
goose in a state of domestication ; but these, as well
as the hare, were forbidden as food. " They deemed it
not lawful to eat the hare, the fowl, and the goose ;
nevertheless, they bred these animals for the sake of
fancy and pleasure." Through what channel, it may
be asked, did the fowl reach this ultima Thule?

At the time of the discovery of the American continent
by Europeans, the domestic fowl was not found in any
part of it, neither was it found on any of the Atlantic
Isles, although the Canaries, the supposed Fortunate
Islands of tiie ancients, were inhabited by a half-civil-
ized people, who held in subjugation sheep, goats,
hogs, and dogs.

I)r. Kidd, in his " Bridgewater Treatise," doubts
whether the camel ever existed in a wild and inde-
pendent state. But others do not go quite so far as
that in scepticism in the oa.se of fowls, but still believe
that thn.se, who, at this epoch, hunt for cocks and hens
of the same species as our tamo ones, either on the
continent of Asia, or throughout the whole inhabiteil
vast Indian Archipelago, will have undertaken but a
fruitless seareh. For (M^rtain writers have been at
great pniiis, for some yars past, with hut little suc-
ces."*, excej)t in their own conceit, to pitch upon the
will! origin of our domestic fowls. The, lirst decided

THE HOME STIC FOWL. 9

attempts to do this, appear to have been made by Son-
nerat, and to have been followed up by succeeding
French writers, whose errors are glaring, and in whose
praise little can be said. Reaumur, whose writings are
really philosophical and valuable, devoted his inquiries
to more practical objects, but Sonnerat was merely a
blind leader of the blind, if there is justice in the
criticism of Mr. Swainson, who pronounces that " Son-
nerat's works, although often cited by the French
authors, are very poor ; the descriptions vague, and
the figures, particularly of the birds, below mediocrity."
Buffon, who did not die till 1788, had therefore an
opportunity of adopting Sonnerat's jungle fowl as the
parent of cocks and hens, and his vivid imagination
made him very likely to have adopted so apparently
clear an account, ready telegraphed for his reception.
But instead of that, he speaks hesitatingly and doubt-
fully of the derivation of our domestic fowls from wild
cocks, and seems to despair of indicating their origin.
He says, "Amidst the immense number of different
breeds of the gallinaceous tribe, how shall we deter-
mine the original stock ? So many circumstances have
operated, so many accidents have concurred ; the
attention, and even the whim of man have so much,
multiplied the varieties, that it appears extremely dif-
ficult to trace them to their source."

A difficulty, which speaks volumes, is, that those
birds which have been pointed out as the most pro-
bable ancestors of the domestic fowl, do not appear to
be more tameable than the partridge, the . American
grouse, or the golden pheasant ; moreover, so remark-
able an appendage as the horny expansion of the feather
stem, as seen in Sonnerat's cock, would, according to
what is generally supposed to take place, be increased
rather than diminished and obliterated by domestica-
tion ; and even if got rid of by any course of breeding
for a few generations, would be sure, ultimately, to
reappear.

Still, our own cooks and hens must have* had some
1*

10 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

progenitors, and if an opinion may be offered, it is
this : that the wild race, that which once ranged
the primeval woods and jungles, unsubdued i>y man,
is now extinct, for ever gone, with the Dodos and the
Deinornithes. Such an idea quite agrees with what
we now see going on in the world. At no very distant
period, the turkey will be in exactly the same position
in which we are supposing our cocks and hens to be
now placed. The race will continue to survive, only
from having submitted itself to the dominion of man.
Wild turkeys are becoming every year more and more
scarce with us, and as population increases, and pene-
trates deeper into the wilds, till the whole face of the
country is overspread, occupied, and cultivated, this
bird must share the fate of the bustard in England ;
and where shall we find it then, except under the
same circumstances as we now see our domestic
fowls ? How long existing literature will endure it is
impossible to say ; but should it be swept away by
any social convulsion, our descendants, two thousand
years hence, will have as much dilliculty in determin-
ing the origin of the turkey, as we have in deciding
upon that of the cocks and hens.

Man has the power of trampling under foot, and sweep-
ing every living thing before him in his progress ; but in
some cases, at leafit, he is likely, for his own sake, to res-
cue the most valuable part of the spoil from destruction,
if it will only submit to be rescued, and not refuse to ac-
cept a continued existence on such conditions. A family
of savages would soon consume and destroy a whole
province of wild cocks and hens, if it were ever so well
stocked ; but civilised man can see his interest in their
preservation, and it is lucky for fowls that their des-
tiny tlirew thcMi in contact with the (/iiucasian race
instead of Australian aborigines. But ihe increase of
knowledge and humanity may even yet do something
to extend a merciful and forbearing conduct toward
existing animals.

Hut the coiuinon lien \v\s one peculiar habit, which

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 11

would alone ensure the destruction of her progeny in
an unprotected state, in spite of all her fruitfulness
and her great maternal virtues. Her delight at having
laid an egg, expressed by loud cackling, which is joined
in by all her companions that are at hand, would, by
itself, be sufficient to prevent much increase of her
young. How the squaws and their picaninnies would
chuckle to have wild birds abounding around them,
that not only produced an excellent egg every day, but
told them where to find it !

The habit which so large a bird as the fowl has
of retiring to roost by daylight, too, and compos-
ing itself to repose before it is hidden and protec-
ted by the shades of night, would also be a cer-
tain source of danger in a wild state. The craving
hunter who wanted a meal, need not fatigue himself
by a search during the noontide heats. He would
have but to bear the pangs of appetite till evening
approached, and then stealing with no great caution
under the outstretched branches, he would find a ready
prey distinctly apparent between himself and the ruddy
glare of sunset. No wild race could survive a few
years of such facile, such tempting capture. Those
who would reply by saying that when cocks and hens
were wild they had not fallen into the imprudent
fashion of roosting before dark, and cackling when
they dropped an egg, beg the question which we are
not disposed to grant them, unless they can positively
establish their claim.

The common cock, {Gallus gallinaceus,) would at
first sight appear to have received one or two remark-
able changes of form subsequent to its having been
saved from annihilation by becoming dependent on the
care of man, if we can believe domestication to be
capable of producing such changes. The crest of
feathers on the head is an extraordinary metamorphosis
to have occurred from an original fleshy comb. There
is no instance, that I am aware, of any wild-crested
breed. Aristotle makes such a pointed and so clear a

12 Tin: DOMESTIC FOWL.

distinction between the feathered crests of birds in
general, and the combs of cocks, as to lead to a strong
suspicion that he was unacquainted with fowls with
topknots ; which he could hardly have avoided seeing
in the course of his unequalled opportunities for
research, had they existed in his day. " Certain birds,"
says he, "have a crest; in some consisting of actual
feathers ; but that of cocks alone is peculiar, being
neither flesh, nor yet very different from flesh in its
nature." Neither can there be found a passage in the
classical authors which implies that the cocks and
hens of their day bore a feathered topknot. Cirrus Is
the Latin word used by Pliny to denote the tuft of
feathers on the head of certain ducks, (fuligulae,) and
also properly adopted by Aldrovandi to express the top-
knot of Poli;;h fowls. The earliest notice of crested
fowls that I am aware of, occurs in Aldrovandi, where
he says, " Our common coiintry hen, all white, and
with a crest like that of a lark," a very useful com-
parison that will serve to distinguish such-like from
the Polish fowls ; the other, what he calls the Paduan,
evidently a variety of the Polish or Poland.

If birds with such peculiarities were unknown to the
ancients, it will be asked through what agency they
have made their appearance in our days. Are they
new races, the result of judicious combination and
nurture, or of mere chance ? Not conceiving that they
are anything " new under the sun," although long un-
known to us, I answer, at once. No. The mercantile
enterprize and trading voyages of the English, Dutch,
Spaniards, and Portuguese, arc quite sufficient to
explain their arrival, without having recource to a new
orration. The lately-introduced Cochin-China fowl,
ahont. wliich there b no mystery, is a case in poini.
But it is not strange nor .nilikely that gentlemen who
have suercrdcd in obtaining some exotic rarity, should
choose to conceal the source and the channel by which
it came into their hands, nor even take credit for hav-
ing thomselvps raiser] and generated a breed which

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 13

excites the curiosity and admiration of their neighbors.
There are several varieties that are extinct, or not to
be obtained in England, as the Duke of Leeds' fowl,
and the white Poland fowl with a black topknot.
Attempts have been made to reproduce them, both
by the most promising systems of crossing, and by
acting on the imagination of breeding fowls, after
the manner of Jacob's experiments with Laban's
flocks ; all in vain. We can easily understand how
certain points in any race can Idc confirmed and made
more conspicuous by selection and breeding in-and«in,
but we are at a loss to know how to go to work to
produce something quite original and new. If these
lost varieties do re-appear, and they are both worth the
trouble they may give, it will probably be by a fresh
importation from their original Indian home.

The addition of a fifth toe to the foot, as in the
Dorking variety, is more likely than the crest to have
supervened in the course of time. This appendage is
said not to be mentioned by any earlier writer than
Columella, since whose time, to the present day, a
fifth toe has been the well-known and distinctive cha-
racter of a certain breed.

A Cochin- China cock in the possession of Rev.
E. S. Dixon, of Norwich, England, has the outer toe
of each foot furnished with two distinct claws, which
we may take to be the earliest indication of a fifth toe.
His chickens inherit the same peculiarity. A corres-
pondent of the same gentleman, says, " I had a cock
of the golden Polish variety that lost two of his claws
by accident, and in their place two smaller joints grew
from the end of each toe, both provided with little
claws. This became hereditary, for next season there
were two chicks hatched, both having the aforesaid pecu-
liarity." Analogous instances may be seen in museums,
of lizards with two tails ; the original single one hav-
ing been lost by accident, two grew in its place.

Could we analyse the migrations of our own species
from clime to clime ; could we trace the progress of

14 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

the liuinan swarms which in the obscurity of time
have successively advanced from various points, spread-
ing as they have proceeded, sometimes mingling with
other nations, sometimes driving the older occupants of
the land before them ; could we develop the history of
man, the relationship of race to race, and point out
their original seats and starting places, then might we
be able to throw a clearer light on the history of our
domestic animals ; but I will now maintain unhesi-
tatingly, that it was not man nor his domestication,
nor any inherent tendency in the creatures themselves,
that gave feathered crests to the Poland fowl, dwarfed
the Bantam, expanded the Dorking, enlarged the Malay
and Gochin-China fowl, inspired courage to the game-
cock, nor made the hen, next to woman, the most
exemplary of mothers ; unless we believe it was man
who arranged the strata in the ribs of the earth, and
prescribed to the sea its everchanging boundaries.
Man is powerful to have dominion ; God alone is potent
to create — His Providence to overrule. Not by man,
nor chance, nor by generative force of an idol called
Nature, have the things which we see, and the diver-
sities in our living follow creatures, been brought about.
No; most thankfully, no! Then would matters have
been far less harmoniously, far less bcnignantly
arranged. It is our greatest consolation to feel assured
that all the physical changes which this earth has
undergone, and every renovation of its inhabitants,
has been from the beginning foreordained by that All-
wise and All-powerful Being, in whoso presence the
best and greatest of us would be crushed into nothing-
ness, did wo not, to our comfort, believe that Ho is not
the (Creator menely, but the Father and Protector of
every animated creature. *' These wait all upon Thee,
that Thou mayest give them meat in (hie season. When
Thou givest it Ihem, they gather it, and when Thou
openest thy hand, they are filled with good. When
Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled. When Thou

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 15

takest away their breath they die, and are turned again
to their dust." — Dixon.

GEOGRAPHICAIi DISTRIBUTION.

In a wild state, the species of the genus gallus are
at present restricted to India, Malaya, Sumatra, Java,
and perhaps other islands of the neighboring groups, as
well as those scattered over the vast Pacific. How far
to the west, in remote ages, some of these species may
have spread, we know not ; some may have been dis-
tributed from India through Persia, even to Mingrelia
and Georgia, anciently Colchis, whence the Grreeks
derived the pheasant, which they found on the banks
of the Phasis.

Oliver de Serres, on his return from a first voyage to
Guiana, in 1795, published a note on the subject of
the wild cock and hen of that country, which he had
every reason to believe were indigenous. " In travel-
ling over the gloomy and inextricable forests of Gui-
ana," says he, " when the dawn of day began to
appear, amidst the immense woods of lofty trees, which
fall under the stroke of time only, I had often heard a
crowing similar to that of our cocks, but only weaker.
The considerable distance which separated me from
every inhabited place, could not allow one to think this
crowing was produced by domesticated birds ; and the
natives of those parts, who were in company with me,
assured me it was the voice of wild cocks. Every one
of the colony of Cayenne, who have gone very far up
the country, give the same account of the fact. Some
have met with a few of these wild fowls, and I have
seen one myself. They have the same forms, the
fleshy comb on the head, the gait of our fowls, only
they are smaller, being hardly larger than the common
pigeon ; their plumage is brown, or rufous."

In a domestic state, next to the dog, the fowl has
been the most constant attendant upon man in his

16 THE DOMESTIC FOWL,

migrations and his occupation of strange Ian is. The
carniverons diet of the dog is one main cause of this
pre-eminence. But search where you will, except in
the very highest latitudes, you will find in New Zea-
land, Australia, the American continents, the West
Indies, and in islands innumerable, fowls sharing in
the possession and settlement obtained by man. As
we approach the poles, difficulties arise in the way of
their further companionship. In G-reenland, they are
occasionally kept only as curiosities and rarities. And
Sir Wm. Hooker tells us that poultry of all kinds is
quite unknown to the Icelanders, except that a few are
now and then conveyed to the country by the Danes,
who are obliged at the same time to bring with them
a sufficient supply of necessary food, that is, grain, for
their support, of which the island furnishes none.
Fowls, however, would get on very well with a fish
and meat diet with grass and vegetables, assisted by
a little imported corn, were there sufficient induce-
ment to make the inhabitants take 'pains about their
maintenance.

But the most mysterious, though not the most
ungenial localities in which fowls have hitherto been
found are the islands scattered over the vast Pacific
Ocean. How they got there is as great or a greater
puzzle than to divine the origin of their human popula-
tion. The earliest discoverers found the people to be
possessed of pigs, dogs, and fowls, all domesticated for
the «akG of being eaten.

The domestic fowl was found in the Sandwich
Islanils by their first discoverer, although seldom used
l)y the natives as an article of food ; ami, according to
tradition, it has existed there as long as the people,
and it is supposed they came there with the first colo-
nists by whom these islands were settled, or that they
were created by I'aarva, at the same time that their
men were supposed to have been made.

This aecouiit woultl assign an unfathomable anti-
quity to the dome.'sticatiou of fowls, confirmed by the

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 17

following legend : — Among the many traditionary-
accounts of the origin of the island and its inhabitants,
was one, that in former times, when there was nothing
but sea, an immense bird settled on the water and
laid an egg, which soon bursting, produced Hawaii.
Shortly after this, a man and woman, with a hog and
a dog, and a pair of fowls, arrived in a canoe from the
Society Islands, took up their abode in the eastern
shores, and were the progenitors of the present inha-
bitants.

Captain Cook found fowls on islands that had never
before been visited by civilized man, and the very wide
range over which they are distributed, precludes the
supposition of their having been introduced by Tasman
or any of the other early voyagers. " There is only
one tame species of birds, properly speaking," says his
journalist, " in the tropical isles of the South Sea,
namely, the common cock and lien. They are numer-
ous at Easter Island, where they are the only domes-
tic animals ; they are likewise in great plenty in the
Society Isles and Friendly Isles, at which last place
they are of a prodigious size ; they are also not uncom-
mon at the Marquesas, Hebrides, and New Caledonia ;
but the low isles, and those of the temperate zone, are
quite destitute of them."

The pigs of that quarter have been affirmed to differ
specifically from our own domestic breeds — less has
been said about the poultry. It appears that there are
different varieties in the different islands, some of very
large size. Our great commercial intercourse with the
Pacific makes that the quarter from whence our impor-
tations of fowls are frequently drawn, either as curious
specimens, or for the sake of improving our stock ; but
it would certainly be interesting, and might prove use-
ful, could we obtain a few new sorts, such as the
Friendly-Island breed, from the less frequented spots
in the South Seas. Our missionaries in the Sandwich
Islands, Tahiti, and other places, might surely send us
a few cocks and hens in return for the substantial

18 THE DOMESTIC FO\VL.

benefits the inhabitants of those islands have derived
from us. And should this little book ever penetrate so
far into the other hemisphere, let it persuade the
Sandwich Islanders to preserve, by domestication, and
by transmission to this country, a stock of their most
interesting, pretty, and unique little geese, before the
race is quite swept out of existence.

CLASSIFICATION.

The correct mode of classifying domestic fowls,
doubtless would be to arrange them with the wild
ones, in natural order and sequence ; but in the pre-
sent state of our knowledge, this is impossible, except
by a comparatively unsatisfactory, rough approxima-
tion. A half century hence, when the Indian Archi-
pelago and the islands of the Pacific shall have been
more fully explored, such a thing, perhaps, may be
successfully attempted.

It is evident, that, if our common fowls are believed
to be merely altered forms of one or two wild races,
under the influence of altered food and climate, they
must be arranged on difTorent principles to what they
would be if we allow them to take rank as original
and indei)endent varieties or species. In the one case,
we have to search out the wild bird nearest resembling
any one domestic breed, and form our series from that
as a beginning, as well as we can ; in the other, wo
have to become well acquainted with all the wild and
all the domestic species of gallus, and then arrange
thorn in groups or in a continuous line, according to
their rcsomhlances and rijlatioiiships, without any refer-
ence to the circumstance of their domestication or their
untameability. The former plan can be carried out
by a little theory and bold guess work ; the latter
requires industry, accurate ob.servation, and opportu-
nities which few individuals, if any, have at present
at command. In the meanwhile, I will attempt some-

THK DOMESTIC FOWL.

19

thing like an artificial arrangement, which may afford
a temporary assistance to the fancier, till a more scien-
tific scheme is worked out by wiser heads than my
own. Let us first proceed, then, to enumerate the
principal species known to exist in a wild state, from
which it is any way probable our domestic races
were derived.

THE JAVANESE JUNGLE FOWL.

Synonymes. — Gallus banhiva, of Temniinck ; Jlyam-utan, or Brooga,
of the Malays ; Javan Coc^, of Latham ; Bankiva Fowl, Javanese Jungle
Fowl, Bankioa Jungle Fowl, of the English and Anglo-Americans.

This beautiful bird is found wild in .Java, and i-
about equal in size to an ordinary Bantam — the black-
breasted, red varieties of which, with a dark steel-blue
band across the wings, it closely resembles. The space
round the eyes and the throat are bare, the comb is
much developed and deeply serrated along the upper
ridge, the wattles are rather large. Long, clear, bril-
liant, golden orange hackles, (plumes,) cover the neck
and rump. The upper part of the back, over which
the hackles of the neck are continued, is bluish-black.
The middle and lesser wing coverts are of a rich deep

20 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

chestnut, with the webs of the feathers disunited ;
greater coverts, steel-blue ; secondaries, also steel-blue,
with a border of chestnut. The quills are brownish-
black, edged with pale reddish-yellow. Tail black,
glossed with changeable green and blue. Breast and
under parts black. Contour very graceful, and every
action animated and lively.

With regard to the Bankiva jungle fowl, it cannot
be doubted that it is the main source, if not the only
one, of our Bantam breeds. The very term " Bantam"
is sufficient to establish the fact. Bantam is the name
of a town and district in the northwest of Java, belong-
ing at present to the Dutch. The town is now fallen
into decay, but was formerly a place of great import-
ance, and still boasts of a governor, whose residence is
at Sirang, or Ceram, a thriving town some miles
inland. The Portuguese, who visited Java, in 1511,
carried on a great trade from Bantam with Hindoostan
and China, chiefly in pepper. In 1595, the Dutch
established themselves at Bantam, and in 1602, the
English erected a factory in the same place, which was
the first possession of the English in the East Indies.
Of the subsequent predominance of the power of the
Dutch, who built the town of Batavia, not far distant
from Bantam, this is not the place to speak. From
this statement, however, it is evident that the beauti-
ful Bankiva jungle fowls, reclaimed by the natives,
and sold to the British, at Bantam, while their factory
was established there, were imported into England
imder the very natural a|)pellation of Bantam fowls.
Their elegance and diminutive size rendered them
favorites, and in due time the name, belonging exclu-
.sivdy to these birds, came to be conferred on all small
«ir dwarf fowls indiscriminately, whether of this pure
breed or otherwise. The domestic Bantam stock, as
ovcry one knows, broods frei^iy with ordinary fowls,
the mixed oilspring being intermediate in size between
their parents ; and that Ihe Hankiva jungle fowl will
breed wilh our domestic Bantam race, and with other

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 21

races, the progeny being fertile, as has been fully
proved. Such birds are common in the gardens of the
London Zoological Society, and so closely do the
offspring of the Bankiva jungle cock and a brown domes-
tic Bantam hen resemble the wild, or original breed,
that on more than one occasion have the best of judges
been in doubt ; nor is this to be wondered at-:r-as on
both sides was the lineage the same.

SONNERAT'S JUNGLE FOWL.

Synontmes. — Gallus sonneratti, of Temminck ; Rahn Komrah, of the
Mahrattas ; Coq sauvage, of Sonnerat ; Jungle Cock, of tbe British
Sportsmen in India ; Sannerat's Jungle Fowl, Stanlet/^s Jungle Fowl of
the English and Anglo-Americans.

The size of the male of this species is intermediate
between that of the Bantam and game code ; but
the general contour is peculiarly light and graceful,
and vigor and alertness are displayed in every action.
The comb is large, with a sub-serrated ridge, that is,
the ridge is but slightly dentated, in comparison with
the comb of the Bankiva. The wattles are large and
double. The hackles of the neck, the wing coverts on
the shoulders, and the tail coverts are dark-greyish,
with bright golden orange shafts, dilating in the centre

22 THE DOMESTIC FOWL

and towards the tip into a flat, horny, and very glossy
plate. In some of these feathers, the shaft takes an
elliptical or oar-like shape, in others it puts on the
appearance of a long inverted cone, from the centre of
the base of which a battledore-like process arises. The
effect produced by this expansion of the shafts is at
once singular and exquisitely beautiful. The feathers
of the middle of the back, breast, belly, and thighs,
are of a deep rich grey, with paler shafts and edges.
The tail is of a deep, rich, refulgent green, but the
feathers which immediately succeed the hackles of the
lower part of the back, and lie against the sides of the
tail, are rich purple with a pale-yellow edge ; those
next in succession are golden-green, with grey edges,
and all are glossed with brilliant metallic reflections ;
bill, legs, and toes yellowish. When seen in a bright
sunlight, the plumage of this elegant bird glitters like
gold, and presents a most rich appearance.

The female is generally described as destitute of
those expanded ornaments to the hackles and wing
coverts, which are so conspicuous in the male. She is
less than the cock by about a third, without comb or
wattles, but a trace of nakedness round the eye.
Plumage without the horny structure which distin-
guishes that of the male. Upper parts uniform brown ;
neck feathers with dark edges ; those of the back and
wing coverts with a pale streak along the shaft ; and
those of the wings, tail coverts, and tail, waved and
mottled with darker pcncillings ; throat and front of the
neck whit" ; feathers of the rest of the lower parts
greyish-wliite, edged with dark-brown; legs bluish-
grey.

Under the term " Sonnerat's jungle fowl," two
species of jungle fowl appear to have been confounded
together — at least, by most naturalists — although there
can bo no doubt of their real distinctness. Colonel
Sykes, spijaking in reference to the Gaf/us sonnerafii,
«jays : " Very abundant in the woods of the Western
Ghauts, where there are cither two species, or two

f

THE DOiMESTIC FOWL. 23

very strongly marked varieties. In the valleys, at
2,000 feet above the sea, Sonnerat's species is found
slender, standing high on the legs, and with the yellow
cartilaginous spots on the feathers even in the female.
In the belts of wood on the sides of the mountains, at
4,000 feet above the sea, there is a short-legged variety.
The male has a great deal of red in his plumage, which
Sonnerat's has not ; the female is of a reddish-brown
color, and is without cartilaginous spots at all."

Sonnerat's jungle fowl, the jungle cock of the
British, is noted for its prowess and resolution, inso-
much that it is anxiously sought after by the cock
fighters in Hindoostan, who rely on it for victory when
pitted against larger game cocks. It does not appear,
however, that the Mussulman cock fighters breed this
bird in its purity ; they seek after the wild birds,
which soon become tame.

In general habits and manners, the jungle fowl
resemble their domestic relatives ; the cock proudly
leads his train of females, and vigilantly watches over
their safety. On being suddenly disturbed the troop
scatters in all directions, seeking safety under covert
of the dense brushwood. In spots where they are
numerous, the challenging of the cocks to each other
may be heard on every side around, and yet such is
their cunning, and keenness of sight, that the sports-
man, unless he is well acquainted with their habits,
is often disappointed in his attempts to get a fair shot.

Sonnerat and many other naturalists have contended,
that, to this species alone are our breeds of domestic
fowls to be traced. Most probable, notwithstanding
the peculiarity of the plumage, and the circumstance
of the throat of the female being covered with feathers,
instead of being naked and wattled, it has intermingled
with other breeds, or contributed to improve them —
and among them may be enumerated the high-spirited
game fowls kept for fighting by the Mussulmans of
India, and which have been long celebrated ; but it
cannot bo admitted that Soimerat's jungle fowl is the

24 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

sole origin of the domestic race. The Bankiva
and the great Malay present stronger claims to our
notice, nor can we doubt they contribute the ground-
work of some of our most remarkable varieties.
Those writers, who, by a pleasant legerdemain, so
easily transform one of the wild Indian cocks into a
barn-door fowl — who put the jungle cock, the Bankiva
cock, or the gigantic jago bird under a bushel, hocus
pocus a little, lift up the cover, and then exhibit a
veritable chanticleer — write as if they had only to
catch a wild bird in the woods, turn it into the yard
for three or four weeks, and make it straightway
become as tame as a spaniel. On such a notion com-
ment is now supererogatory.

There are several other species of jungle fowl, to
which I shall here only briefly allude, as they are
not likely to have contributed to the establishment of
the domestic race. One of these is the " bronzed
cock" of [Sumatra, [Gallus ccnns,) a fine species, remark-
able for a largo comb, smooth along the ridge. The
neck is not covered with true hackles. Another is the
Ayam-alas jungle fowl or fork-tailed cock of Java
[Gallus fur catus). This species has no true hackles
on the neck, and the- throat is adorned with a single
large wattle only, springing from a central line. An
intermediate form between the genera phasianus and
gallus, is presented by the fire-backed pheasant of
Sumatra (Euplocamus is^nitus). It is a very splen-
did bird, and might perhaps be domesticated.

So much, then, for the remote history of the domes-
tic fowl, as far as obscure hints, notices, or delineations
enable us to decij)her it ; and it has been shown to
what wild species its origin is, in all probability, to be
attributed. It is evidently the oldest, and perhaps the
most important of man's acquisitions from among the
feathered tribes, its (lesh and its eggs being in all coun-
tries regarded partiy as delicacies always acceptable,
and partly as sta))lo articles of fooil, at once nutritious
and digestible. That a bird which has passed in a

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 25

domestic state generation after generation for several
thousand years, in one country or another, should have
branched out into many varieties, will not be surpris-
ing— perhaps rather it is surprising that it has not
undergone more changes. The varieties, however, are
sufficiently numerous, every country having some pecu-
liar to itself, and every breeder founding crosses accord-
ing to his own fancy — to say nothing of those resulting
from accidental intermixture in Europe and in our
own country. It is to the principal of these varie-
ties only, in their

VALUE IN AN ECONOMICAL POINT OF VIEW,

that I shall pay any further attention ; nor from the
limits of this little treatise, shall I be able to dwell at
much length upon them at that.

In the size of our domestic fowls ; in the color and
quality of their skin and plumage ; in the form of the
tail, or its utter absence ; in the form of the comb ;
in the presence or absence of a plume or crest on the
head ; in the number of the toes ; in disposition ; and
in the qualities of the hens as layers or sitters, differ-
ences more or less striking are universally to be found.
Yet, amidst all these modifications, the characters of
the genus are rigidly preserved.

Let us take, then, the serrated upright fleshy comb,
to be the typical distinction of the cock — a feature
which Aristotle has pointedly indicated, as well as
Columella and others of more modern date. The sickle
feathers of the tail are perhaps equally characteristic
of the genus, but they differ little in the respective
varieties. Neither mark nor distinction has, it is true,
any functional office in the organization of the animal;
but it would be difficult to find one which had. In the
Spanish fowl, the comb is more developed than in any
other breed ; we will therefore take that bird as our
type, and suggest, with diffidence, the following pro
tempore arrangement : —
2

26

TEE DOMESTIC FOWL

THE SPANISH FOWL.

Sthohtmis. — Gallus guUiniiceuf. of Naturalists ; Gallo andaluz. of th«
Spaniards ; Minorca), in North Devon, in KnglanJ ; Portugal Fowl,
Spanish Fowl. Muck Spanish Fowl, of the English and Anglo-Americanii.

This is a noble race of fowls, possessing many
great merits ; of spirited and animated appearanee, of
considerable size, exeellent for the table, both in white-
ness of flesh and skin, and also in flavor, being juiey
and tender, and laying exceedingly large eggs, in con-
siderable numbers. Amongst birds of its own breed,
it is not deficient in courage ; though it yields without
showing much fight to those which have a dash of
game blood in their veins. It should be a general favorite
in all large cities, for the additional advantage that no
•oil of smoke or dirt is apparent on its plumage.

The tliorough-bred birds of the fancy should be
entirely black, as far as feathers are concerned, and
when in high condition display a greenish metallic
lustre. The combs of both cock and hen are exceed-

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 27

ingly large, of a vivid and most brilliant scarlet, that of
the hen drooping over on one side. Their most singular
feature is a large white patch, or ear lobe, on the
cheek, of a fleshy substance, similar to the wattles,
which are small in the hens, but large and very con-
spicuous in the cocks. This marked contrast of black,
bright-red, and white, makes the head of the Spanish
cock as handsome as that of any other variety ; and
in the genuine breed, the whole form is equally good ;
but the scraggy, long-legged, mis-shapen mongrels
are often met with enough to throw discredit on the
whole race. Some birds are occasionly produced
handsomely streaked with red on the hackles and
back. This is no proof of bad breeding, if other points
are right.

Spanish hens are also of large size and good figure,
and are celebrated as good layers, producing very large,
quite white eggs, of a peculiar shape, being very thick
at both ends, and yet tapering off a little at each.
They are by no means good mothers of families, even
when they do sit, which they will not often condescend
to do, proving very careless, and frequently trampling
half their brood underfoot. But the inconveniences of
this habit are easily obviated by causing the eggs to
be hatched by some more motherly hen.

It has been noticed that this variety of fowl fre-
quently loses nearly all the feathers on the body,.
besides the usual quantity on the neck, wings, and
tail ; and if they moult late, and the weather is severe,
they feel it much. Nothing else can reasonably be
expected to take place with an "everlasting layer."
It often happens to the Gruinea fowl ; and the reason
of it is plain. If the system of a bird is exhausted by
the unremitting production of eggs, it cannot contain
within itself the wherewithal to supply the growth of
feathers. The stream that will fill but one channel
cannot be made to keep two at high- water mark ; and
therefore, Mr. Leonard Barber, an English author,
justly observes : " With regard to an anxiety about

28 THi: DOMESTIC FOWL.

their constant laying, in my opinion nature ought not
to be forced, as it requires a rest." But some people
think it cannot be right if their hens do not lay every
day.

It is doubtful whether they would readily become
acclimatized in the northern part of the United States,
for continued frost, at any time, much injures their
combs ; frequently cau.'^ing mortification in the end,
which has terminated in death. A warm poultry
house, high feeding, and care that the birds do not
remain too long exposed to severe weather, are the
best means of preventing this disfigurement.

The chicks are large, as would be expected from
such eggs, entirely .shining black, except a pinafore of
white on the breast, and a slight sprinkling under the
chin, with sometimes also a little white round the beak
and eyes ; legs and feet black. They do not get perfectly
feathered till they are three fourths grown ; and, there-
fore, to have these birds come to perfection, it is pre-
ferable to have them hatched early in spring, so that
they may get well covered with plumage before the
cold autumnal rains.

The black, however, is not the only valuable race
of Spanish fowls, although certain London dealers,
who have no right to offer an opinion, if they do not
choo.se to give information on the subject, presume to
affirm that there can be no j^uch breed as " speckled
Spanish," it being characteristic of that breed to be
perfectly black. Still there arc some breeds, in Spain,
clo.sely allied to these, which are of a blue, grey, era
slaty color. Their growth is so rapid, and their even-
tual size so large, that they are remarkably slow in
obtaining their feathf-rs. Althtiugh well covered with
down whvn first hatched, they look almost naked when
half-grown, and should, therefore, be hatched as early
in thd spring as j)ossil)Io,

The cross between the pheasant-Malay and the
Spani.sh produces a particularly handsome fowl, and
probably very much re.sembling the old Hispnnic type

THE U0MK5TIC FOWL.

29

THE DORKING FOWL.*

Stnonymes. — GaUus pentadactylus (?), Temminck ; Le Cog et la Poule
& cinq doigts (.'), of Buffon ; Das Fanfzekiger Huhn (J), of Bechstein ;
Dorkings, Speckled Dorkivgs, of the English and Anglo-Americans.

For those who wish to stock their poultry yards
with fowls of most desirable shape and size, clothed in
rich and variegated plumage, and, not expecting per-
fection, are willing to overlook one or two other points,
the Dorkings are the breed, above all others to be
selected. They are larger-bodied, and of better pro-
portions, according to their size, than any other variety
I have yet seen, their bodies being rather long, plump,
and well-fleshed ; and the breeder, as well as the
housewife, generally beholds with delight their short
legs, full, broad breasts, little waste in ofFal, and the

* So called from Dorking, a town in Surrey, England, which brought them
into modern repute.

30 TIIH DOMRSTIC FOWL.

large quantity of good profitable flesh, the flavor and
appearance of which is inferior to none.

The cocks are magnificent. The most gorgeous
hues are frequently lavished vipon Ihem, which their
large size and peculiarly square-built form display to
great advantage. The original Dorkings are said to
have been white, but such are now seldom to be seen.
During all my rambles, in various parts of the country,
only on one or two occasions did I meet with pure-
white birds. In all, however, as far as my knowledge
extended, when pure-blooded, more or less white pre-
vailed ; but the cloudings, and markings of the plumage
were unlimited. Many were marked with bands, or
bars, of ashy-grey, running into each other at their
paler margins. Some had the hackles of the neck
white, with a tinge of yellow, and the body of a darker
or brownish-red, intermixed irregularly with white ;
while others were beautifully variegated with white,
black, green, and brown, or were nearly uniform in
their shades from a light-cream color to almost black.

Both the cocks and the hens are usually short-
legged, thickly-feathered, having fine, delicate heads,
with single, double, or large, flat rose-like combs,
which, when they are in high health, adds very much
to their appearance, particularly if seen in the bright
rays of the sun. Their legs arc invariably white, or
flesh-colored, each often armed with one or more toe-like
claws ; and, instead of four toes to each foot, a fifth
one protrudes from the same root as the heel toe in
the common varieties, wiiioh is generally regarded as
a distinguishing mark of tho breed.

The weight of the Dorkings, at maturity, varies
from five to eight pounds, and full-grown capons have
been known to weigh ten or twelve. Their eggs are
usually of a clear white, but sometimes of an ashy-
grey color, rather large in size, very much rounded
at both ends, and of an excellent flavor. The hens
are not "cvorlasling layers," although they produce
eggs in reasonable abundance, but at due or convenient

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 31

intervals they manifest a desire to sit, in which they
often most strenuously persevere. In this respect,
they are steady and good mothers when the little ones
appear. They are better adapted than any other fowl,
except the great Malay, to hatch superabundant tur
Icey's eggs. Their size and bulk enable them to afford
warmth and shelter to the turkey poults for a long
time. For the same reason, spare goose eggs may
safely be entrusted to their motherly care. Their
young, in this country, have thus far proved very
hardy and easy to rear. The chicks are generally
brownish-yellow, with a broad, brown stripe down the
middle of the back, and a narrow one on each side.

Although pure-bred Dorkings are still deservedly in
high repute, a cross is generally regarded more profit-
able than the true breed. A showy, energetic game
cock, with Dorking hens, produces chickens, in size
and beauty little inferior to their maternal parentage,
and more robust. This race has the peculiarity in hav-
ing a supernumerary toe on each foot, and, as has
already been said, often one or more toe-like protrusions
above their heels resembling claws. These charac-
teristics almost always disappear with the first or
second cross ; and as they are points that can well be
spared without any disadvantage, it is now a common
practice, in England, thus to breed them off". The
first cross produces a fine bird, which is large, though
less prolific ; but if the mongrel progeny be crossed
with each other, they soon dwindle to nothing. There-
fore, one has no further guarantee of the cross breed
being good further than the first result.

The Dorking breed, more or less crossed, or at least
a race nearly allied to them, is to be found in Sussex,
England, the bodies of which are more elongated than
in the Dorkings, and many of them have five toes.
They are represented as very fine, and worthy of a
trial in the United States. The " Old Sussex," or
Kent variety, is closely related to these, if not abso-
lutely identical.

32 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

It is a question how the variety known in England
under the name of " speckled Dorkings," was lirst
produced. Some maintain that the pure-white Dork-
ings are the original breed with five toes, and that the
speckled Dorking is a recent and improved cross, by
which the size was much increased, between the ori-
ginal white breed and the Malay, or some other large
fowl. From this opinion, I must entirely dissent, on
the ground of strong, though not absolutely conclusive,
evidence to the contrary. It seems to me that Colu-
mella's favorite sort of hen could not differ much from
the speckled Dorkings, as they at present exist. He
says : " Let them be of a reddish or dark plumage,
and with black wings. * * # * * Lg^ ^j^g
breeding hens, therefore, be of a choice color, a robust
body, square-built, full-breasted, with large heads, with
upright and bright-red combs. ***** Those
are believed to be the best bred which have five toes."
Except that there is no mention of speckles, (and he
never describes minute markings,) the whole descrip-
tion almost exactly tallies with our birds of the present
day. Pliny's account, also, agrees with this : " Supe-
riority of breed in hens is denoted by an upright comb,
sometimes double, black wings, ruddy visage, and an
odd number of toes." It appears that Columella had
the white sort, but he rejected them ; for he advises:
" Let the white ones be avoided, for they are generally
both tender and less vivacious, and also are not found
to be prolific," faults whicii arc still attributed tothein
by .'<ome. I cannot, therefore, avoid believing, that, from
the robust dark-colored, five-toed fowl, white indivi-
duals have been from time to time produced and propa-
gated, exactly as wo sec in other species of gallinaceous
birds that have long been in domestication — pea fowls,
turkeys, and Guinea fowls, for instance. I think,
al.so, that there is no instance of any white species of
cocks and hens having been found wild ; which is some
argument that dark and gaudy colors are the hues
originally characteristic of the genus.

THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

33

The first Dorkings brought into the United States,
were inti'oduced in about the year 1840, by L. F. Allen,
of Black Rock, New York, and Dr. Eben Wight, of
Boston, Massachusetts, both of whom continue to breed
them in their utmost purity. Other importations have
since been made by Mr. Rotch, of Butternuts, and
Messrs. Chadwick and Beach, of the city of New York.

THE COCHIX-CHINA FOWL.

•NONTMEs — Gallus giganteus (var. ?), of Temminck ; Cochin-Chinu
Fowl, Ostrich Fowl, of the English and Anglo-Americans.

Whether the breed now under consideration did
really come from Cochin-China or not, is probably
known only to the party who imported thein, if to him.
But from whatever oriental region derived, it is a valu-
able variety for some purposes, and the only fear is,
that statements of it.s merits have been set forth so

34 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

highly exaggerated, that they must lead to disappoint-
ment, and cause the breed to be as much undeservedly
underrated, as it had been before foolishly extolled.
The size and weight ascribed to them, too, are enor-
mous. To give an idea of their height and magnitude,
they have been styled the "ostrich fowl." This is an
old, but very bad system of giving names, to affix that
of some other animal, indicating certain supposed
qualities ; for such appellations are apt to induce
notions of relationship, or hybridity, which are not easily
removed from the minds of the many.

The Cochin-China cock has a large, upright, single,
deeply-indented comb, very much resembling that of
the black Spanish, and when in high condition of quite
as brilliant a scarlet ; like him, also, he has a very
large, white ear lobe on each cheek. The wattles aro
large, wide, and pendant. The legs are of a pale-flesh
color. The feathers on the breast and sides are of a
bright chestnut-brown, large and well defined, giving
a scaly or imbricated appearance to those parts. In
some birds, there is a horse-shoe marking on the breast,
caused by a darker shade, and which increases, and
perhaps comes, with age. The hackle of the neck is
of a light yellowish-brown ; the lower feathers being
tipped with dark-brown, so as to give a spotted appear-
ance to the neck. The tail feathers are black, and
darkly iridescent ; back, scarlet-orange ; back hackle,
yellctw-orange. It is, in short, altogether a Hame-
colored bird. Both sexes arc lower in the leg than
either the black Spanish or the Malay, and they are
remarkably full feathered.

It has incorrectly been asserted, that "the disposition
of the feathers on the bai^k of the cock's neck is reversed,
these being turn<!(l upwards; the wing is jointed, so
that the posterior half cnn, at jihsasure, be doubled up,
and brought forward between the anterior half and the
body ;" the only foundation for which absurdity, is,
that in some of the half-grown roekerels, certain
feathers, the wing coverts, curl forwards ; but the

THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

35

curling disappears with the complete growth oi the
plumage.

The hen approaches in her build more nearly to the
Dorking than any other, except that the tail is very
small, and proportionately depressed, being more hori-
zontal, I think, than in any other fowl. Her comb is
moderate-sized, almost small ; she has also a small
white ear lobe. Her coloring is flat, being composed
of various shades of very light-brown, with light-yel-
low on the neck. Her appearance is quiet, and only
attracts attention by its extreme neatness, cleanness,
and compactness. Her legs and thighs are thick and
stout. The tail short, thin, and not the usual lengtls.

COCHIN-CHINA HEN.

It was stated in the London Agricultural G-azette,
of the 30th of September, 1848, the male birds of these
fowls weighed from 12 to 15lbs., live weight, and the
hens from 9 to lOlbs. I This, certainly, is very extra-
ordinary, if the account is not fabulous ; for, out of a
large number of cocks and hens, of various breeds, and
among them the Cochin-China, varying from five
months to four years old, not one of the former exceeded

36 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

the weight of 7^1bs., nor the latter that of G^lbs. It
is possible, nevertheless, that capons of this, or some
allied variety, might arrive at double these weights.

The average weight of the eggs of the Cochin-China
fowl is about 2oz. each. They are smooth, of an oval,
nearly equally rounded at each end, and usually of a
rich buff color, but sometimes white. The newly-
hatched chicks appear very large in proportion to the
size of the eggs. They have light flesh-colored bills,
feet, and legs, and are thickly covered with down, of
the hue vulgarly called "carrotty." They are not
less thrifty than other chickens, and feather somewhat
more uniformly than either the black Spanish or the
Malay. A peculiarity in the cockerels is, that they
do not show even the rudiments of their tail feathers
till they are nearly full grown. They increase so
rapidly in other directions, that there is no material to
spare for the production of these decorative appendages.
The pullets are less backward in shooting their tails,
and this distinction alone is sulhcient to denote the
respective sexes at a very early age. The cockerels are
also later than others in commencing to crow.

The merits of this breed are such, that they have
been highly recommended to persons residing in the
country, from the fact, that the hens arc capital layers,
and from the large and rapid growth of the chicks ;
but, in my Immble judgment, this nor any other breed
of excessively large fowls are not the most desirable
for general use.

The Cochin-China fowl is said to have been pre-
.sentcd to her Majesty, Queen Vii'toria, of England,
from the East Indies, and, by her liberality, imparted
to such persons in her dominions as were likely pro-
perly t(» appreciate them.

In llie United States, tliere are numerous individuaks
who possess large fowls bearing the name of " Cochin-
China," which have bo«!n crossed with the Dorking and
other liirge. I)ree(ls ; but such a course is believed to
be of doubtful utdity.

THE DOMESTIC FOWL, 37

THE KULM, OR GREAT MALAY FOWL.

Stnontmes. — Gallus giganteus, of Temminck ; Ch-and Coq dcs Malaies,
of the French ; Kulm Hahn, Malaischer Hahn, of the Germans ; Kulm
Fowl, Malay Fowl, Great Malay Fowl, Chittagong Fowl, of the English
and Anglo-Americans.

This breed is in high repute with many writers, as
a supposed connecting link between the wild and the
tame races of fowls. Indeed, something very like thevn
is still to be found in the East ; and it would be useful
to know, as a certain test, whether the kulm cock be
indocile, like the pheasant, or tameable, like the fowl.
Their flesh is condemned by common prejudice, as
coarse, stringy, oily, and ill-flavored. The pure breed
is undoubtedly game ; but, as far as size is con-
cerned, has little to recommend it. The hens, how-
ever, are excellent layers, and the eggs remarkable
for their delicacy.

The kulm fowl is kept in a domestic state, not only
in India, Java, and ISumatra, but in the Malay penin-

38 THK DOMESTIC FOWL.

sula, and in Cochin-China. It has long been known
in England, although it is only within the last few
years that much attention has been directed towards
it in this country.

The cock, in his natural attitude, often considerably
exceeds two feet in height, from the ground to the
crown of the head. The comb extends backwards in
a line with the eyes ; it is low, thick, destitute of ser-
rations, and has the appearance as if its ridge had been
cut off. The wattles hanging from under the mandible
are small, and the throat is bare. The neck is long,
and covered with hackles of a pale golden-reddish
color, which extend to the upper part of the back. The
middle of the back and the lesser wing coverts are of
a deep chestnut, and the webs of the feathers are dis-
united ; the greater wing coverts are glossy-green ;
the secondaries and quill feathers are of a pale reddish-
yellow on their outer webs. The hackles of the rump
arc long and drooping, and are of a pale reddish-yel-
low. The tail feathers are of a glossy-green. The
under parts generally are of a glossy greenish-black,
with high reflections, each feather being of a deep-
chestnut at the base, producing somewhat a mottled
appearance, especially if the plumage be a little
deranged. The body is stout, and the legs are long,
but very robust. In proportion to the size of the body,
and length of the neck and limbs, the head seems
small, and is far from being pleasing in appearance,
the curtailment of the comb and wattles seeming the
result of injury or malformation. The gait is heavy
and destitute of alertness, and the bird often rejioses
resting on his shanks, their whole length being applied
t.(» the ground. The attitude is uncouth, and gives the
id«'fi (if the bird being oppressed with its own weight.
It is very probable that this gigantic fowl is loss dis-
posed to mount the trees and roost on the branches
than most others of the genus ; and this strange atti-
luile may l)o the ordinary modr. of taking repose.

The voice of the cock, instead of being a clear ring-

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 39

ing tone, heartily delivered, is short, hoarse, and monot-
onous, more like a croak than a crow.

The hen is considerably less in size than the cock,
awkward in figure, and often ill-tempered and harsh
to other birds. The comb is very small, but the face
is much covered with a red skin. The bill, legs, and
feet are yellcw ; the head, neck, back, tail, and quills
are of a rich brown ; the lower parts of the thighs of a
lighter hue ; the neck long ', the stature and carriage
lofty ; and the head small in proportion to the size of
the bird.

The eggs are of a good size, and of a rich buff or
brown color, which are much prized by the numerous
epicures who believe that this hue indicates richness
of flavor — a fact which has not yet been made sensible
to my own palate. The chicks are at first very strong,
with yellow legs, and are thickly covered with light-
brown down ; but, by the time they are one third
grown, the increase of their bodies has so far outstripped
that of their feathers, that they are half naked about
the back and shoulders, and extremely susceptible of
wet and cold.

The hens are sometimes employed to hatch the eggs
of turkeys, a task for which they are well adapted, in
every respect but one ; that is, they will follow their
natural instinct in turning off their chicks at the usual
rime, instead of retaining the charge of them as long
as the mother turkey would. Groslings would suffer
less from such untimely desertion.

With regard to the kulm fowl, the jago fowl, (im-
properly called the " St. Jago fowl," from the suppo-
sition that they came from an island of that name, one
of the Cape Verds,) and the Cochin-China fowl, may
be looked upon as so many domestic off-sets, not
uncrossed with others, of the Grallus giganteus, of
Temminck. " And here, let it bo remarked, that in the
jago fowl, so famous for height and weight, the comb,
both of the cock and hen, is large and often double,
added to which there is sometimes a crest of feathers.

40 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

Domestication always produces some modifications of
structure in animals, and more especially in organs of
minor importance, as in the length of the tail and ears,
and in the development of various appendages. That
the comb of the jago fowl should be large, and often
double, is not surprising. Mn^it of our ordinary breeds
have a rose crown, yet this development is never found
in any wild species. It is the result of domestication,
and occurs in a part most liable, as m-ight be antici-
pated, to change.

THE PHEASANT-MALAY FOWL.

SvNONTMKS. — GaUvs gigantcus (var. ?), Temminck ; Pheasant- Makty
Fowl. Phetisant Fowl, Phtasant Bried, of the English Poulterers.

This variety may claim the sad pre-eminence of
having given occasion to more disputes than any bird
of its tribe, always excepting the garrfe cock. It is
highly valued by many English farmers, not on account
of its intrinsic merits, which are considerable, but
because they believe it to be a cross between the
pheasant and the common fowl, than which nothing
can be more erroneous. The pullets and cockerels are
represented as excellent for the table, and when brought
to market meet with a ready sale, less because they
are really fine birds, than because the seller assures
his customers, in perfect sincerity, that they are half-
bred pheasants ; and the buyer readily ])ays his money
down, thinking tiiat he has got a nice fowl, and a taste
of pheasant into the bargain — something like the Paddy
who was delighted, at breakfast, on linding that he
was " ateing a little hen" when ho hail imly |)aid for
an egg.

Let it l»e elearly and distiiu^tly known, then, that
the " phiasant breed" of the iuiglish poultry fancier
is no mon? a mule between the common hen and the
cock phrjisiint, than the Coehin-(^hina,i)r ostri(;h fowl, is
uhalf-bred oslrirh. Yet, liybri 1 birds produced between

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 41

the pheasant and common fowl are of frequent occur-
rence. The London Zoological Society have possessed
several, which were for a time kept together, but
showed no signs of breeding; they are considered, like
other hybrids, to be unproductive among themselves,
all being half-bred ; but when paired with the true
pheasant or the fowl, the case is different. The society
has had exhibited at the evening meetings two instances
of success in this- sort of second cross. The first was
in 1831 ; the second instance in 1836. Two cases
only, and those in the second cross, ascertained during
all the time that the society has had extraordinary
means at command, are exceptions so rare, as to con-
firm the rule that such mules are barren, and incapable
of founding a family, and becoming the ancestors of a
distinct race. A correspondent in the London Agri-
cultural Gazette, a most successful breeder of them,
also admits, that, after many trials of these paired
hybrids, he had " never brought up but two to be
a' most hens," and that they took the megrims
(staggers,) and died.

And yet, an evidently sincere writer in the publica-
tion last referred to, declares : " From what I have
seen of the plumage of birds casually produced at the
wood side, (from crossing with pheasants,) I believe a
judicious and scientific selection would lead to the
production of very fine varieties, and that, among
others, the dark pheasant-plumed breed, both of Ban-
tams and common poultry, would reward the patient
inquirer."

The pheasant-Malays are described as large, well-
flavored, good sitters, good layers, good mothers, and
in many points an ornamental and desirable stock.
The eggs vary in size, some very large, in summer,
smooth but not polished, sometimes tinged with light-
buff, balloon-shaped, and without the zone of irregu-
larity. Six eggs of these hens weigh very nearly 12
ounces.

This breed is very graphically described by a late

42 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

English writer, nearly in the following words . — " The
cook is a large-sized bird, of a dark-red color, with a
small comb ; but the beauty of the breed is with the
hens, which are of a pheasant-color in all parts of the
body, with a velvety-black neck. The shape of both
male and female is good. The neck is long and high-
crested, giving them an appearance quite superior to
other fowls in that particular. The color of the hens
varies from the warmth of the plumage of the cock
pheasant to the colder hue of the hen pheasant, but as
I have always bred from the high-colored birds, I now
have the better color generally predominating. The
legs are white, and also the skin. They are excellent
birds on table, both as to quality, shape, and size.
They have no resemblance to the Malay, except that
the cocks are rather high on the legs, the hens being
the reverse. The combs of the hens are very small.
The hens never have a foul feather, but I have never
seen a cock which does not show Sbme small mark
of white on one of his tail feathers. You will observe
in the hens of the ))heasant-Malay that the two longest
tail feathers are somewhat curved, which, when the
bird is full grown, and in full feather, materially
improve the appearance. They do not arrive at their
full size until the second season. They lay well, but
late. Their eggs are very small in proportion to the
size of the birds. I should say that their weight was-,
on the average, above that of the black Spanish, while
their eggs are a third smaller. ***** f |^q
hens have scarcely any comb. The cocks always have
a comb extending but a very little way backward, but
.standing up so high as always to fall a little over on
one side, 1 have never .seen any variation as to the
combs nor the color of the neck and tail feathers, either
of males or Annales, which indicates them to bo a real
variety. The only variation 1 have observed is in the
body color of the hens, and this is not in the marking,
but merely in the grnniid color. ***** 'pj^^
Mggs are quite small, but of excellent flavor, neither

THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

4a

very white nor brown ; the shape varies considerably.
The chicks are of a yellowish color, with sometimes
two brown stripe*? down the back and a few specks
about the head, but more usually without either.
They have, however, invariably the hinder part of the
back of an intenser or browner yellow, almost amount-
ing to a warm fawn-color. ***** My male
birds have a very peculiar feathering on the neck — the
neck feathers being very long and full, dark-red, and
black at the tips, but the under part of a downy white.
The consequence is, an appearance of mixed dark-red
and white about the neck, which is the more peculiar
from its being so particularly at variance with the
glossy-black neck feathering of the female. The
feathering of the back and wings is rather scanty, and
the tail is not very full. The bird has a good, erect
carriage. ***** The chickens of this breed
are very small at first, and but scantily supplied with
down. As they begin to grow, they have a very naked
appearance from the slow development of their feathers,
and this renders them very susceptible of cold. At
six weeks old, they are not above half the size of Dork-
ings of the same age, but after two months, they grow
very fast, and the pullets feather well and show indi-
cations of their permanent color. The cocks are ragged
in appearance until five months old, after which they
get their permanent plumage, and grow fast. As a
sort of profitable growth, I cannot recommend them, but
the ornamental figure and color of the hens, I think,
is beyond question. The flesh, at table, is extremely
good and white ; and they lay abundantly, though
late. I have a strong suspicion, from various pecu-
liarities, that they are of comparatively recent intro-
duction into this country, from a much warmer
climate. ***** Baker, of London and
Chelsea, (one of the best fancy dealers,) told me that
they were a breed from Calcutta. They are certainly
tender, and are apt to die in the moulting."

44

THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

THE GAME FOWL.

SritortTMEi. — Gallus ^allinaceus (var.?), of Naturalists ; Coq anglais, of
BufTon ; Gallo peUador, of the Spaniards ; Game Fowl, Oame Cock,
Fighting Cock, of the English and Anglo-Americans.

It is not within the range of the present little treatise
to hunt up the distinctions of the sporting fancy, par-
ticularly cock-fighting, which, it is hojied, will soon
become obsolete ; yet an allusion to tho.se distinctions
might excite the curiosity of the naturalist. It is the
temperament which gives the bird its value in the eye
of the .sportsman ; its piiysical (|ualities deserve the
notice of the ornithologist. But even now, many of
the handsomest game cocks to bo seen, are already

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 45

trimmed, (in the comb at least,) in case they should
be wanted in a hiirry for a private spar.

The game cock approaches nearer to the Malay and
pheasant-Malay than to any other variety of foWl. As
I have made the Spanish fowl, on account of • his
well-developed single comb, the type of the genus, so.

THE ENGLISH GAME COCK

in any circular arrangement of the genus itself, I
should make the game fowl the centre from which the
rest, in one way or another, diverge. There are the
white-legged, the yellow-legged, and the leaden or
black-legged game fowl, all of which vary in the color
of their plumage. No other breed runs off into so
many varieties, which still are all " true game fowls."
The catalogue of sorts is a long one ; and many
of them have been preserved in various noble and
gentle iamilies, in Europe, distinct. At present, the
Earl of Derby possesses a breed which has been in
possession of that noble family for many generations,
and which is sedulously preserved from base alloy. It

46 THE DOMESTIC roWL.

is a black-breasted red, with a, purple band across the
wing, and, though superior yi size to the Bankiva
iungle fowl, it closely resemblfes that bird in plumage
and in elegance of contour.

The exterior qualifications of a male bird of this
variety, is described by an anonymous writer in the
following words : — " In the choice of the game or
fighting cock, four things are to be principally con-
sidered ; these are shape, color, courage, and the sharp-
ness of the heel. As to the shape, such a one should
be chosen as is neither too small nor too large ; the
very large ones are always clumsy and unwieldy, and
the small ones are slow and ^dious in fighting, and
are generally too weak to stand a very tight battle ;
another disadvantage to these extremes, is, that they
are very difficult to be matched ; the middle size ought
therefore to be preferred, as he is generally the most
nimble and active with his strength, and the matching
him is easy. The head ought to be small, the eyes
large and brisk, and the beak strong and hooked at the
setting on ; its color ought also to answer to that of
the principal or general color of the feathers, whether
they be yellow, reddish, or grey. The beam of his leg
ought to be very strong, and, according to his plumage,
either blue, grey, or yellow ; and the spurs ought to
be rough, long, and .sharp, a little bending and point-
ing inward. The three colors esteemed in the game
cock are grey, yellow, and red, with a black <breast.
The perfection of a cock is not, however, tied down to
these colors absolutely, for experience has shown that
there are cocks of other colors which have proved
excellent ones, but these are, in general, the best. The
pied cock sometimes turns out good, but the white and
dun are seldom of any value. If the neck of a cock
be invested with a circle of .scarlet complexion, it is a
BJgn that he is strong and vigorous, and has groat
courage ; but if it bo pale and wan, it denotes him to
be dcf(!ctivc in the.se material j)articulars,"

The game cock is by no means the aggressive san-

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 47

guinary tyrant that he is commonly represented to be.
He will submit to no insult nor intrusion within his
own domain ; but neither does he offer any unprovoked
assault. If his antagonist flee, he is satisfied, and
does not pursue him in order to perpetrate any bloody
revenge. Other poultry that are killed by game cocks
generally draw down the punishment upon themselves,
by their own impudent and continued aggression. The
bird, too, is as enduring of pain, as he is bold in combat.

But though I wish to clear the game breed from
the charge of blood-thirsty cruelty, I cannot hold
them out as patterns of gentleness and forbearance.
" Might with them, makes right." None but the
brave, however well they may deserve, or how much-
soever they may long for, are likely to enjoy any favor
from the present class of rusty-fusty colored beauties.
" Q,uiet people," says a late writer, "unless they have
studied phrenology, or kept game fowls, have little
idea how close a connexion there is said to be between
love and murder. But the ladies have long found it
out ; there is no sweetheart like a soldier. A con-
stantly pacific male is despicable in their eyes. ' Eh !
si je veux qu'il me batte !' ' If I choose my husband
to beat me, what business is that of yours ? A pretty
state of things, when a woman may not permit her
own husband to beat her !' So wrote the great
Moliere, in the high-heeled, periwigged reign of Louis
XIV. But civilised and uncivilised nature is alike.
The sovithern she savage, when her brtite lifts his
waddy, to give her a tap on the head that would fell
an English ox, bows thankfully to receive the caress
on her indurated noddle, and triumphs that the com-
pliment was not bestowed upon either of the other
squaws."

The game hens, as well as the cocks, also vary in
color, and some breeders think the darkest to be of the
purest blood ; a deep-brown hen, with dark legs and
small leaden comb, is thought to be the model bird ;
but in most, if not all game hens, the tail will be found

48 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

to be large, vertical, fan-lL^^ and well carried over
the back — a distinction whpn continues to be very
apparent in the first cross with any other breed. The
flesh, even of the yellow-legged, yellow-skinned breeds,
is justly, in high repute ; their eggs, also, are much
prized for the table, but my own palate is not suffi-
ciently discriminating to detect their particular supe-
riority to the eggs of other hens. They are compara-
tively small, contain a somewhat larger proportion of
yolk, are generally tapering, unequally elliptic, and
mostly, though not always, tinged with buff.

Another general merit of the' hens, is their excel-
lence as incubators and nurses ; a virtue in them which
is no new discovery. " Florentius," says Aldrovandi,
*' is the authority, that in the Alexandria which faces
yEgypt, certain hens, from which the fighting cocks
are produced, are called Monosita?, (that is, one-mealers,
or such as eat only once a day,) and that these will
go on sitting: for the second or third time, in conse-
quence of their chicks being smuggled away as soon
as hatched and brought up elsewhere. It thus happens
that a single hen may hatch forty, and even sixty or
more, at one sitting." When they are at length per-
mitted to receive their reward in the shape of a brood
of chicks, nothing can exceed their admirable conduct.
The very young hens, with their first clutch, are apt
to be over-anxious, and not at all forbearing to other
fowls that come in their way ; but that is a fault on
the right side, and if the feathers of intruders are now
and then made to fly abroad, they must grow again.
The delicate proportions of the game hen adapt her to
take charge of even the'^most fragile gallinaceous
birds ; while her courage and determination render
her equal to the most robust. Every breeder or experi-
menter should have a nur.«!ery of game hens.

" The nest for the hen," says the same anonymous
writer, referred to above, " should bo made of sweet
and clean straw, and should be placed in some warm
corner, out of the way of disturbance from any other

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 49

fowl, for this sort of interruption provokes this quar-
relsome bird in such a manner as to endanger the eggs.
That she may never have occasion to leave the eggs
so long as to cool them, it will be proper to lay all
sorts of food that she is likely to approve of before her,
and to put clean water every day not only for her to
drink but to wash and triin herself in ; some ashes,
sand, and gravel should also be sifted on the ground
near the nest. The chickens are hatched in about
three weeks, and the nest is to be carefully watched
about this time, for there are always some of the
chickens hatched before the others ; these should be
taken away as soon as out of the shell, and laid before
the fire, or in some warm place in wool, and as soon
as the rest are hatched these should be given back to
the hen. They are not to be suffered to go abroad for
the first fortnight, and the room they are kept in must
be boarded, all other floors being too cold and too moist.
At about a month old, the chickens may be turned
out into a walk of some fresh grass, that they may
feed at liberty and eat worms and other insects ; but
there must be no puddle of water near the place, for
they are apt to get into such, and it occasions them a
number of diseases.

"As soon as the comb and wattles appear on the
cocks, they must be cut away, and the sore place
anointed with fresh butter till it is well — (the cock
fighter only will act in this cruel manner, the fancier
will not thus disfigure his birds). The chickens may
be all suffered to run together till they begin to peck
one another, then the cooks are to be separated ; each
must have his particular walk, and the more freed
from disturbance this is the better. The place of feed-
ing them must either be a boarded floor, or a very soft
and dry piece of ground. If the place be hard, as a
stony pavement, or a plastered floor, the taking up
their food will injure and blunt their beaks, so that
they will never be able to hold fast afterwards. Any
white oqrn is good for the young game cock in his
3

50 THE DOMESTlvJ I'OWL.

walks ; and so is a white bread toast steeped in ale.
There should never be allowfd more than three hens
to one game cock in his walk ; and care is to be taken
also as to his roosting-place, that the perch be not too
small in the gripe, and be so placed that he may sit
upon it without straddling. Grame cocks are brought
to the greatest state of their strength and activity in
about ten days, but they will scarcely remain twenty-
four hours in this condition ; nay, some have been
known to change for the worse in twelve hours."

Many of the foregoing directions bear rather upon
the rearing of the game cock for the purpose of fight-
ing, than for ordinary utility ; but others are of general
import.

It is not only for its pugnacious qualities that the
game fowl is to be noticed — it yields to no breed, nay,
perhaps is superior to most in the whiteness and sapid-
ity of its flesh ; the hens are excellent layers, and the
eggs, though of moderate size only, are remarkable
for the delicacy of their flavor, as has already been
stated.

Of all the breeds, the game fowl is considered the
most beautiful, whether we look to contour or to color-
ing ; the cock carries himself proudly and yet grace-
fully, his port and l)earing proclaim his fiery spirit, his
undaunted mettle, which endures even to his last
breath, for while prostrate and mortally wounded he
will answer the insulting crow of his victorious rival,
and make a last eflbrt to revenge himself before the
spark of life is extinct. No wonder that the gallant
cock .should have been chosen as the emblem of courage.

Poultry fanciers, who keep only a small number of
fowls, may manage to rear a young brood of this
variety by precautions which the farmor (*;mni)t put
into practice. The principal objection to them, in
these respects, is \heir impatience of confinement
to a yard or coop ; and from their lightness on the
wing, it is difficult to prevent them from flying out at
will'.

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 51

THE GOLDEN AND SILVER HAMBURGH FOWL.

SvNONVMKS. — Gallus gallinuceus (var.?), of Ray ; Gallina turcica (?), of
Aldrovandi ; Cjral Grey. Votton Grey, Bolton Bay, of Lancashire ; Pen-
cilled Dutch Fowl C), TurAii^ /"oii'Z (?), of Dickson ; Chiltiprats, Chete-
prali (?), at Keighley, in Yorkshire, England ; Golden Hamburgh, Sil-
ver Hamburgh, of Dixon ; Creoles, of Wiltshire and other parts of the
South of England.

It is no easy task to reconcile the synonymes of this
breed. Aldrovandi, in describing a Turkish cock and
two Turkish hens, says : "The cock, whose likeness
we now give, is called the Turkish cock. His whole
body was, in a manner, inclined to white. Still the
wing feathers were partly black, the belly also was
black ; the tail consisted of feathers that were partly
green, partly black, some also half green, some half
black. His whole body was exquisitely adorned with
lines that were sometimes golden and sometimes sil-
ver, and it is wonderful what a beautiful effect this
produced. His legs and feet were tinged with blue.
The hen, which in like manner is called Turkish, was
all white, sprinkled over with black spots ; the feet
tinged with blue ; the wattles were short, when com-
pared with those of the male. The next hen would
seem the same, except that her neck was yellowish,
and she had a sharp point on the top of her head,
her feet altogether blue, and an immaculate tail,
# * * :i^ * J }^ave observed another hen of this
kind, whose feet Avere entirely blue, spotted in the
same manner as the foregoing with ^ black and white,
but behind its fleshy crest it had another of white
feathers like a lark, and that part of the neck and
shoulders which in the other is black, in this changing
from ash color to dirty yellow."

The figures given in Aldrovandi's large wood cuts
are evidently the golden Hamburgh ; the hens, one
golden, and one silver. The very peculiar form of the
comb, so recognisable at the present time, is clearly

52 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

marked in these old characters. The fleshy rose comb
of the golden Hamburgh terriimating in a sharp point
behind, like the corner of a cocked hat turning upwards,
and which is seen in no other variety of fowl, is well
described.

A writer in the London Agricultural G-azette, of
October 14th, 1848, in speaking of this breed, says :
" The silver (Hamburgh) fowls are worthy of notice,
both on account of their beauty and productiveness ;
they are small- bodied, have short blue legs, a very
pretty head, with a full comb, and a remarkably short
bill, rounded, and shaped somewhat like a sparrow's ;
their color white, with very regular black dots or
moons on their wings and tail. They lay well ; mine
commenced early in February, and are laying now
(Oct. 3) ; they do not show any inclination to sit, but
in a hatch their eggs are very productive. I have had
fourteen chicks out of fifteen eggs. j^It is necessary to
keep a game hen or two, to perpetuate the breed (by
hatching the eggs, which they will not do for them-
selves.) I find rice, at 12s. to 14s. per cwt., soaked all
night in water, and then rolled in Indian meal, a very
economical and fattening footl, occasionally mixed
with a little barley. My hens would have commenced
laying earlier in the sea.«<on, if their roo.sting place had
becm waniK^r."

Moubray, to whuiu tiie merits, at least, of origi-
nality and practi<5al knowledge ought to be conceded,
appears to have been acquainted only with tho Eng-
lish stock of this breed. He says of the Coral, or
Bolton Grrt/s, "^ This vari(^ty, aj)parently tho crack
breed of their vicinity, but (>ntirely imknown in the
metropolis, is described by th<i Rev. ]\Ir. Ashworth,
Vir;ir of Tamworth, as follows: — ' iSmall-sized, short
in the leg, and plump in the make. The color of tho
genuine kind, invariably pure white in the whole
lappel of the neck ; tho body white, thickly spotted
with bright black, sometimes running into a grizzle,
with one or more black bars at the extremity of tho

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 53

tail ; they are chiefly esteemed as very constant
layers, though their color would mark them for good
table fowl.' Certain other breeds, (in Lancashire,) are
described, but they do not appear to possess any title
to distinction." In his eighth edition, a colored figure
is given, which quite corresponds with the silver
Hamburghs. Why they are called " corals," it is diflS-
cult to say, unless it be on account of their red comb ;
which, however, is not redder than that of other fowls.

"Bolton bays" is another provincial name for the
" golden Hamburghs," as "Bolton greys" is for the "sil-
ver." In order to fix more -clearly the nomenclature,
by the comparison of individual specimens of ditlerent
localities. Rev. E. S. Dixon, of Norwich, England,
purchased in Hungerford Market, some birds that had
been imported from Holland ; another specimen from
Herring, on the New Road, and was supplied with a
pair of " bays," and also of " greys," from Bolton, in
Lancashire ; likewise, with a " Creole" hen from Wilt-
shire. The result of the comparison, and of the una-
nimous opinion of the London poulterers, was, that the
two varieties of Hamburghs, tlie " golden" and " sil-
ver," are of the same breed.

The " Bolton bay," from Lancashire, says Mr.
Dixon, "differed most in her markings from the nor-
mal type, which we will suppose represented by Al-
drovandi's Turkish hen ; but all the main points were
correct, and for this difference I had been prepared.
The bay hen I received was marked very like a golden
Poland, (the crest, of course, being quite absent,) but
that the ground of the plumage was of a much richer
and browner hue. Those persons, therefore, who wish
to procure golden Hamburgh fowls, from Lancashire,
should state to their agents whether they desire them
to be of barred or marginated markings. The Bolton
fowls average, in Liverpool, Ss. each, which is cheap for
those who wish to obtain a stock of this very distinct
variety. All the birds that I received were very good
specimens. The male golden Hamburgh is a par tic u-

54 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

larly beautiful creature ; nothing but a full-sized colored
drawing can give an adequate idea of the extremely
rich coloring and brilliant lustre of his plumage. It has
been mentioned in the previous note that the males of
the Bolton greys differ somewhat in the quantity of black
or dark grey which they wear ; the hens also very
slightly, some having a tendency to linear markings of
black and grey, and others to spots of the same colors,
but the difference is hardly more than would be seen
amongst a brood of chickens reared from the same pair
of fowls. The Creole from the south of England was a
very well-bred specimen, having the peculiar comb,
pointed behind, described and figured by Aldrovandi.

" The Bolton-bay cock, from Lancashire, has a large
very double comb pointed behind upwards, flat on the
lop, but covered with small upright points ; the wattles
are large, and there is a small white ear patch. The
bill is short and lead-colored ; feet and legs also lead-
colored. Irides orange-brown. The hackle is composed
of a mixture of brown, black, yellow, and green ; back
the same, only darker. Tail, black glossed with green,
and having grey down at the base of the feathers.
Quills of the wings, chestnut ; wing coverts, metallic
black; breast and under jnut f»f the body, black."

The golden and silver Hamburgh, when pui*e bred,
are commonly looked upon as "everlasting layers," but
no strictly universal rule that will apply without fail to
every case, can be laid down for fowls any more than
for quadrupeds or men. The term " everlasting" re-
ceives its name from the circumstance that the hens, if
properly (cil, and kept in a warm situation protected
against the cold, will continue to lay throughout the whole
of the year, or nearly so, and thus afford an unfailing
supply of eggs. In general, fowls after laying for a cer-
tain length of time become " broody" — they cease to
lay, and evince an uncontrollable desire, an instinctive
propensity to devote themselves to the task of incuba-
tion. They are impelled by the law of nature, which
urges them to this essential mode of continuing their
race; but in the i)rcsent breed, in which the season of

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 55

laying is preternaturally lengthened out, or is almost
continuous from spring to spring, this natural desire is
greatly weakened, or indeed altogether subdued. The
hen betrays but little anxiety to incubate, and continues
to lay eggs as if for no other purpose than to repay her
keeper. Hence, to obtain a brood of this stock, (and it
should be kept in its purity,) the eggs must be put under
a good sitter, of any common breed, a few of which may
be kept for the express purpose, and thus the fancier may
replenish his stock. It is not often that pure everlasting
fowls are to be seen, and this renders it the more de-
sirable that those who possess breeds should sedulously
preserve them from admixture ; a cross will spoil the
hens as "everlasting layers," without rendering them
enduring, patient sitters.

THE CUCKOO FOWL.

Synonymes. — Gallus gaUinaceus (var.?), of Ray ; Cuckoo Fowl, of the
Norfolk Farmyards, England ; Barn-Door Fowl, of the English and
Anglo-Americans.

This variety, there is good reason to believe is old
and distinct, though it is generally looked upon as a
mere "barn-door fowl ;" that is, the accidental result of
promiscuous crossing. But there are several forms
among the " bai n-door fowls," so called, that are seen to
be repealed generation after generation, the counter-
parts of which are to be met with scattered here and
there over this country as well as Europe. So constant
a repetition of corresponding features would seem to de-
clare, that there are several unnoticed and undistin-
guished varieties of fowl, which deserve to be regarded
and treated as we do other distinct sorts.

The objection to the adoption of this view and
mode of practice is, that it would inconveniently multi-
ply the number of species, and give additional trouble to
naturalists and poultry fanciers. But the multiplicity
of Natui'e's works always has been infinite, in reference
to man's power of understanding them. The only won-

56 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

der, if we reflect, is, that he has had the courage to
grapple with them at all. The subject is certainly de-
serving of consideration, and may be the means of
affording important service to natural history. Dr.
Bechstein, of Germany, seems to have been not far from
suspecting that several distinct varieties might be de-
tected amongst the ordinary fowls of the farmyard. It
might answer the purpose of the dealer to rear a pure
stock of some of the handsomest and most useful ot
these, and send them forth with appropriate names, de-
termined by competent persons, fixing the appellation of
the variety.

The " cuckoo fowl," it may be supposed, was so called
from its barred plumage, resembling the breast of the
cuckoo. The prevailing color is a slaty blue, undulated
and softly shaded with white all over the body, forming
bands of various widths. The comb is very small ; irides,
bright orange ; feet and legs, light flesh color. The
hens are of a good size, the cocks are large, approach-
ing the heaviest breeds in weight. The chickens, at
two or three months old, exhibit the barred plumage
even more perfectly than the full-grown birds. The
eggs average about two ounces each, are white and of
porcelain smoothness. The newly-hatched chicks are
grey, much resembling those of the silver Polands, ex-
cept in the color of the feet and legs. This breed sup-
plies an unfailing troop of good layers, good sitters, good
mothers, and good feeders, and is well worth promotion
in the poultry yard.

THE LARK-CRESTED FOWL.

SrnonrMKt. — Oallus gatlinaetu$ (var.?) of Ray ; Coppleerown§, In
Norfiilk, F-PRlond ; Lark-Crttttd FOvl, ol the English and Anglo-
Americnns.

Here again, as with the cuckoo fowl, is a breed,
which, until of late, has been treated with undeserved
regard. They have, no doubt, been looked upon by
many as ill-bred Polands, but the shape of the crest, a.s

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 57

well as the proportions of the bird are different. Aldro-
vandi perceived the distinction. He calls the one " our
farmyard hen, known to everybody, entirely white and
crested like a lark ;" the other is his Paduan fowl. The
first, of whatever color, is of a peculiar taper form, in-
clining forwards, as Aldrovandi's old-fashioned wood-
cut well represents, with a moderate, depressed, back-
ward-directed crest, and deficient in the neatness of the
legs and feet so conspicuous in the Polands ; the latter
are of more upright carriage and a more squarely-built
frame. Set the two side by side, and their discrepancy
will be apparent.

Lark-crested fowls are of various colors ; pure snow-
white, brown with yellow hackles, and black. How far
these sorts require to be subdivided, has not yet been
investigated. The first of these are perhaps of a more
brilliant white than is seen in any other domesticated
gallinaceous bird, and the color is much more dazzling,
than that of the white Guinea fowl, or the white pea
fowl. This white variety is in great esteem with many-
farmers' wives, in England, who will keep it to the en-
tire exclusion of any other sort. They are represented
to have a remarkably neat and lively appearance when
rambling about a homestead, and look very clean and
attractive when dressed for market. An old bird,
cleverly trussed, will be apparently as delicate and
transparent in the skin and flesh as an ordinary chicken.
The feathers are also more saleable than those from
darker-colored fowls. By some, this breed is thought to
be more tender than other kinds, yet they are con-
sidered, on every account, preferable to the white Dork-
ings.

In the cocks, a single upright comb sometimes almost
entirely takes the place of the crest. The hens, too,
vary in their degree of crestedness, some not having
above half a dozen feathers in their head dress. If they
were not of average merit as to their laying and sitting
qualifications, they would not retain the favor they do
with the thrifty housewives by whom they are chiefly
reared.

3*

58

THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

THE SPANGLED HAMBURGH FOWL.

Stuontmes. — Qallus gif-anttus (var. ?),of Temminck ; Spangled Ham-
burgh Fowl, Golden Spangled Hamburgh, Silver Spangled Hamburgh
Fbwl, of ihe Knglish and Anglo-Americans.

The spangled Hamburghs may be comprised under
two varieties, (" golden" and "silver,") the distinctive
characteristics being slight, and depending nearly alto-
gether upon color. In the " spangled Poland fowl," of
ymre strain, there is no comb ; but the spangled Ham-
burgh has a small one, rising up into two, and sometimes
more, conical eminences, or horns, behind which is a
lull pendent topknot. Under the insertion of the lower
mandible, or that portion of the neck corresponding to
the chin in man, is a full, dark-colored tuft, somewhat
resembling a beard.

The wattles of the cock are small, and under the
throat as just observed, is a full, dark-colored tuft of
feathers. His general color is golden (ir orange-yellow,
each feather having a glossy, dark-brown or black tip,

V THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 59

(not white,) particularly remarkable on the hackles and
wing coverts, and also on the darker feathers of the
breast. The thighs are of a dark-brown, or blackish
shade, and the legs and feet are of a bluish-grey.

THE SPANGLED HAMBURGH HKN.

The hen is yellow or orange-brown, with the feathers
margined with black, after the manner of those of the
cock. Birds thus colored are called " golden spangled."

In the " silver-spangled" variety, the only perceptible
difference is, that the ground color is a silvery white,
with perhaps a tinge of straw-yellow, every feather be-
ing margined with a semi-lunar mark of glossy black.
In other words, when the fowls are at rest, the feathers
present the appearance of regular semi-circular spots or
spangles. Hence the name of " spangled Hamburghs,"
the varieties being called "golden" or "silver," accord-
ing to the prevailing color, being bright-yellow or silvery
white.

Both varieties are extremely beautiful, having full,
plump bodies, a tender skin, and but little offal; and
the hens lay freely an abundance of good-sized eggs.

These fowls gained the prize at a late show of the
Royal Agricultural Improvement Society of Ireland.

60

THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

THE POLAND, OR POLISH FOWL.

SvriONYMKS. — Gallus giganleut (var. ?), of Tcmminck, Paduan Fhwl. of
Aldrovnndi ; Copphcrowns, in Norfolk, England ; Poliih Fbxot, PoUin-
dert, Black Polish Fowl, Golden Poland/, Silver Potunds, White Polish
Fowl, Spangled Polish Fowl, Poland Topknoii, of the English and An-
glo-Americana.

Certain fowls, with topknots, are called by the names
indicated above. Wlience the cognomen of " Polands"
was derived, it is difTicuit to trace. Those who doubt
the likelihood of any new breed of poultry coming from
Poland, are inclined to think the word a corruption of
some term derived from the poll, or head ; the word
" polled," which we now apply to cattle without horns,
would be more suitable to fowls with topknots. Or, it
might possibly be given in allusion to ihe plica polonica,
or Polish disease, in which the hair in the human subject
grows into an immense matted mass. Whether the
climate of iVorlhern I'jurope has any tendency to de-
velop the growth of crests, " mulls," &.C., (as in what are
called Siberian fowls, or mufl'ed Dorkings,) on the heads

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 61

of fowls, in a similar way in which that of Angora is
said to soften and lengthen the hair of various animals,
from the fur of cats and goats, to the hair and beard of
inen ; and whether, poultry being unknown to the Teu-
tonic tribes before their conquest by the Romans, the
growth of a topknot or a muft'be the result of an intro-,
ductionto trans-alpine influences, is a speculation which
we have no present means of pursuing.

There is no evidence that any breed of fowls with
topknots was known to the ancients; but we first meet
with them in the middle ages. Aldrovandi, quoted by
Willoughby, in his " Ornithology" gives us many kinds,
or rather-rarities, of hens, among which was one white
and "copped," but this is believed to be the lark-crested
barn-door fowl of the present day. Aldrovandi also
gives two large spirited figures, each occupying the
whole of his folio page, which he calls the Paduan fowls,
but in which we recognize what would now be called
Polands. His description reads as follows : —

" There exist cocks for the most part larger than our
own, which the common people call Paduan, even as
such hens are larger than our own hens. We exhibit
the likeness of the male and the female. The male was
most beautiful to behold highly decorated with five
colors, namely, black, white, green, red, and ochre. For
the whole body was black. The neck was covered with
very white feathers. But the wings and the back con-
sisted partly of black, and partly of green. The tail
likewise was of the same color, but the roots of the
feathers were whitish. Some of the quill feathers,
(remigibus,) were white above. Its head was adorned
with a very handsome crest ; but the roots of the crest
were white. A red spot encircled the eyes. The comb
was very small; the bill and feet yellowish. But in the
whole hen, there was not the least white, except that
white skin, which is usual about the openings of the ears,
but she was altogether black, shining with green. The
feet were light-yellow ; the comb very small, and scarcely
of a red color."

A difficulty about such varieties recorded so long ago

62 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

is the doubt whether the cock and hen were really of the
same breed.

The Paduan fowl has been continually mentioned as
something distinct and primitive, by those who have
quoted Aldrovandi, but let us for the present discard the
term, and sweep the birds into the class of Polands.
Whether they were really first brought from Poland it
is difficult to know; but the fact is quite possible.
Fowls brought alive from India to Europe, by the over-
land journey, would suffer less than such as were sent
by sea round the Cape of Good Hope. At the end of
each day's journey, they could be let loose immediately,
that the spot for the night bivouac was fixed upon ; they
would soon learn to return at dusk to their trav'clling hen
house, and would be well refreshed against the next
day's fatigue. In Russia, the finest teas are received
overland from the East; nor is it improbable that a few
fowls may have been carried as far as the neighboring
country of Poland, after having accompanied some
wealthy merchant, as live stock to be eaten by the way
in case of sickness, or short commons. But whether
correct or not, it would be difficult now to alter their
nomenclature. Moubray says, " Perhaps the genuine
sort, (of Polish,) has always five claws ;" and he pro-
ceeds to derive the famous Dorking breed from them,
with the reservation, however, that such a speculation
may be groundless, which it decidedly is. For the fifth
toe vanishes from the Dorkings at a very early stage of
crossing with any other breed.

The Black Polish Fowls are of a uniform black, both
cock and hen, glossed with metallic green. The head
is ornamented with a handsome crest of white feathers
springing from a fleshy prtuberance, and fronted more
or less deeply with black. The comb is merely two or
three spikes, and the wattles are rather small. Both
male and female are the same in color, except that the
cock has frequently narrow stripes of white in the wav-
ing feathers of the tail ; a sign, it is said, of true breed-
ing. The hens also have iwo or three feathers on each
side of the tail, tinged in the lip with white. They

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 63

do not lay quite so early in the spring as some varieties,
especially after a hard winter ; but they are exceedingly
good layers, continuing a long time without wanting to
sit, and laying rather large, very white sub-ovate eggs.
They will sit, however, at length, and prove of very
diverse dispositions ; some being excellent sitters and
nurses, others heedless and spiteful. The chicks, when
first hatched, are dull, black, with white breasts, and
white down on the front of the head. They do not
always grow and get out of harm's way so quickly as
some other sorts, but are not particularly tender.

In rearing a brood of these fowls, one may observe
some of the hens with crests round and symmetrical as
a ball, and others in which the feathers turn all ways,
and fall loosely over the eyes ; and in the cocks, also,
some have the crest falling gracefully over the back of
the head, and others have the feathers turning about
and standing on end ; these are to be rejected, the chief
beauty of the sort depending on such little particulars.
One hen, noticed by Mr. Dixon, laid just a hundred
eggs, many of them on consecutive days, before want-
ing to incubate ; after rearing a brood successfully, she
laid twenty-five eggs before moulting in autumn.

The Black-topped White Polish are now, it seems,
run out in England, if, indeed, there is any evidence of
their having ever existed there. BufFon mentions them
as if extant in France in his time. These and the
" Shackbags" are probably recoverable only by importa-
tion from Asia.

The Golden Polands are sometimes called "gold
spangled," but surely not correctly, because, although
the bird has spots, those markings are not universal, but
many of the finest specimens have the feathers merely
fringed with a darker color, and the cocks, much more
frequently than the hens, exhibit a spotted or spangled
appearance. Many of them are disfigured by a muff
or beard; but no such birds should be allowed the
entree to the poultry yard, but be dispatched at once to
the fatting coop.

The golden Polands, when well bred, are exceedingly

64 THE DOMESTIC FOWL,

handsome; the cock having golden hackles, and gold
and brown feathers on the back ; breast and wings
richly spotted with ochre and dark-brown; tail darker;
large golden and brown crest, falling back over the
neck ; but little comb and wattles. The hen is richly
laced with dark-brown or black on an ochre ground ;
dark-spotted crest ; legs light-blue, very cleanly made,
and displaying a small web between the toes, almost as
proportionally large as that in some of the aquatic birds
called " waders." They are good layers, and produce
fair-sized eggs. Many of them make excellent mothers,
although you cannot always get them to sit early in the
season. The chicks are rather clumsy-looking little
animals, of a dingy brown, with some dashes of ochre
about the head, breast, and wings. They are sometimes
a little apt to die in the first week of their existence, but
afterwards get tolerably hardy, although liable to make
a stand-still when about half grown.

It has been observed as a peculiarity in the temper of
this breed, that if you catch one of them, or if one
is attacked by any animal, the rest, whether cocks
or hens, will instantly attack the aggressor with fury,
and endeavor to rescue their unfortunate companion.

The Silver Pvlands are similar to the preceding in
shape and markings, except that white, black, and grey,
are exchanged for ochre or yellow, and various shades
of brown. They are even more delicate in their con-
stitution, more liable to remain fixed at a certain point
of their growth, and still more lequire and will repay
extra care and accommodation. Their topknots are not,
perhaps, in general, so large ; but they retain the same
neat, bluish legs and slightly-webbed feet. It is curious
that a bird which is quite incapable ol swimming should
have webs on its feet, while the gallinule, which swims
and dives well, has none.

The hens of the silver Polands are much more orna-
mental than the cocks ; though even they are sure to
attract notice. They may certainly be ranked among
the choicest of fowls, whether we consider their beauty
or their rarity. They lay moderate-sized, rrcnch-white

• THE DOMESTIC FOWL.. 65

eggs, much pointed at one end, in tolerable abundance,
and when they sit, acquit themselves respectably.

The new-hatched chicks are very pretty ; grey, with
black eyes, light, lead-colored legs, and a swelling of
down on the crown of the head, indicative of the future
topknot, which is exactly the color of a powdered wig,
and indeed gives the chick the appearance'of wearing
one. They are easily enough reared for the first six
weeks or two months, the critical time with them being
tISe interval between that age and their reaching their
fifth or sixth month. At a very early age, they acquire
their peculiar distinctive features, and are then the most
elegant little miniature fowls it is possible to imagine.
The distinction of sex is not very manifest till they are
nearly full grown, the first observable indication being in
the tail. That of the pullet is carried uprightly, as it
ought to be, but in the cockerel it remains depressed,
awaiting the growth of the sickle feathers. It is re-
markable that the golden Polish cock brings as true
silver chicks, and those stronger, with the silver Polish
hen, as the silver Polish cock would.

The silver Polands have all the habits of their golden
companions ; the main difference being the silvery
ground instead of the golden. The silver variety will
sometimes even make its appearance if you breed merely
the golden sort, exactly as the black Polish produce now
and then some pure white chicks that make very elegant
birds. An attempt has been made in England to ob-
tain the black topknotted, white, Polish from these, by
acting on the imagination of the parents. The experi-
ment failed, though similar schemes have been said to
succeed with animals ; it proved, however, one thing —
namely, that it will not do to breed from the white Polish
as a separate breed. Being albinos, the chicks come
very weakly, and few survive. On the other hand, trust
to chance for an occasional white one among the black,
and you may get a fine bird.

There is a singular variety of the Polish, which has
the entire plumage of a uniform slaty dun color. Other
curious combinations of color are probably to be found

66 THE DOMESTIC FOAVL.

here and there in the hands of careful breeders. One
has been lately raised in England, in which the golden
plumage has been crowned by a large globe-shaped white
crest of dense feathers ; how long this will continue
permanent, remains to be tested. There was also a
breed called after Lord Erdley, which obtained a prize
at one of the poultry shows in the Surry Zoological
Gardens.

The Polish fowls are chiefly suited for keeping in a
small way, and in a clean and grassy place. They are
certainly not so fit for the yard of the farmer, becoming
blinded and miserable with dirt. It is a main point to
procure them genuine ; for there is no breed of fowls
more disfigured by mongrelism than this. The Polish
will, without any cross-breeding, occasionally produce
white stock that are very pretty, and equally good for
laying, &c. It is singular, however, that if you attempt
to make a separate breed of them, they become puny
and weak. It is better for those who wish for them to
depend upon chance, as every brood almost of the
black produces one w'hite chick strong and lively as the
rest.

The Polish fowls are excellent for the table, the flesh
being white, tender, and juicy ; but they are quite un-
suitable for being reared in any numbers, or for general
purposes ; they are capricious in their growth, frequent-
ly remaining " stuck," for a whole month, without get-
ting bigger, and this, too, when a^out a quarter or half
grown, the time of their life when they are most liable
to disease. As aviary birds, they are unrivalled among
fowls. Their plumage often requires a close inspection
to appreciate its elaborate beauty ; and the confinement
and petting seem not uncongenial to their health. It is
recommended that persons whose accommodations for
poultry is very limited, select some pretty family of
Polanders, and keep them on the aviary system ; when
it will be found that their plumage improves in beauty
with almost every moult.

Polish fowls are also currcntlv rojiorted as "everlast-
ing layers," which further fits them for keeping in small

I

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 67

enclosures ; but, as in the Hamburghs, individual ex-
ceptions are often met with, however truly the habit
may be ascribed to the race.

THE BANTAM FOWL.

SvNONYMES. — Gcllus bonkiva (var. ?), of Temminck ; Cog dc Bantam,
of Buffon ; Bantamischer Hahn, of the Germans ; Bantam Fowl, of tho
English and Angle Amoricans.

Our little friends, the Bantams, as their name clearly
implies, came from Bantam, a town and kingdom in the
island of Java, famous for its trade in pepper. Since
their introduction into Europe, this breed has ramified
into many varieties, none of which are destitute of
elegance, and some remarkable for beauty. All are, or
ought to be, of small size, but lively and vigorous, ex-
hibiting in their movements both stateliness and grace.

The Yellow or Nankin Bantams are about the most
useful of their tribe, and not the least ornamental. The
hens are mainly tinted with a ginger-yellow, and have
dull-blue legs and feet, and small comb. There is a sub-
variety, in which they are more brown, after the fashion
of some game hens. The cocks are decked in red,
orange, and scarlet, mostly with the false speculum, or
iridescent wing coverts, altogether of a flashy appearance ;
and, indeed, when good specimens of their kind, they are
really beautiful little birds. Their eggs are large in
proportion to the size of the layer, very rounded and full
at both ends, and of excellent flavor. The hens are ex-

68

THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

cellent mothers, particularly for such delicate things as
Guinea fowls.

The Sebright Bantam has ver}' much thrown the
preceding into the shade. Their beauty is of* a differ-
ent class, but it is questionable whether their merits are
greater. Here we have delicate pencilling in the shape
of brilliant coloring. How and whence the-y first ap-
peared in England is a mystery and likely to remain so.
Sir J. S. Sebright has the credit of having "originated"
the breed, a reputation believed to be as well deserved
as that he "originated" the creation of the feathered
race in general. Those in his confidence were accus-
tomed to report that he would travel, "or send," as far
as two or three hundred miles to obtain a choice bird,

SEBRIGHT BANTAMS.

which was doubtless true ; but had they added many
thousands of miles to the two or three hundred in the
"sending" piirt of the story, they would, we believe,
have been still nearer to the truth. That Sir John
tre.Ttf'd his birds, when procured, with jenlous care and
skilful nature will be readily granted. But while breed-
ers continue to be so anxious, not merely to conceal
their system of management, (in the earliest stages at

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 69

least,) but even to mislead inquirers, those who cultivate
natural history for its own sake, will not be justified in
arriving at hasty conclusions from such information.

" We are at once struck with surprise at the impu-
dence of the Sebright Bantams. Oh ! the consequential
little atom ! That such a contemptible minikin as that
should have the assurance to parade his insignificant
person in the presence of great ladies, the female mem-
bers of families of weight and substance, before the
Misses, and still worse, the Mistresses Dorking, Cochin-
China, and Malay, to presume to show marked attention,
nay even, I declare ! to . AVell, there is no know-
ing to what lengths impudence will go, so long as Ban-
tams survive extermination.

"Here is a little whipper-snapper I Pretty, certainly,
and smart, but shamefully forward in his ways. His
coat is of a rich, brownish-yellow ; almost every feather
is edged with a border of a darker hue, approaching to
black. His neat, slim legs are of a light, dull-lead color;
his ample tail is carried well over his back. His de-
pendent wings nearly touch the ground. He is as up-
right as the stiffest drill serjeant, or more so, for he
appears now and then as if he would fall backwards,
like a horse that over-rears himself His full, rose comb
and deep-depending wattles are plump and red; but
their disproportionate size affords a most unfortunate
hold for the beak of his adversary ; but he cares not for
that ; a little glory is worth a good deal of pecking and
pinching, and it is not a slight punishment, nor a merely
occasional infliction of it that will make him give in.
The great hens, too, that look down upon him, and over
him, think proper to do battle with him on a first intro-
duction, though they afterwards find out that they might
as well have received him in a more feminine style." — ■
Dixon.

The plumage of the hens is similar to that of the
cocks. They are very good layers, most excellent sit-
ters, assiduous and affectionate mothers, but most mur-
derous step-mothers ; that is, if you attempt to change,
or add to, the number of the brood they have hatched

70 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

themselves, they will welcome the little strangers by
making raw head and bloody bones of them, before you
can return from fetching a pan of water to set before
the coop. Their own chickens are dark-brown when
first hatched, with no particular marks about them
whilst young. This is the variety figured by Moubray
as the " IJantam or pheasant fowls."

The Black Bantam is a most beautiful example of a
great soul in a little body. It is most pugnacious of its
whole tribe. It will drive to a respectful distance great
dunghill cocks five times its weight. It is more jealous,
irascible, and domineering, in proportion lo its size, than
the thorough-bred game cock himself. Its combative-
ness, too, is manifested at a very early period. Other
chickens will fight in sport, by the time they are half
grown, but these set to work in good earnest.

The black Bantam, in his appearance, is a pleasing
little fellow. He should have a full rose comb, clean
and sinewy legs, glossy plumage with almost metallic
lustre, of a different tint to the glancing green of the
Spanish fowl, arched and flowing tail, waggish, impu-
dent eye, self-satisfied air and gait.

The hens are of a duller jetty black, less knowing in
their manner, and, in every way, of inferior capacity.
They have great credit for fulfilling their maternal
duties well ; but they are found to be less affectionate
and careful than other Bantams. They are great stay-
ers at home, prowling very little about, and therefore are
desirable in many situations, such as suburban villas
that are surrounded' by captious neighbors. They will
remain contented with the range of a moderate stable
yard, and the least bit of shrubbery; and will do much
good by the consumption of numerous insects. They
are reputed good layers during winter; but that will de-
pend on the liberality with which they are fed. Cooks
say that their eggs, though small, are " very rich," which
means, perhaps, that they contain a greater proportion
of yolk than those of larger fowls. Guinea fowls' eggs
are prized for the same q'uality ; and any one may, at
breakfast, observe how much less a proportion of white

I

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 71

there is in them, than in those of the turkey. Black
Bantam's eggs are smooth, tinged with buff, decidedly
long-oval in most individuals, and with a zone of irregu-
larity towards the smaller end in some.

The new-hatched chicks are covered with black
down, which occasionally has a greyish cast under the
belly ; bill, eyes, feet and legs black. The female
chicks are not bigger than the queen of the black and
yellow humble bees, and their slender, little legs appear
fitter to belong to an insect than a chicken.

When brought up by their own mother, a spent
cucumber frame covered with a net, is a good place to
keep them the first month. The hottest and finest part
of the season should be selected for them to pass their
chickenhood in. When full grown and plumed, they are
not more tender than other poultry, though they are
better suited for confinement in yards.

Those who keep any other variety of domestic fowl,
and are desirous of having plenty of chickens as well as
eggs, had better not permit a black Bantam cock to
enter upon their premises.

The White Bantam very much resembles the one pre-
ceding in every respect except color ; the rose comb may
perhaps in some specimens be a little more exuberant.
But they are not much to be coveted. The white of
their plumage is not brilliant, and is sure to be un-neat
in the places where they are usually kept. Were they
really guilty of the savage, objectless, and unnatural
ferocity that is attributed to them, they would all de-
serve to have their necks wrung ; but the tale wants
confirmation.

Creepers, so called from the shortness of their legs,
and Jumpers, from their halting gait, are rather to be
considered as accidental deformities collected from un-
healthy families of Bantams, than as constituting any
distinct variety. A sufficient proof of which is, that
many of them are scarcely able to propagate their kind.
Some of these are the very smallest of their genus, being
not larger than pigeons, and not so tall. ^Tiiey are now
much out of fashion, and are rarely seen. They were

72 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

well known, however, to the middle-age curiosity col-
lectors. Aldrovandi, in discoursing on them, says:
"But the hens which Longolius calls pigmy, and ren-
ders into German ' Kriel,' those, as I have just said,
exist here and there, creep along the ground by limping
rather than walking." Again, he says : " Although we
declared that we would not give another figure of com-
mon hens, we have thought right, on account of their
rarity to exhibit one of the pigmy or dwarf sort, which
we have said that many people unadvisedly consider as
the Hadrian hen, (of classical authors,) although it be-
longs to the same kind. But this hen was all black ex-
cept the larger feathers of the wings, which were whitish
at the tips ; she had likewise white spots all round about
her neck emulating the full moon, and lastly, a round
spot of an ochrey color encircled her eyes. Her head
was topknotted. The wattles and comb, which was
very small, were of a rather intense red ; the feet were
bright yellow ; the claws small, exceedingly white."

Aldrovandi also gives a rich collection of three-footed,
four-footed, double-headed, and double-bodied fowls, that
occurred to him in the course of his laborious researches.

MONGRELS AND BARN-DOOR FOWLS.

It is now generally conceded, and the best judges
agree, that there is no such variety as the " barn-door
fowl," unless we appropriate that name to some one
variety which has hitherto been scarcely distinguished
with precision; and that the collections usually known
under the name, are merely a rabble of mongrels, in
which the results of accidental or injudicious crosses
have become apparent in all kinds of ways.

From observation and strict inquiry, it is now
regarded as an established principle, that the most
caretui breeding will only fix, and make prominent, cer-
tain peculiar features, or points, which are observed in
certain families of the same aboriginal species, or sub-
species; and that the whole world n)ight be challenged
to bring evidence that any permanent intermediate
variety of quadruped or bird, generated by the crossing

THE DOMESTIC FOWX,. 73

of any two wild species, that would continue to re-
produce offspring, like itself, and not finally revert back
to one or other original type.

As to the great question of the " immutability of
species," so closely allied to the investigation of the
different varieties of poultry, as far as the limited
researches of physiologists and naturalists have gone —
and they have been confined almost entirely to birds
under the control or influence of man — I have been
led to the conclusion that sub-species, and even varie-
ties, are much more permanent, independent, and
ancient, than is currently believed at the present day.
My conviction is, that the diversities which we see
even in the most nearly-allied races of birds, are not
produced by any transmuting influence of time, vari-
ation or increase of food, change of climate, (except in
some instances in their feathers,) nor by hybridization ;*
but that each distinct variety, however nearly resem-
bling any other, has been produced by a Creative
Power. Moreover, facts would seem to prove that
hybrids, possessed of the power of reproduction, are
even then saved from being barren only by their pro-
geny more or less rapidly reverting to the type of one
parent or the other ; so that no intermediate race is
founded. Things sooner or later go on as they went
before, or they cease to go on at all. This is the case
with our domestic animals generally ; and is well
known to breeders as one of the most inflexible diffi-

* The prevalence of bright colors in the animals of polar and cold regions is
well known, and is ascribed to the influence of climate ; the arctic fox, the
polar bear, and the American snow bird, are striking instances. The same
chaiacter is remarkable in some species which are more darkly colored in
warmer situations. A similar fact is also observable in those birds and animals
which change their color in the same country, at the winter season, to white-
or grey, as the ermine, l^Mustela ermina,) and weasel, {M. nivalis,) the varying
hare, squirrel, reindeer, the white game bird of LApland, {Telrao la^opus.) and
the American snow bunting (Emheriza nivalis.^ In cold regions, too, the fur
and feathers are thicker, and more copious, so as to form a much more efl'ectual
defence against the climate than the coarser and rarer textures which are
seen in warm countries.

Dift'erence of food might be naturally expected to produce considerable cor-
responding modifications in the color, form, and size of animals. For instance,
oxen become very large and fat when reared for many generations on rich soils,
but are distinguished by shortness of the legs ; while, on drier situations, their
whole bulk is less, and the limbs more muscular and strong. Some singing b; ds,
too, chiefly of the lark and finch kinds, are known to become gradually black
if they are fed on hemp seed alone.

74 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

culties they have to contend with, technically called by
them " crying back." Thus it is that half the mongrels
that one sees among our domestic fowls are only
transition forms, passing back to the type of one or
other progenitor.

The mongrels and barn-door fowls are so numerous
and so variously mixed, that it is impossible to give
even a catalogue of all the intermediate shades of
character among them. I shall, therefore, only notice
those which have some pretension^ to distinctness of
character, and have been propagated either for orna-
ment or profit. Their names and chi(?f characteristics,
are as follows : —

The Jago Fowl, (see vignette,) also erroneously
called the " Paduan" and the " great St. Jago fowl," is
the offspring of an absurd quotation from Marsden's
"History of Sumatra," which has run the rounds of
most compilations on the domestic fowl. Jago, the
native Sumatran or Malay word for a particular breed,
has been mistaken for St. Jago, the name of one of the
Cape Verd Islands. Marsden was, doubtless, well
acquainted with his subject, as will appear from his
own words : " There are in Sumatra the domestic hen,
(aijam,) some with black bones, and some of the sort
we call Freezland or Negro fowls ; hen of the woods
[ayam haroogo) ; the jago breed of fowls, which
abound in the southern end of Sumatra, and western
of Java, are remarkably large ; 1 have seen a cock
peck off' a common dining table ; when fatigued, they
sit down on the first joint of the leg, and are then
taller than the common fowls. It is strange if, the
same country, Bantam, produces likewise the diminu-
tive i)reed that goes by that name."

This fowl, which was formerly in very high repute,
in England, is said to have been as large and as finely-
ffavored as a turkey ; but now, it is rarely to be met
with, if at all. It was probably nothing more than a
cross between the Cochin-China, and some other large
eastern fowl, which, at present, has nearly or quite
•' cried back." There are numerous other races or

THE DOMESTIC FOAVL. 76

varieties bearing this and other names found in diiferent
parts of Europe and this country, one of the most
interesting of which is called the " Spanish fowl" (see
vignette). The body and tail feathers are of a rich
black, with occasionally a httle white on the breast. The
deportment of the cock is grave and stately, and his
eyes are encircled with a ring of brownish feathers,
from which rises a black tuft that covers the ears.
Behind the comb, there are other similar feathers, as
well as beneath the wattles. The legs and feet are of
a leaden color, except the soles of the feet, which are
yellowish.

The fataous "shack-backs," "shack-bags," or "Duke
of Leeds' fowl," in vogue in England some years ago,
were supposed to have been a cross between the jago
and Dorking fowls.

The Shanghae Cochin-China Fowl. — This breed is
said to have been carried from the eastern part of
Cochin-China to the city of Shanghae ; thence to Liver-
pool, in England, whence they were conveyed to Bos-
ton, in Massachusetts, by Captain Forbes, in 1848.

In general shape and appearance, these fowls re-
semble the true Cochin-Chinas, of which they are doubt-
less a cross, though they have a greater depth of quarter,
less depth of breast, and are lighter in their color.
Their legs invariably are large and heavily feathered.
The general plumage is of a bright-yellow, or gold color,
variegated with dark-brown or red. Their eggs, also,
are of a lighter mahogany color than those of their con-
geners, the Cochin-Chinas, but are equally large and
as good in flavor. It is stated in the Massachusetts
Ploughman, that Mr. Phillips, of Marshfield, had a
pullet of this breed, which laid 120 eggs in one hun-
dred and twenty-five days ; then stopped six days ; re-
commenced, and laid 16 eggs more; ceased laying four
days, and then continued to lay again.

The chickens are said to be quite uniform in size,
healthy, hardy, of rapid growth, early maturity, tender-
fleshed, and of excellent flavor. In their present form

76 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

and character, they are well adapted for caponizing, by
which means they, undoubtedly, would attain an extra-
ordinary large size.

The Plymonth Rock Fowl. — This is the name of a
mongrel breed of some notoriety, lately produced by
Dr. J. C. Bennett, of Plymouth, Massachusetts, which
he describes in the Boston Cultivator, (of Aug. 25,
1849,) in the following words : —

" I have given this name to a very extra breed of
fowls, which I produced by crossing a cockerel [?] of
Baylies' importation of Cochin-China, with a hen, a
cross between the fawn -colored Dorking, the great
Malay, and the wild India. Her weight is Six pounds
and seven ounces. The Plymouth Rock fowl, then, is
in reality, one half Cochin-China, one fourth fawn-
colored Dorking, one eighth great Malay, and one eighth
wild India — having five primitive bloods, Shanghae,
Malay, game, Turkish, and India, traceable by referring
to the history of those breeds and their crosses respec-
tively. There are several of this breed, (the Plymouth
Rock,) in Plymouth, from my original stock, belonging
to Messrs. Perkins, Drew, Harlow, and myself, that are
now a little over one year old ; the cockerels [?] mea-
sure from thirty-two to thirty-five inches high, and
weight about ten pounds, and the pullets from six and a
half to seven pounds each, forming, in my opinion, the
best cross that has ever been produced.

" The pullets commenced laying when five nnonths
old, proving themselves very superior layers. Their
eggs arc of medium size, rich, and reddish-yellow in
color. Their plumage is rich and variegated ; the
cockerels, usually red or speckled, and the pullets
darkish-brown. They arc very fine fleshed, and easily
fit for the table. Their legs arc very large, and usu-
ally blue or green, but occasionally yellow or white,
generally having five toes upon each foot. Some have
their legs feathered, but this is not usual. They have
large and single combs and wattles, largo dew!aj)s, [?]
rather short tails, and small wings, in proportion to
their bodies. They are domestic, and not so destruc-

THE DOMESTIC FOWL, 77

tive to gardens as smaller fowls. There is the same
uniformity in size and general appearance, at the same
age of the chickens, as in those of the pure bloods or
primary races.

" The demand for this breed has exceeded all others
during this season, and they have been sent into most
of the New-England States and "Western New York.
And all, who may hereafter purchase from persons who
have been supplied by myself, or either of the gentle-
men above-named, may rely on the fowls being genu-
ine and of pure blood. I never sell to the same in-
dividual a cockerel and pullet of the same paren-
tage, so they need not fear that the breed will be deteri-
orated by ' close' breeding ; nor do I sell at any price,
for breeders, any but those of the very first quality.
This is the only way in which breeds can be retained
in their purity and excellence."

How far the above doctrine corresponds with the
principles advocated in this humble little treatise, the
candid and intelligent reader can judge. But, should
these fowls be " bred in the line ;" that is, uncrossed
with any other race, before the lapse of many years,
their progeny will revert to the type of one or other
of the original parents, or they will cease to breed
of themselves at all. They are undoubtedly a valu-
able fowl for some purposes, and if judiciously crossed,
alternately, year after year, with pure-bred Dorkings,
game fowls, and the great Malays, their value and
utility would probably be maintained or enhanced.

The Jersey-Blue Fowl. — This is another large
mongrel of a bluish cast, probably made up of crosses
of the great Malay, jago, Javanese, or other cognate
breeds, and some of our native varieties. Their legs
are long, their thighs large, and their flesh less savory
than that of the Dorking, the Bucks-County or the
Dominique fowl ; neither are they particularly remark-
able for hardiness nor for laying.

They are produced in considerable abundance in

78

THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

New Jersey, and usually are found in the Philadelphia
and New-Y(jrlv markets.

The Ostrich Fowl. — This variety is said to have
originated in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and hence
is sometimes called the»" Bucks-CoUnty breed." The
color of the cock, as described by Mr. Bement, is a
dark blue-black, with the ends of his feathers tipped
with white ; wings tinged with a bright yellow, or gold
color ; hackles dark, glossy blue ; rose or double comb,
and wattles large ; bold, lively carriage, and a stately
walk.

The hens do not differ much from the cock in color,
and are similar in form, being deep, short, plump, and
thick-set in body ; legs short, of a dark color and
medium size ; they have high, single, serrated combs,
generally falling over on one side ; wattles large.
They are esteemed good layers, their eggs weighing
A\ ounces ; and for a large breed, they are good sitters
as well as good mothers ; the eggs large and nutritious ;
the flesh, unlike that of the Malay, white, firm, ten-
der, and fine-flavored.*

The Booby Fowl. — This is a large breed, doubtless
of Asiatic origin, procured by Dr. R. Kitridge, of Ports-
mouth, New Hampshire, from Montgomery county,
Pennsylvania. Their color is a black ground, spotted
all over with white ; the legs, black, and general shape
like that of a turkey. The cocks, when full grown,
are represented to weigh 9 or 10 lbs., and the hens 7
or 8 lbs. They are said to be prolific layers, and not
inclined to sit like the common varieties ; sometimes
laying forty or fifty eggs before they become broody.
Sfjme of their eggs weigh over o\ ounces each, and
measure three inches in circumference.

The Bucks-County Fowl. — Here is another mongrel
monstro.^ity, first brought into notice in Backs county,
Penn.><ylvania, and has little to recommend it except
great size, and a few large, well-flavored eggs. The

• AniiTicaii roultcrcr'R (;ciini)on;on, \>. 173.

THE DOMESTIC FOAVL. 79

hens are enormous eaters, poor layers, and miserable
sitters, seldom laying more than ten or twelve at a
litter. They are only profitable to breed from, should
the race not run out, for making capons which are
sometimes sold in the Philadelphia market for $5 to
^•10 per pair.

In corroboration of the above opinion, I insert the
following extract from the American Agriculturist,
written by L. F. Allen, of Blacic Rock, a practical
farmer, and late President of the New- York State
Agricultural Society : —

" The Bucks- County breed has received some celeb-
rity in the neighborhood of Philadelphia as a valuable
variety of fowl, principally on account of its enormous
size. I have seen many specimens of this fowl, paid
some attention to its habits, and learned from those
who have tried them their principal merits. It is a
large bird, weighing, at maturity, 8 and even 10 lbs.,
rather thinly feathered, of various colors from grey to
black, and frequently speckled, black, and white. They
are coarse in their legs, tall and bony, and have evi-
dently a cross of the Malay in their composition.
They are but moderate layers ; their eggs are very
large and good. They are bad sitters, frequently
breaking their eggs, on account of their great weight
and size, by crushing them ; they are not hardy, and
on the whole, will not compare with the common dung-
hill fowl for ordinary uses. They do not breed equally
in size and appearance, showing them, evidently, to be
a cross from other breeds ; but from what they are
derived, other than the Malay, it is difficult to say.
A gentleman of my acquaintance, who is very curious
as well as nice in the selection of his fowls, tried them
effectually for his poultry yard, and they disappointed
him. He then crossed them with the game breed, and
has succeeded finely, the cross being reduced in size,
fuller feathered, hardier, and better layers, with an
excellent carcass, and finer flesh. As a fancy fowl, or
to make up a variety, they are very well, but they can

80 THE DOMESTIC FO^VL.

never become of great utility, except to cross with the
common or the game fowl, to the farmer."

The Dominique, or Dominica Fowl. — This is the
name of a beautiful variety, very common, at present,
in the New- York markets, and is highly esteemed for
its laying and breeding qualities, as well as for the
excellent flavor of its flesh and eggs. Both the males
and the females are of a medium size, rather long-
bodied," having yellow legs and feot, single or double
combs, and with or without copplecrowns. Their
general plumage is of a light-grey color, each feather
barred crosswise by bands of a darker shade, which
gives them a beautiful pheasant-like appearance, as
they are paraded in the farmyard, or confined in a crate.
The hackles on the necks and backs of the cocks arc
often variegated with gold yellow, or reddish-brown.

The Blue Dim Fond. — This breed, at present in
vogue in Dorsetshire, England, is under the average
size, and rather slenderly made, of a soft and pleasing
bluish-dun color, the neck being darker, with high,
single, deeply-serrated combs. The cock is of the
same color as the hen, but has in addition some hand-
some dark stripes in the long feathers of the tail, and
sometimes a few golden, and even scarlet marks on
the wings, which, by the contrast, give the bird a very
exotic look.

The blue duns are represented as exceedingly fa-
miliar, impudent, and pugnacious ; so much so, that
it is suspected, also from their shape, they have a dash
of game blood in their veins.

The hens are gnod layers, wanting to sit after pro-
ducing a moderate number of eggs, and proving atten-
tive and careful rearers of their own chickens, but
rather savage to those of other hens. The eggs are
small and short, tapering slightly at one end, and are
perfectly white.

The hncklcs of the cock are always in great re-
quest, in I'wigland, for making artificial Hies for fishing.

If kept perfectly unmixed with any other fowl, one

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. ^ 81

will seldom obtain more than half the number of the
proper " blue duns," the rest being either black or
white. The chickens on the latter color, however, are
afterwards sprinkled with dun feathers. Perhaps the
original sort may have been either black or white, as
it is known that animals will, after many cross-breed-
ings, "cry back."

ANOMALOUS FOWLS.

Anomalies have been called "finger points that point
the way to unsuspected truths." Hence the strange
irregularities which we often meet with in our do-
mestic fowls better deserve the attention of naturalists
than any favor of poultry keepers. They may safely
be pronounced worthless as a stock, and have a more
appropriate place in the menagerie or museum than
in the poultry yard or lawn. Just as well might the
farmer propagate "Manx cats," well known for the
peculiarity of having no tails, the " woolly horses,"
(caballos chinos,) of Mexico, or the " wingless birds"
of New Zealand, as " frizzled," " rumpless," or
" negro" fowls.

Among the monstrosities of the domestic fowl,
which are particularly curious, and worthy of the atten-
tion of the student of nature, may be mentioned the
"rumkin," or tailless cock, {Gallus ecaudatus,) believed
at present to be found wild in the island of Ceylon ; and
the " silky" and " negro" fowls, with white silky plu-
mage, and with skin, combs, and bones which are black.

RANGE AND DOMESTIC ACCOMODATION OF FOWLS.

Whatever number or breed of fowls one may have
selected for keeping, provision must be made for their
comfort and safety. Those attached to houses in the
country, lead, in many respects, a happy life. They
have good air and plenty of room, and generally with
no lack of food. They wander about the farmyard,
the orchard, and the lawn, visit the adjacent gardens

82 THE DOMESTIC FOWL..

and fields, travel over the pastures, through the high-
ways or lanes, troop around the barn, and enjoy total
freedom. To the advantage of pure air, they usually
have that of pure water, and the opportunity of vary-
ing their diet by picking up insects and their larvae ;
and a store of pebbles, gravel, old mortar, and other
calcareous matter, which they require, is always at
their command. So far, they lead a comfortable and
natural life; but how are they housed at night? In
many instances, in a proper and well-built poultry
house, with perches judiciously arranged, with boxes
lined with straw for the laying and sitting hens ; but
often in places utterly unfitted for them. For instance,
numerous flocks of hens will be lodged under the roof
of some large, open shod, above the cattle, wagons, or
carts, which receive an abundance of their droppings;
others take shelter in the barns, stables, cider mill, pig
pen, out-houses, &c., while not a few may be found
roosting on the branches of some favorite tree. This
want of order cannot be too strongly condemned, as
hens, having no proper laying places, select such situ-
ations as chance may ofier them, not unfrequently in
obscure places of concealment, so that their eggs are
devoured by vermin or are lost.

Those who intend to rear fowls, should have a dis-
tinct yard, with a warm aspect, well fenced, secure
from vermin and thieves, sufficiently inclined to be
always dry, and supplied with gravel, old mortar, (not
quick lime,) or chalk, soot, brick dust, and with sand or
ashes for the fowls to bask or roll in. If possible, a
stream of running water should j)ass through tlie vard ;
but if this cannot be done, a trough filled with fresh
water every morning may bi; substituted. A want of
water, of which all kinds of poultry are fond, produces
constipation of the bowels and inflammatory diseases.
A contiguous field or pasture, however, whenever it
can be had, would, in all cases, be preferred.

A fowl house should be dry, well roofed, and fronting
the east or south; and if practicable, in a cold climate,
it should be i)rovidcd with a stove, or some other means

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 83

for heating, warmth being very conducive to health
and laying, though extreme heat has the contrary effect.
The dormitory, or roost, should be well ventilated by
means of two lattice windows, at opposrite ends of the
building; and it would be desirable to have one or
more apertures through the roof for the escape of foul
air. The sitting apartment, also, should be well ven-
tilated by means of a large lattice window, in the side
of the house, and holes through the ceiling or roof. If
kept moderately dark, it will contribute to the quietude
of the hens, and thus favor the process of incubation.
The sitting room should be provided with boxes or
troughs, well supplied with fresh water and proper food
for the hens, during the hatching period, from which
they can partake at all times, at will. The laying
room, in winter, should have similar boxes or troughs,
containing old mortar, broken oyster shells, soot, brick
dust, gravel, and ashes, as well as a liberal supply of
proper drink and food. The perches, or roosting poles,
should be so arranged that one row of fowls should not
rest directly above another. They should be so con-
structed as to enable the fowls to ascend and descend
by means of ladders, or steps, without making much
use of their wings ; for, heavy fowls fly up to their
roosts with difficulty, and often injure themselves by
descending, as they alight heavily upon the ground.

The following cut represents a hen house, in per-
spective, 20 feet long, 12 feet wide, 7 feet high to the
eaves, with a roof having a 7-foot pitch, a chimney
top, a ventilator on the peak, twelve feet in length and
one foot or more in height, and openings in the gable
ends for the admission of fresh air. In the easterly
end, there are two doors, one leading into the laying
apartment and lol't, and the other into the hatching
room. In the same end there is also a wooden shutter,
or blind, which may be opened, whenever necessary, to
let air or light into the roost. In the back, or northerly
side, there is a large lattice window, three feet above
the floor or ground, 4 by 12 feet, for the purpose of
aflfording fresh air to the sitting hens. In the front, or

84

THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

southerly side, there is a large glazed window, 4 by 12
feet, and another in the southerly side of the roof, of a
corresponding size, designed to admit the light and heat
of the sun, in cold weather, to stimulate the laying
hens. In the southerly side, there are also two small
apertures three feet above the floor or ground, for the
ingress and egress of the fowls. These openings may
be provided with sliding shutters, as well as with " light-
ing boards," inside and out, and may be guarded by

PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF A HEN HOUSE.

.sheets of tin, nailed on below them, to prevent the
intrusion of rats, weasels, or skunks.

The building may be constructed of wood or other
materials, and in such style, or order of architecture, as
may suit one's taste, only prcservintj the internal ar-
riiiigements and proportions, in reference to breadth
and hciglit. As a general rule, as regards the length of
the building, each hen, irrespective of the cocks, may
be allowed a foot.

THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

85

In the ground plan, L denotes the laying apartment ;
H, the hatching room, each 6 by 20 feet ; n, n, ^c,
nest boxes for laying, 14 by 14 inches, and 10 inches
deep ; o, o, ^c, nest boxes for the sitting hens, of the

1

b:

njc DJD^npT^ D^EB".

-^_j 1 JJZ'HinZ " IHH

1

— j

If

GROUND PLAN.

same size ; I, a ladder, or steps, leading into the loft ;
and s, a stove for warming the apartment, if desirable,
when the weather is cold.

A

HW

ra

a.

i

l*,*l

BL

_jjiL VL.

TRANSVERSE SECTION.

The transverse, or cross section, shows the building,
from the bottom to the top, with the internal arrange-

86

THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

ments. L, denotes the laying apartment, and H, the
hatching room, divided in the middle by a partition ; n,
the nest boxes, resting on tables, three feet above the
floor or ground ; b, b, boxes, or troughs, containing
water, grain, brick dust, sand, ground oyster shells, or
other materials for the convenience of the fowls ; d, an
aperture, or door, three feet above the ground or floor,
for the ingress and egress of the fowls ; a, a lattice
window, three feet above the floor or ground, for the
admission of fresh air to the sitting hens ; R, the roost-
ing place, or loft, shut oft' from the laying and sitting
apartments by the ceilings, c, c; h, a. hole, or opening,
in the ceiling, ibr the escape of the air below into the
loft; V, the ventilator at the peak of the roof ;/), the
roosting pole, or perch ; t, a trough, or box, for retain-
ing the droppings, or dung.

RUSTIC POULTRY HOUSE.

A very cheap and economical plan for a rustic
poultry h(»use is described at p. 320, vol. viii. of the
American Agriculturist, in tlio following words: —
" This kind of work can easily bo made by any person
accustomed to the use of the saw and axe. All that is
rtMinired is a little ta.st(>,, having your plan well digest-
ed before comuicncing, so as to require no alterations.

" For the oon.st ruction of a jjieoe of rustic work like

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 87

the above figure, after selecting the situation, join
four pieces of saplings in an oblong shape for the sills ;
confine them to the ground ; erect at the middle of
each of the two ends a forked post, of suitable height,
in order to make the sides quite steep ; join these with
a ridge pole ; rough-board it from the apex downward
by the sills to the ground ; then cover it with bark,
roughly cut in pieces a foot square, laid on and con-
fined in the same manner as ordinary shingles ; fix the
back end in the same way ; and the front can be lat-
ticed with little poles with the bark on, arranged
diamond fashion as shown in the sketch — a part to be
made With hinges for a door."

Something after this style, placed on the bank of a
lake or small stream, and half covered with climbing
plants, would make a very pretty home for aquatic
fowls.

The size of the building may vary according to the
wants or taste of the owner. Towards the apex of the
interior, rough roosting poles should run parallel with
the sides of the house, so arranged that one set of
fowls shall not perch directly above the others.
Troughs or boxes should be placed under the poles, in
order to catch the manure ; and ladders, or steps,
should be provided for the fowls to ascend and descend
from their roost. Laying and sitting boxes may be
placed at either side of the building, under the roofing
on or just above the ground. They should be about
14 inches square, 10 inches deep, and concealed
by bundles of cornstalks, wheat or rye straw, faggots,
or pine boughs. The sitting boxes should be partly
filled with wood ashes, pulverized charcoal, or soot.
These are slow conductors of heat or cold, and when
once warm, they will impart a proper temperature to
the eggs during the absence of the hen. They will
also ward off lice and other small vermin, as well as
contribute to her health. .Directly above the ashes,
&c., should be the nest. It may be made of finely-

88 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

chopped hay or straw, dried grass, or the ..eaves of
trees.

Where the fowls have the range of an orchard, or a
wide, dry, sandy pasture, or field, and are able to pra-
cure clean water, a good poultry house is all that is
essential, though even then an enclosure, or yard, is
desirable for the safety and better management of the
young broods. It should be open and airy, its soil dry,
and sheltered from cold, wintry winds. A simple shed,
moreover, should be erected in some suitable spot, in
order to afford a screen to the fowls from the hot rays
of the mid-day sun in summer, and from heavy rain
storms and showers. Should there be no access to a
pasture, orchard, or field, it is desirable that a portion
of the yard should be laid down with turf; and the
larger the yard, the better the accommodation.

Cleanliness, both in the poultry house and in the
yard, is indispensable. Hence, all rubbish should be
frequently swept out ot both apartments, and the
whole interior of the building white-washed, at least
once a year. This, with as free a circulation as pos-
sible, and a proper space for the fowls to run in, is
necessary to insure success ; as in narrow and confined
situations they naver do so well. A sicklv fowl ought
to be separated immediately from the rest of the flock,
and removed to some proper place, where it can
remain in seclusion, not only because the disease may
be contagious, but for the sake of safely and quietude
of the fowl itself Meagre, pining fowls are frequently
objects of dislike, not only to the cock, which is apt to
maltreat them, but even to the hens, that evir. '3e their
hostility and rancor to such a degree, that, son.etimes,
they actually destroy their more unfortunate com-
panions.

J'jvery poultry house, as before observed, should be pro-
vided with nest boxes, filled with hay or straw, «&c. If the
plan be adopted, as recommended above, sliding boxes,
or drawers, n, o, may be constructed twenty-eight
inches long; fourtecMi inches wide, and ten inches deep,
partitioned in the middle, so as to leave two compart-

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 89

ments in each, fourteen inches square. On a level
with the tables, each of which is designed to be two
feet wide, and extending three feet above the ground,
let there be cut through the partition between the lay-
ing and sitting apartments, an aperture the whole
length of the rooms, ten inches high, or sufficiently
large to receive these nest boxes, or drawers, so that
one half of each will be in the laying room, and the
other half in the sitting apartment, leaving a space
nine or ten inches wide on each table for the hens to
alight upon, and deliberately enter their nests, without
breaking their eggs. When a hen is disposed to sit,
the eggs may be put under her, and one or two nights
after, the ends of the nest box may be shifted, so that
she will be in the sitting room, where she may remain
in perfect quietude till she hatches her brood. It is
not at all required to have as many nests as hens, as
one might suppose, because they have not all occasion
to occupy them at the same time ; besides, they are so
far from having a repugnance to lay in a common
receptacle, that the sight of an egg stimulates them to
lay. It is true, nevertheless, that the most secluded and
darkened nests are those which the hens prefer, particu-
larly when they are inclined to sit. T herefore, it would
be advisable to set up around and between the sitting
boxes, small bundles of corn stalks, faggots, or straw.

SELECTION OF THE COCK.

" The courage of the cock," says a modern writer
on Ornamental Poultry, " is emblematic ; his gallantry
admirable ; his sense of discipline and subordination
most exemplary. See how a good game cock, of two
or three years' experience, will, in five minutes, restore
order in an uproarious poultry yard. He does not use
harsh means of coercion, when mild will suit the pur-
pose. A look, a gesture, a deep, chuckling growl gives
the hint that the turbulence is no longer to be per-
mitted ; and if these are not effectual, severe punishment
is fearlessly administered. Nor is he aggressive to birds
of other species. He allows the turkey to strut before

90 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

his numerous dames, and the Guinea fow ;o court his
single mate, uninterrupted ; but if the one presumes
upon his superior weight, and the other on his cowardly
tiltings from behind, he soon makes them smart for their
rash presumption. His politeness to females is as
marked as were Lord Chesterfield's attentions to old
ladies, and much more unaffected. Nor does he merely
act the agreeable dangler ; when occasion requires, he
is also the brave defender."

Much has been said relative to the selection of the
cock ; but all, in the end, come to one point. What-
ever be the breed to which he belongs, he should ex-
hibit the distinctive characters of that breed in full
perfection. He should be bold, lively, clean made,
with close, glossy plumage, a high head, short bill, and
a bright eye ; the color of his comb and wattles of a
rich, shining vermilion ; his crow should be clear, loud,
shrill, and long-drawn ; his breast, broad and fleshy ;
his thighs, muscular, firm, and covered with feathers ;
his insteps and ankle joints, stout ; his claws and spurs,
strong, pointed, and slightly hooked; and lastly, he
should carry himself with a proud, yet graceful air, and
should be in perfect health.

Some cocks, especially when they are getting past
their prime, say at the age of five or six years, are
unsocial, vicious, and tyrannical. Instead of scraping
up delicacies for the hens, and collecting them around
him by a clucking note of invi'tation, the surly bird
attacks them without provocation, tears their combs,
and otherwise injures them. Let such a despot be
dethroned from his proud eminence as soon as possible.
On the other hand, a young cock, in his prime, will
sometimes take a hatred to some particular hen, and
treat her with marked antipathy, although he will con-
duct himself towards the rest of his coterie with a
grace becoming to a gallant cavalier. The entire life
of the domestic cock, however, shows that he is a most
excellent family man, placing his whole care and study
in providing all necessaries lor his household. For this
bird devotes whatever energy lie has, the live-long day,

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 91

to the good of his dependents, and is soUcitous about
nothing else than self.

CHOICE OF HENS.

The hen is deservedly the acknowledged pattern of
maternal love. When her passion of philoprogenitive-
ness is disappointed by the failure or separation of her
own brood, she will either go on sitting, till her natural
powers fail, or she will violently kidnap the young of
another fowl, and insist upon adopting them. But all
hens are not alike. They have their little whims and
fancies, likes and dislikes, as capricious and unaccount-
able as those of other females. Some are gentle in
their manners and disposition, others sanguinary ; some
are lazy, others energetic almost to insanity. Some, by
their very nature, are so mild and familiar, and so fond
of the society of man, that they can scarcely be kept
out of his dwelling ; others seem to say, " Thank you,
but I'd rather be left to myself."

The good qualities of hens, whether intended for lay-
ing or for breeding, are of no less importance to be
attended to, than those of the cock. To gratify the
curious reader, and show what the ancients thought of
the points of a hen, we give a quaint passage from old
Leonard Mascall. Following Columella and Stephanus,
he says, " The signes of a good henne are these : to be
of a tawnye colour, or of a russet, which are counted
the cheefest colours, and those hennes nexte which
hath the pens of their winges blackishe, not all blacke,
but parte. As for the gray and the white hens, they are
nothing so profitable. The henne with a tuit of feathers
on her head is reasonable good ; and the low featherde
henne also. Their heads oughte not to be great and
their tails ought to be in a meane, and her brest
large, and her body deepe and long, for the greatest
hennes of body, are not the aptest hennes to lay, nor
yet for that purpose so naturale. As for those hennes
which have hinder clawes, they will commonly breake
their egges in sitting thereon, and they sit not so surely
as others, and will ofttimes eat their egges. As for
those hennes which doe call or crowe lyke the cocke,

92 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

or doth creke and scrape to help the same, ye shall
pluck off the greatest fethers of her wings and give
her millet-wheat to eat." To this I will add, they
should be of middling size, of robust constitution, with
bright eyes, pendent combs, yellow or bluish legs and
feet, and not over three or four years old. As regards the
color of hens, except for appearance' sake, it is quite
immaterial, unless we discard white on the ground that
they are less hardy, and are in an abnormal state.

PAIRING.

With good management, peace, and plenty, just
before they are full-grown, the combs of both the young
cocks and pullets will be observed to become of a more
brilliant red ; the former will crow more lustily ; and
the pullets will grow animated, restless, and full of busy
importance, as if a new idea had lately broke in upon
their minds. By-and-by, they will conit)ience prating
and cackling, and in a few days the delighted pullet will
lay her first egg. And when, time after time, this first
instalment is followed by similar deposits, she thinks
herself, and is thought by her amateur owner, a perfect
paragon. ^ Such are the pleasures of productiveness.

RELATIVE NUMBER OF HENS TO BE ALLOTTED
TO EACH COCK.

Tn order to keep fowls with advantage, attention must
be paid to the relative number of cocks and hens com-
posing the flock. On this point, there is some differ-
ence of opinion. M. Parmentier considers that one
cock is sufficient for twenty hens, which, in France,
perhaps, may be the case, but not in the cold and vari-
able climate of many parts of the United States.
Indeed, it has been found by experience, that if a cock
be placed over a numerous flock of hens, the chickens
produced are feeble, and the breed soon degenerates, or
runs out. The old breeders of game fowls allowed only
three hens to one cock ; and where renovation of a
breed is required, this proportion, it is thought, should
not be exceeded .

As a general rule, from eight to twelve hens may be

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 93

assiorned to one cock, but no nnore ; nor, indeed, even
so many, if the fowls are kept in a confined yard, where
the depressing influence of captivity will be more or
less experienced. In a cold or humid climate, perhaps,
this number is the best ; but in a warm, dry climate, or
where the fowls are healthy and have a free range, a
greater number may safely be allowed.

When there are two or more cocks of the same age,
a little management will be required to prevent them
from fighting, which it will be almost impossible to
avoid ; but one cock may be brought up under another,
each, in turn, gaining the ascendency over the male
portion of the successive broods. For instance, a
stock of fowls, intended to be increased, may consist of
twelve hens, with a single cock at the head. Out of
the young chickens hatched, a certain number will be
selected for keeping. Among these should be the most
promising and beautiful of the young cocks. When
this new comer is a twelvemonth old, his progenitor
will have arrived at the age of two years. In like
manner, the number may again be added to, till the
stock is sufficien.tly numerous. When the old cock is
past his fourth year, however, it will be advisable, gene-
rally speaking, to get rid of him ; as he then becomes
lazy, violent in temper, and excessively jealous. Should
it be deemed necessary to procure a new cock, a
young bird should be selected, and introduced to the
hens at the period of moulting, when his older rival
will take but little notice of him, and ultimately become
reconciled to him by the time that the laying season
commences ; and, during the interim, he will ingratiate
himself with a certain number of the hens, which will
appreciate his marked politeness, and acknowledge him
as their brave defender.

Where numerous fowls are kept, it has generally
been observed that each cock has his own female train,
which follow him, and is always at his call ; and that
they are divided into coteries, or groups, and have each
their favorite places of resort ; but should a strange
cock make a sudden appearance on the premises, he
will have many a hard fight before he can establish

94 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

himself, either in the character of a conqueror, or a
defeated champion.

OW THE LAYING PROPENSITIES OF HENS .

The act of laying is not voluntary on the part of a
hen, but is dependent upon her age, constitution, and
diet. If she be young, healthy, and well-fed, lay she
must ; if she be aged and half-starved, lay she cannot. -
All that is left to her own choice is, where she shall
deposit her egg, and she is sometimes so completely
taken by surprise, as not to have her own way even at
that. The poultry keeper, therefore, has only to decide
which is the more convenient — that his hens should lay
here and there, as it may happen, about his premises, or
in certain determinate places, indicated to the hens by
nest eggs. Yet it is quite a mistake to suppose that the
presence of a nest egg causes a hen to sit earlier than
she otherwise would. The sight of twenty nest eggs
will not bring on the hatching fever ; and when it does
come, the hen will take to the empty nest, if there be
nothing else for her to incubate. Any one, whose hens
have from accident been deprived of a male companion,
cannot be ignorant of the fact, that they have not done
so well till the loss has been supplied. During the
interregnum matters get all wrong. The poor deserted
creatures wander about dispirited, like soldiers without
a general. It belongs to their very nature to be con-
trolled and marshalled by one of the stronger sex, who
is a kind, though a strict master, and a considerate
though stern disciplinarian.

QUALITIES AND SEX OF EOOS.

To every hen belongs an individual peculiarity in
the form, color, and size of the egg she lays, which
never changes during her whole lifetime, so long as she
remains in health, and which is as well known to those
who are in the habit of taking her produce, as the
handwriting of their nearest acquaintance. Some hens
lay sriinoth cream -colored eggs, others rough, chalky,
granulated ones. Then, there is the buff, the .snow-
white, the spherical, the oval, the pear-shaped, and the
emphatically egg-shaped egg. A farmer's wife who

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 95

interests herself in the matter, will tell you with pre-
cision, in looking over her stores, " this egg was laid by
such a hen," a favorite perhaps ; " this one by such
another;" and it would be possible that she should go
on so throughout- the whole flock of poultry. Of course,
the greater the number kept, the greater becomes the
difficulty in learning the precise marks of each. If
four dozen eggs, laid by no more than four different
hens, were put at random on a table, the chances are
that it would be as easy to sort them as the four suits
in a pack of cards.

It has been copied and re-copied from quarto to
octavo, through duodecimo and pamphlet, that " small,
round eggs produce female, and long pointed ones male
chicks." Now 1 assert that the hen which lays one
round egg, will continue to lay all her eggs round ; and
the hen that lays one oblong, will lay all oblong. Con-
sequently, one hen would be the unceasing mother of
cocks, another must remain the perpetual producer of
pullets ; which is absurd, as daily experience proves.
Every poultry maid knows that vfhen a hen steals a
nest, and hatches her own eggs only, the brood she
brings home contains a fair proportion of either sex.

There is nothing so instructive as a "case," whether
in law, physic, or poultry-raising. Here is an experi-
ment in point. An old lady, whose fowls were all
white, gave Mr. Dixon, of England, a small globular
egg, as round as a ball, which was added to a clutch of
speckled Dorkings. The result was, the due number of
Dorkings, and one white cockerel, which he kept till it
began to crow. It ought to have been a pullet, accord-
ing to the old stereotyped rule.

Another supposed test is the position of the air bag
at the blunt end of the shell. We are told that " if it
be a little on one side, it will produce a hen ; if this
vacuity be exactly in the centre, it will produce a
cock." But, take a basket of eggs, examine them as
directed, by holding them between your eye and a
candle, and you will find very few indeed in which you
can say that the air bubble is exactly concentric with
the axis of the egg. A cock ought thus to be, like

96 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

Ovid's black swan, a rare bird. But in many broods,
the cockerels bear a proportion of at least one third,
sometimes two thirds ; especially in those hatched dur-
ing winter or in unfavorable seasons ; the immediate
cause being, doubtless, that the eggs producing the
robuster sex possess a stronger vitality; the more re-
mote cause being the same wise law of Providence,
through which, in the human race, more males are
born into the world than females, to meet the wear and
tear of war, labor, and accident.

In short, the " bubble theory" is properly described
by its name ; and, it is believed, there is no known
means of determining beforehand the sex of fowls, ex-
cept, perhaps, that cocks may be more likely to issue
from large eggs, and hens from small ones. Know-
ing, however, that the eggs of each hen may be recog-
nised, we have thus the means of propagating from
those parents the race of which we deem most desirable
to continue.

Horace, Columella, and Pliny had the same notions
respecting the shape of eggs as are current now, but
they applied them to eating, rather than hatching pur-
poses. The long eggs were better-tasted, according to
them, because they contained cocks. Those which are
laid round, according to Pliny, produce a female ; the
rest, a male.

Again, Doctor Philip Francis quaintly says, after
Horace —

" Long be your eggs, far sweeter than the round,
Cock eggg they are, more nourishing and sound."

The pojmlar notion now is, that eggs with buff aud
brownish shells have a higher flavor, and are more
nutritious, than those which the shells are vvhite. Be
this as it may, the finest are those having small, bright-
orange yolks, like those of the Bantam and game breeds ;
but large eggs, like those of the Polands and Spanish
fowls, often have pale yolks, with but little flavor.
Aristotle's opinion is exactly the reverse of that of the
Jlomans. He says that "long and sharp eggs are
females, but that those that are spherical, and have a

THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

97

\

convexity close to the sharp end are males," One rule
is just as good as the other ; that is, good for nothing.
When any one will produce a brood consisting entirely
of pullets hatched from eggs selected with that view,
then, and not till then, will it be admitted that there
exist practical criteria of judging beforehand of the sex
of an egg.

PRESERVATION OF EGGS FOR COOKERY.

" Preserved eggs," says Gobbet, " are things to run
from not after." Perhaps so, perhaps not, as the case
may be. At any rate, many articles of cookery, which
cannot be made without eggs, are not things to run
from ; and, therefore, preserved eggs must be had, unless
you choose to disappoint the little folks of their Christ-
mas plum pudding, and the ladies of their "«^-nog."
A large proportion of the eggs brought to mmJet dur-
ing winter, are certainly displeasing enough, quite
uneatable as eggs, but only not offensive to the smell.
They are saved from putrefaction by immersion in lime
water, to which salt is added by some housewives.
When wanted, they are fished out of the tub, wiped, and
sometimes rubbed with a little sand fo give a fresh-looking
roughness to the shell. Cooks say they answer their
purpose ; but it is assuredly worth while to try for
something better.

The three following are cheap and eas}'^ modes of pre-
serving eggs for culinary use : —

Recipe, No. 1. — Pack the eggs to be preserved in an
upright water-tight cask, with their small ends down-
wards. Take eight quarts of unslaked lime, one half
pound of common salt, two ounces of cream tartar ;
mix in water so as to bear up an egg with its top just
above the surface ; pour the mixture into the cask con-
taining the eggs, and they will keep sound and good
for two years.

Recipe, No. 2. — Pack the eggs to be preserved in an
upright earthen vessel or tub, with their small ends
downwards. Procure, melt, and strain a quantity of
cheap tnllow or lard, and pour, while warm, not hot,*

98 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

over the eggs in the jar till they are completely covered.
When all is cold and firm, set the vessel in a cool, dry
place, till required for use. After the eggs are taken
out, the grease need not be wasted, as it will serve for
making soap, or many other household purposes.

Recipe, No. 3. — Pack the eggs to be preserved in
common salt, with the small ends downwards, and they
will keep tolerably good for eight or nine months.

It has been stated by Reaumur, who is a high au-
thority, that clear or unfertile eggs will keep good longer
than those that would be productive; but it is doubtful
whether the difference is so great as to make it worth
while keeping the hens in a melancholy widowhood on
this account.

PRESERVATION OF EGGS FOR HATCHING.

Eggs for hatching should be as fresh as possible ; if
laid the very same day, so much the better. This is
not always possible when a particular stock is re-
quired to be increased ; but if a numerous and healthy
brood is all that is wanted, the most recent eggs should
be selected. Some books tell us that eggs to be hatched
should not be more than a fortnight, others say not
more than a month old. It is difficult to fix the exact
term during which the vitality of an egg remains un-
distinguished ; it undoubtedly varies from the very
first, according to the vigor of the parents of the in-
closed germ, and fades away gradually till the final
moment of non-existence. But long before that mo-
ment, the principle of life becomes so feeble, as to be
almost unavailable for practical purposes. The chicks
in stale eggs have not sufficient strength to extricate
themselves from the sh(41 ; if assisted, the yolk is
found to bo only partially absorbed into the abdomen,
or not at all ; they are too faint to stand, the muscles
of the neck are unable to lift their heads, much less
to peck ; and although they may sometimes bo saved
by extreme care, their usual fate is to be trampled to
death by their mother, if they do not expire almost as
soon as they begin to draw their breath. Thick-

THE liCMESTIC FOWL. 99

shelled eggs, like those of geese, Gruinea fowl, &c.,
will retain life longer than thin-shelled ones, as those
of hens and ducks.

In the meanwhile, air should be excluded from the
eggs as much as possible ; it is best to set them on
end, and not to suffer them to lie and roll on the side.
Dry sand or hard- wood sawdust, (not pine, on account
of the turpentine,) is the best packing. But when
choice eggs are expected, it is more prudent to have
a hen waiting for them than to let them wait for her.
A good sitter may be amused for two or three weeks
with a few addled eggs, and so be ready to take charge,
of those of value immediately upon their arrival.

Eggs sent any distance to be hatched, should be
tightly inclosed in a cork or wooden box, and arranged
so as neither to touch each other, nor the sides of the
box. Mr. Cantelo, in his little pamphlet, has recom-
mended oats as a packing, and no doubt they form an
excellent vehicle, taking little time to pack, filling all
interstices, and moreover being useful at the journey's
end. The eggs should be shaken as little as possible,
for fear of rupturing the ligaments by which the yolk
is suspended in the centre of the egg, and mixing the
true strata of albumen surrounding it and letting the
yolk loose. Nor should they be suffered to come in
contact with any greasy substance that would close
the pores of the shell, so as to exclude the air from the
chick.

THE STRUCTURE OF EGGS.

Upon opening, after death, the body of a laying hen,
a cluster of eggs, or rather the rudiments of eggs, may
be observed, from twenty to a hundred or more, from
the size of a pin's head to that of a boy's marble,
according to the different stages of their growth. This
batch of rudimental eggs, or egg cluster, is termed by
anatomists the ovarium, and the rudimental eggs
themselves are called ova.

It is necessary to observe here, that a rudimental egg,
or ovum, has no shell nor white, which are acquired in

100 THE DOMESTIC FOAVL.

an after stage of its progress, but consists wholly of
yolk, on whose surface the germ of the future chick
lies ; both the yolk and the germ being wrapped
round with a very thin membrane.

EGG CLUSTER, OR OVARIUM.

When the rudimental egg, still attached to the ova-
rium, becomes larger and larger, and arrives at a cer-
tain size, either its own weight, or some other efficient
cause, detaches it from the cluster, and makes it fall
into a sort of funnel, leading to a pipe which anato-
mists term the oviduct.

Here the yolk of the rudimental egg, hitherto im-
perfectly formed, puts on its mature appearance of a
thick yellow fluid, while the rudimental chick or em-
bryo, lying on the surface, at the point opposite
that by which it had been attached to the ovarium, is
white, and somewhat paste like.

The white, or nlhiimrn, of the egg now becwmes
diffused around the yolk, being sccreteil fnMU the
blood vessels of the Q.gg pipe, or oviduct, in the form of
a thin, glairy fluid ; and it is prevented from mixing
with the yolk and the embryo chick, by the thin
membrane which surrounded them before they were
(letaehod from the egg cluster, while it is strength-
ened by a second and stronger membrane, formed
around tlie first, immediately after falling into tho

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 101

oviduct. It is proper to mention, also, that this second
membrane, enveloping the yolk and the germ of the
chick, is thickest at the two ends, having what may-
be called bulgings, termed chalazes by anatomists ;
these bulgings of the second membrane pass quite
through the white at the ends, and being thus as it
were embedded in the white, they keep the inclosed
yolk and germ somewhat in a fixed position, prevent-
ing them from rolling about within the egg when it is
moved. The white of the egg being thus formed, a
third membrane, or rather a double membrane, much
stronger than either of the first two, is formed around
it, becoming attached to the bulgings, or chalazes, of
the second membrane, and tending still more to keep
all the parts in their relative positions.

During the progress of these several formations, the
egg gradually advances about halfway along the ovi-
duct. It is still, however, destitute of the shell, which
begins to be formed by a process similar to the forma-
tion of the shell of a snail, as soon as the outer layer
of the third membrane has been completed. When
the shell is fully formed, the egg continues to advance
along the oviduct, till the hen goes to her nest and
lays it.

Reckoning, then, from the shell inwards, there are
six different envelopes, one of which only could be de-
tected before the descent of the egg into the oviduct : —

1. The shell. 2. The external layer of the mem-
brane lining the shell, 3, The internal layer of the
same lining. 4. The white, composed of a thinner
liquid on the outside, and a thicker and more yellow-
ish liquid on the inside. 5. The bulgings, or chala-
ziferous membrane. 6. The proper membrane.

One important part of the egg is the air bag, or
foUiculus aeris, of anatomists, placed at the larger
end, between the shell and its lining membranes. Ac-
cording to Dr. Paris, it is about the size of the eye of
a small bird in new-laid eggs, but is increased as much
as ten times in the process of hatching.

1091 THE DOMESTIC FOAVL.

This air bag is of such great importance to the de-
velopment of the chick, probably by supplying it with
a limited atmosphere of oxygen, that if the blunt end
of an egg be pierced with the point of the smallest
needle the egg cannot be hatched, but perishes.

From the air bag being thus placed at the blunt end
of the egg, important signs may be taken to distin-
guish the freshness of an egg ; for, as the air in the cell
will not abstract heat from without, like a more solid
substance, it is a usual practice to apply the tonguo
to the blunt end of an egg, and if it feels rather warm,
it is stale, but if cold, it is fresh. This, however, is
a much more uncertain test than the comparative size
of the small circle seen by the transmitted light of a
candle or otherwise, a small circle being a proof of
freshness, and a large one of staleness.

The shell of an egg, chemically speaking, consists
chiefly of carbonate of lime, similar to chalk, with a
small quantity of phosphate of lime and animal mucus.
When burnt, the animal matter and the carbonic acid
gas of the carbonate of lime are separated, the first
being reduced to ashes or animal charcoal, while the
second is dissipated, leaving the decarbonised lime
mixed with a little phosphate of lime.

The ivhite of the egg, (albumen,) is without taste or
smell, of a viscid, glairy consistence, readily dissolving
in water, coagulable by acids, by spirits of wino, and by
a temperature of 165° F. If it has once been coagulat-
ed, it is no longer soluble cither in cold or hot water,
and acquires a slight insipid taste. Experiments show
that it is composed of 80 parrs of water, 15i parts of
albumen, and 4i parts of mucus, besides giving traces
of soda, benzoic acid, and sulphuretted hydrogen gas.

The yulk has an insipid, bland, oily taste, and when
agitated with water, forms a milky emulsion. If it bo
long boiled, it becomes a granular, friable solid, yield-
ing upon cx|)ression a yellow, insi|)id, fixed oil. It
consists, chemically, of water, oil, albumen, and gela-

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 103

tine. In proportion to the quantity of albumen, the
egg boils hard.

The white of the egg is found to be a very feeble
conductor of heat, retarding its escape and prevent-
ing its entrance to the yolk ; a contrivance of Provi-
dential Wisdom, noi only to prevent speedy fermenta-
lion and corruption, out as Dr. Paris remarks, to avert
the fatal chills which might occur in hatching, when
the mother hen leaves her eggs from time to time in
search of food. Eels, tench, and other fish, which can
live long out of water, secrete a similar viscid sub-
stance on the surface of their bodies, furnished to them,
no doubt, for a similar purpose.

BREEDING.

The breeding of the common fowl, with a view to
improvement, like that of our domestic quadrupeds,
may be said to be founded on nature's established
law, that "like begets like." This, however, is only
true in part, for there is a constant tendency to change
arising from a variety of causes ; such as living in a
different climate, or on a different kind of food. The
management to which they are subject has, also, its
influence. While these may be looked upon as the
chief causes in operation, that produce this change,
they are the means, at the same time, in connection
with other causes, which are used to effect an im-
provement.

In order to perpetuate or improve an animal, there
aie two modes advocated and pursued by practical
breeders. One is commonly called the " in-and-in sys-
tem," and the other that of " crossing." As a general
rule, the first-named system has a tendency, after a
time, to deteriorate the breed, unless the utmost care
is observed in selecting such animals as will be likely
to unite in the offspring the qualities sought. From
their progeny, again, must be selected only such ani-
mals as more completely exhibit those qualities,

104 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

and so on from generation to generation, until the de-
sired points arc fully developed.

The importance of continuing this process for a
number of successive generations is obvious, from the
fact, that peculiar traits of character often disappear
in the first, and reappear again in the second or third
generation. A desirable property may be found in the
parent, and inherited by only a part of the offspring,
and the requisite point can only be uniformly de-
veloped by a careful selection through several consecu-
tive generations. By this process, it is apparent that
this system must be adopted ; yet, at the same time,
it is desirable to avoid too close alliances. Hence, it
is considered better to breed more distant members of
the same family together than those that are more
nearly related. Thus in "breeding in the line," with
a view of perpetuating a particular race of fowls, the
Dorkings, for instance, the best birds of that breed
should be selected, both males and females, and allow
them to propagate in their utmost purity from one
generation to another, changing from one family of
Dorkings to another, as often as circufnstances or ne-
cessity may require.

The system of " crossing" is founded on a principle
just as secure, as regards care in selection, as that
adopted in breeding in-and-in. For, it is well known
that certain diseases are hereditary, none of which can
be changed nor got rid of except by crossing. This
system, therefore, requires great care in selection, as
well as in management.

A fact respecting fowls, that has not been sufficiently
regarded, but which goes far to prove their high an-
ti(iuity, is the permanent character of the different
varieties. Before attending much to the subject, some
people fancy that crossings and intermixtures may be
infinitely multiplied and continued, restricted only by
the algcbric law of permutation and combination ; and
.such is the current oj^inion among many who arc ac-
customed to SCO the diverso colors and api)oaianco of

I

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 105

fowls promiscuously bred in a farmyard. But the ob-
servant breeder knows that such is not the case.
Nothing is more difficult than to establish a permanent
intermediate race even between nearly-allied varieties.
In a few generations, the character reverts to that of
one or other of the parents ; the peculiarities of an old
type reappear, and the new cross, on which the fancier
was beginning to glorify himself, vanishes. The more
heterogeneous are the parents, the more sudden is the
return to old established characters. The hybrid
progeny are either utterly barren, or their young ex-
hibit the likeness of their grandfather or grandmother,
not of their actual parents.

As a general rule, domestic animals of all kinds,
which have been produced by crossing, are the most
profitable both for meat and milk. But in all cases,
where a cross is attempted, with the object of improv-
ing a breed, be sure to have pure blood on one side.
In raising fowls, then, for laying, for the fatting coop,
or for the market, a convenient number of hens, either
pure bred or mongrels, may be obtained, which pos-
sess such properties as may be desirable, as regards
size, «shape, color of the skin, tenderness of the flesh,
size and flavor of the eggs, hardiness, aptitude to lay,
sit, and rear their young, together with a requisite
number of pure-blooded cocks of such a breed as is
known from experience to be fixed in its character,
and whose progeny have proved profitable to the owner.
Allow these to run promiscuously together, and breed
from year to year, for four or five seasons, killing off",
or separating all the chickens as fast as they arrive at
maturity. In the meantime, however, should any
of the hens be lost from accident or disease, their places
may he filled with others of a similar breed, or with
the pullets of the first, or at farthest of the second
cross. Should the cocks die before they arrive at the age
of five years, or become quarrelsome in their disposition,
or disabled in any way, they should be killed, and
others of pure blood and of the same breed, placed in
5*

106 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

their stead. At the end of five years, the whole may
be killed, or otherwise disposed of, when you may
commence anew, with fresh young fowls.

In breeding " in-and-in" for the purpose of perpetu-
ating any particular variety, the utmost care must be
observed in selecting healthy birds, cocks as well as
hens, of pure blood on both sides, and if possible, of
distantly-related families, which have been kept sepa-
rate from all other breeds from their infancy. By
this means, the purity of a race may be maintained.

INCUBATION.

As in case of other birds, nature designs that every
hen shall sit upon her own eggs, and hatch her own
progeny ; but the domestic fowl is in an artificial state,
and deviations from the laws of nature are, therefore, to
be expected. A wild hen will lay no more eggs than
she can conveniently cover, and her periods for laying
and for incubation will be fixed and regular. On the
contrary, domestic hens lay many more eggs than they
can cover. Some lay every day, or every other day,
for nine months out of the twelve, and never or rarely
evince a desire to incubate; while others manife^ this
desire, some at one period, and others at another period.
Among a flock of hens, these diversities will show them-
selves, and advantage may be taken of them with benefit
to their owner.

A hen prompted by instinct to the task of incubation,
asks only for eggs suited to her size, be they those of her
own production cr not, (those even of a duck will be
accepted,) a nest, and undisturbed solitude. At this
juncture, she utters an instinctive cluck, ruffles her
leathers, wanders about, searches obscure corners and
reces.ses, and is evidently ill at ease. She is feverishly
hot, impatient, and anxiously restless. In high-fed hens
this instinctive desire comes on sooner than in such as
are not sui)plie(l with food in abimdance, and it may be
induced by stiniulating diet, a litlle raw liver or fresh
meat, chopiird small, potatoes mashed warm, with milk
and Indian meal. Somt' farmers it-commend a lomenta-

i

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 107

tion of vinegar in which pepper has been steeped, to be
apphed to the under parts, as a means of inducing this
desire ; and others even advise that some of the feathers
of the abdomen be plucked off, and the skin stung with
nettles ! Such means may induce fever, and a desire to
cool the inflamed skin by applying it to cool substances,
but not a genuine natural impulse to fulfil the great law
of nature. Let them never be put into practice. They
are barbarous and contemptible. By high feeding, some
hens, especially of the Dorking breed, which, as sitters,
take the pre-eminence over all other breeds, may be in-
duced to sit in October, especially if they have moulted
early. Advantage may be taken of this circumstance
at the South, and chickens may be obtained fit for the
table by Christmas — not, however, without great care
and trouble. The incubation must take place, and the
chickens be reared and fed, in a warm room, if neces-
sary, kept at an equal temperature. Generally speak
ing, spring chickens are more desirable, which should be
hatched in January, so as to be ready for the market in
the latter part of March, and through the months of
April, May, and June. They require great care, but
they return an ample profit.

The most usual time in which hens manifest a desire
to incubate, extends from March to May or June, and
at this season chickens may be reared without any ex-
traordinary precautions.

When the determination to sit becomes fixed, — there
is no need to indulge the first faint indications immedi-
ately— let her have the nest she has selected well cleaned
and filled with fresh straw. The number of eggs to be
given to her will depend upon the season, and upon their
and her own size. The wisest plan is not to be too
greedy. The number of chickens hatched is often in
inverse proportion to the number of eggs sat. I have
known only three to be obtained from eighteen. Hens
will, in general, well cover from eleven to thirteen
eggs laid by themselves. A Bantam may be trusted
with about half a dozen eggs of a large breed, such as
the Spanish. A hen of the largest size, as a Dorking,
will successfully hatch, at the most, five goose eggs.

108 THE DOMESTIC FO\VTi.

But if a hen is really determined to sit, it is useless, as
well as cruel, to attempt to divert her from her object.
The means usually prescribed are such as no humane
person would willingly put in practice. If the season is
too early to give a hope of rearing gallinaceous birds,
the eggs of ducks or geese may generally be had ; and
the young may be brought up with a little pains-taking,
as well as by their natural parent. And if it be required
to retain the services of a hen for expected valuable
eggs, she may be beguiled for a week or ten days with
four or five old addled ones till the choicer sort arrive.

Three weeks is the period of incubation of the com-
mon hen. Sometimes, however, when she does not sit
close for the first day or two, or in early spring, it will
be some hours longer ; more frequently in our southern
climate, when the hen is assiduous and the weather
hot, the time will be a trifle shorter. But in cases of
artificial incubation, where the eggs are uniformly kept
at a temperature of from 101° to 102° F., the period is
sometimes hastened forty-eight hours. The range of
temperature, within which the eggs will hatch, varies
from 95° to 100° F. Towards the close of incubation,
the process may bo suspended for one or two hours, or
even for a longer period, according to the degree of
extraneous heat which the eggs may derive from their
situation, without fatal consequences to the embrvo
chick.

Tlio growth of the chick in the egg has been so fully
and so well described by many writers, from Aristotle
down to Tteaumur, that I need merely refer the reader to
iheiii. The observations of the latter, particularly, have
appeared in ahnost every compilation that has been pub-
lished on the subject; and I think it much better taste
for common inciuircrs to betake themselves to sucli
sources of inforniation, illustrated as they are by good
engravings, than to desire that a set of half-hatched
eggs should be broken to gratify their curiosity. A
shatleied and imperfectly -formed chick, struggling in
vain in the llnid that ought to perfect its frame, till it
sinks in a gradual and convulsive death, is a horrible

THE DOMESTIC FOWL,

109

spectacle, thouo;h on a small scale. To gratify the curi-
ous reader, I present below three cuts illustrat-
ing the first, middle, and last stages of incubation.

FIRST STAGE OF INCUBATION.

0

MIDDLE STAGE OF INCUBATION.

CHICK JUST BEFORE HATCHING.

Shortly before the time of hatching arrives, tlio
chickens may be heard to chirp and tap against the
walls of their shell. Soon a slight fracture is perceived
towards the upper end, caused by force from within.

110 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

The fracture is continued around the lop of the egg,
which then opens Hke a lid, and the little bird strugjrles
into daylight. The tapping which is heard, and which
opens the prison doors, is caused by the bill of the in-
cluded chick; the mother has nothing to do with its
liberation, beyond casting the empty shells out of the
nest. At the tip of the bill of every new-hatched chick,
on the upper surface, a whitish scale will be observed,
about the size of a pin's head, but much harder than the
bill itself. Had the beak been tipped with iron to force
the shell open, it would not have been a stronger proof
of Creative Design than is this minute speck, which acts
as so necessary an instrument. In a few days after
birth, when it is no longer wanted, this scale disappears ;
not by falling off, which would be a waste of valuable
material, but by being absorbed and becoming service-
able in strengthening the bony structure, minute as the
portion of earthy substance is. And yet some people
direct, that as soon as the chick is hatched, this scale
should be forced off with the finger nail, because it is in-
jurious !

All chicks do not get out so easily, but may require
a little assistance. The difficulty is, to know when to
give it. They often succeed in making the first breach,
but appear unable to batter down their dungeon walls
any further. A ra.^h attempt to help them by break-
ing the shell, particularly in a downward direction
towards the smaller end, is often followed by a loss of
blood, which can ill be spared. It is bettor to wait
awhile and not interfere with any of them, till it is
apparent that a part of the brood has been hatched
some time, say twelve hf)urs, and that the rest cannot
.succeed in making their appearance. After such wise
delay, it will generally bo found that tiio whole fluid
•'ontents of the, egg, yolk and all, are taken up into
the b(»dy of the chick, and that weakness alone has
prevented its forcing itself out. The causes of such
weakness arc various; sometimes insufficient warmth,
from the hen having .sat on too many eggs ; .sometimes
the original feebleness of the vital spark included in

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. Ill

the egg, but most frequently staleness of the eggs em-
ployed for incubation. The chances of rearing such
chicks are small, but if they get over the first twenty-
four hours they may be considered as safe. But all
the old wives' nostrums to recover them are to be dis-
carded ; the merest drop of ale may be a useful stimu-
lant, but an intoxicated chick is as liable to sprawl
about and have the breath trodden out of its body as a
fainting one. Pepper corns, gin, rue, and fifty other
ways of doctoring, are to be banished afar.

The only thing to be done, is to take the chicks
from the hen till she is nestled at night, keeping them
in the meanwhile as snug and warm as possible.
If a clever, kind, gentle-handed little girl could get a
crumb of bread down their throats, it would do no
harm. Animal heat will be their greatest restorative.
At night, let them be quietly slipped under their
mother ; the next morning they will be either as brisk
as the rest, or as " flat as pancakes."

Now I am on the subject of hatching, I may as well
refer to the perplexity to which poultry keepers are
sometimes subjected, when hens will sit, at seasons of
the year at which there is little chance of bringing up
chickens. Some advise the hens to be soaked in a pail
of water, cold from the pump ; but if they have a mind
to kill her, it is more cruel to do so by giving her
fever and inflammation of the lungs, than by simply
knocking her on the head. A less objectionable rem-
edy, is the following: — "I have known one or two
doses of jalap relieve them entirely from a desire to sit ;
and in my opinion it is far better than the cold-water
cure. I have known English fowls lay in three weeks
afterwards."* But why not let the poor creatures obey
their natural propensity ? Or, surely, some neighbor
would gladly exchange a laying hen for one that
wanted to sit. Others, borrowing an ancient piece
of barbarism, recommend a large feather to be thrust
through the nostrils ; that she may rush here and

112 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

there in terror, and give up all thoughts of sitting.
The wisest way is to guide, instead of thwarting the
impulses of nature. Let your good hen indulge the
instinct implanted in her by a Wiser Being than you ;
give her a sitting of duck's eggs, and unless the winter
or spring be extraordinarily severe, you must be a
bungler if you do not rear them by the aid of bread
crumbs, Indian meal, and a kitchen fire.

ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION.

The process of bringing the vitalised embryo of the
egg through all its stages of development until the
chick makes its exit from the shell, by the judicious
administration and management of artificial heat, has
long been practised in China and Egypt, nor have ex-
periments both in our own country and France been
unsuccessful ; but whether the plan will ever become
general, so that a supply of apparatus-hatched chick-
ens may bo in constant readiness to meet the public
demand, is very questionable. Our changeable climate
is not favorable for the process on a large scale ; the
least change of temperature is fatal ; for it is indispens-
able that an equable temperature of from 95' to
10G° F. be maintained. At a higher or a lower tem-
perature the development of the embryo cannot be per-
fected. Hence, although in Egypt, which enjoys a
favorable atmospheric state for the accomplishment of
the experiment, success in our climate is far from
certain.

Let us bo content, then, with our poultry yards and
their feathered inmates as they are, and be grateful to
Providence for the fowls of the air, which arc peculiarly
the pen.sioiiers upon our bounty.

The apparatus, latterly eini)loyed for this purpose,
has been described under the, names of crcalcohion,
(literally the invoker of life,) pt^lotokian, ami hjjdro-
iiiruhalor. The former was an ingenious contrivance,
for hatching chickens by means of heated air. It pre-
sented the appearance i>f an oblong box, nine foot in

\

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. ' 113

length, three feet in breadth, and three feet in height.
It had no connexion with the walls against which it
was placed, nor the table on which it stood ; its regu-
lating power was within, xlccording to Mr. Bucknell,
the English inventor and proprietor of this machine,
which some years ago excited great attention, the
eccaleobion possessed a perfect and absolute command
over temperature from SOO'^ F. to that of cold water,
so that any substance submitted to its influence was
uniformly acted upon over its whole surface at any
required intermediate degree within the above range,
and such heat maintained unaltered without trouble
or difficulty for any length of time. Hence, by means
of this absolute and complete command over the tem-
perature obtained by this machine, the impregnated
egg of any bird, not stale, placed within its influence
at the proper degree of warmth, at the expiration of its
natural time, was elicited into life without the possi-
bility of a failure, which is sometimes the case with
eggs subjected to the caprice of their natural parent.
During the public exhibition of this instrument thirty
or forty thousand chickens, perhaps more, were stated
to have been brought into existence by a single ma-
chine, which was constructed to contain two thousand
eggs at a given time. These chickens, with proper
attention and under suitable treatment, were said to
grow as healthy and strong as those under a parent's
care. Of course, artificial mothers, warmth, a dry soil,
and proper buildings would be needed. What might
not be expected from a multiplication of these ma-
chines, or their formation on a larger scale !

The polotokian, also, was a similar contrivance for
hatching, by means of heated air, established in 1843,
on an extensive scale, by Mr. E. Bayer, of Brooklyn,
New York. He succeeded admirably well, as far as
the producing of chickens was concerned, in the process
of hatching, not losing over 20 to 25 per cent, of the
eggs. The most congenial temperature at which the
eggs were exposed, during Ihe process, he found to be

114 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

from 101° to 102° F. When uniformly kept in that
degree of warmth, the period of ineubation was gen-
erally hastened two days. The chickens arrived at
maturity six weeks earlier than those hatched the
natural way, but were more susceptible to the climate.
Notwithstanding, they were sweeter, better-flavored,
and more tender in their flesh, and commanded a higher
price in market than other fowls, the business proved
unprofitable, and was abandoned with disgust. Several
other establishments were commenced about the same
time, on Long Island and elsewhere, on the same plan,
which terminated with similar results.

Mr. Cantelo, a year or two since, established in or
near London, what he termed a "model poultry farm."
In this institution, numbers of chickens, Guinea fowls,
and ducks, have been raised by artificial heat most
ingeniously applied by "top contact," so as to produce
the same effect on the vitalised germ as the heat of
the incubating hen. This heat has been proved by
Mr. Cantelo to be as high as 106° F. The eggs were
in fact hatched under artificial incubators, which allow
the inferior portion of the egg to remain cool until
warmed by the inward circulation of the blood, as oc-
curs in natural incubation, but not when eggs are
placed in ovens or heated apartments. " The differ-
ence," says Mr. Cantelo, "between top-contact heat
and that received from radiation as applied to hatching
is this : by radiation, or oven heat, the eggs will be
hours in arriving at the desired temperature, not only
when first put to hatch, but at any time afterwards
when they may have been allowed to get cool. The
eggs, of course, will heat alike over their whole surface,
and consequently evaporate equally from every part.
On the contrary, heat applied in toj) contact penetrates
almost instantly and revivifies the germ, and although
a much higher temperature is used in this case in
imitation of nature ; that is 106° instead of 98^,
still, inasmuch as but a small surface is heated, the
loss of moisture is much loss than by a radiating heat.

THE POMESTIC FOWL.

116

The fowl leaves her nest every day in search of food
for twenty or thirty minutes ; this must be imitated
also, as the temporary loss of heat has the effect of
causing the contents of the egg to diminish in bulk,
and the vacuum is formed by a fresh supply, (of air,)
drawn in for the noarishment of the germ. The eggs
must be moved three times a-day, morning, noon, and
night, which prevents the adhesion of any part of the
fluid to the shell, and gives the small blood vessels
better opportunity to spread around the surface of the
egg. This is effected by nature ; when the fowl leaves
her nest or returns to it, she naturally disturbs the
eggs, and also from any change she may make in her
position while upon her nest."

Mr. Cantelo thus describes the hydro-incubator:
" The form, or method considered by the inventor, as
best calculated for the application of top-contact heat
to eggs during incubation is that of a current of warm
water flowing over an impermeable or water-proof cloth,
beneath which the eggs are placed. This is effected
on a large scale by pumps, and in a small apparatus
by the law of gravitation causing the warm particles
to rise, and those that have become partially cooled to
fall. A tank of water is kept continually at a tem-
perature of 109° F,, from the surface of which it will
naturally flow over the water-proof cloth, a return pipe
being so placed as to connect the outer end of the
cloth with the bottom of the tank. The eggs are
placed in drawers having open work or perforated bot-
toms, and they are laid on a piece of thin woollen
cloth. The drawers are placed beneath the incubator,
and raised so that the eggs come in contact with the
water-proof cloth, but so as to allow a space between
the sides of the drawers and the incubating cloth.
These sides being lower than the top of the eggs, space
is afforded for the air to circulate around them, as it
rises through the bottom and passes out over the edges
of the drawers."

Within two or three years past, an apparatus has

116

THE DOMESTIC FOWL

been exhibited, from time to time, in the city of New
York, called the American eg-g'-haiching- machine.
It is stated that it has been "examined by a large
number of practical and scientific men, who have
strongly attested to its usefulness and general adop-
tion."

AMERICAN EGG-IIATCIIING MACHINE.

This machine is constructed of tin, or other materi-
als, with the brooding chamber surrounded by water,
warmed to a suitable temperature, by means of a
spirit lamp, which, it is said, may constantly be kept
burning for less than ten cents a day ! The whole
apparatus does not exceed two and a half feet in length
and depth, and is stated to be capable of hatching
from 200 to fiOO chickens at a time, with a loss of
not more than two per cent., if the eggs are perfect,
and if proper attention is paid to the temperature of
the machine! But here let us drop the subject. In
my humbln opinion, all these ingenious imitations of,
anil interferences with, nature, though they may
flourish for a day, (and Jlourish they cannot be said
to do,) will j)at>s away as things that were.

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 117

NURSING THE YOUNG BROODS.

Let us now suppose that the chick has opened the
door of its egg. Feeble trembler, on the verge of an
unknown state of existence, what are its sensations !
Had it but reason, how applicable to it would be Buf-
foL's eloquent description of man, springing up at the
bidding of his Creator into life and light, at once en-
raptured, perplexed, and bewildered. But the chick
is guided by instinct alone ; it has nothing to learn,
no ideas to be conceived through the medium of the
senses, and yet it is interesting to watch it at this
juncture. It is free ; the first thing it does, while yet
on the threshold of the egg, is to draw its head from
under its wing, and to direct it forwards, the neck
trembling beneath the weight which it has now for the
first time to sustain. "With its neck stretched forwards,
and scarcely able to raise itself on its legs, it rests for
a few minutes, till its strength is recruited ; the fresh
air revives it, it raises itself up, it lifts its head, it
turns its neck from side to side, and begins to feel its
innate powers. Its downy plumage, the precursor of
feathers, being wet with the fluid of the egg, lies close
to the skin, in stripes down the body and on the wings;
besides, it is not yet fairly free from the sheath in
which every plumelet is enclosed. As it dries, every
tuft expands, or opens, like a feathery flower ; the
little membranous sheaths split and fall off; and the
chick risfty in its nest, clothed with a downy garment
of exquisite delicacy !

An experienced poultry maid, in giving directions to
her young successor, may be supposed to discourse as
follows: — "Do not meddle with the eggs nor the nest ;
the hen knows better than you, and if they require
turning, when, and in what position to place them.
She will seldom forsake them, or leave them long
enough to be addled, which is caused by the change
from heat to cold. Watch patiently and quietly. On
the eighteenth or nineteenth day, if you put your ear

118 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

to the egg, you will hear the chick making a gentle
piping noise, and at this time the yolk, which has al-
ready begun to be taken up into the body, is now in a
state of rapid absorption, being destined to supply the
chick with nourishment, even after its exit from the
shell. You will very seldom have occasion to assist
chickens in emerging from the shell, and the chances
are, that you will injure them, if you attempt it. Act
cautiously, but believe that nature does the business
best. Some chickens get out in an hour, others in two
or three, and it may happen that some may be a day,
or a day and a night at work, by starts. For twenty
four hours, you should leave them to themselves ; if
they are not strong enough to break through their
shellwork wall, they will not be stout enough to live ;
and this is the reason why, even with the gentlest
assistance, they very seldom do live, supposing they
have not left the egg by their own efforts. It some-
times happens that the feathers are glued to the lining
of the shell, which prevents the bird from clearing
itself of it. In this case, be very gentle with your
fingers, when you draw the feathers from the lining
of the shell. You should go to work as if you were
removing a blister from your own skin, that is to say,
with the greatest tenderness. Be rather tardy than
premature ; ' let patience have her perfect work.' Re-
member that, if the chickens leave the shell before they
have taken in, or driink up all the yolk, which must
serve them for food during the ensuing twenty-four
hours after they see the light, they will pine away,
and die in a few days. Beware, then, of being pre-
mature in any efforts, however well intended, to extri-
cate a feeble chick ; nevertheless, bo watchful, and
ready for every emergency."

So far wo may say an experienced poultry maid
would give her directions. But now comes another
point to be considered. The chickens are all hatched
under favorable circumstances ; there is no mishap,
one after another extricates itself — what is the treat-

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 119

ment to be pursued? Many persons, as the chickens
leave the eggs, remove them one by one, and place
them in a basket, covered up with flannel, and keep
them in a warm place, returning them to the hen
when the last has made its app'^a ranee. This is not
generally necessary ; it is unnatural, and may fret the
hen, who delights in her young brood, whose piping
notes, while the chicks were yet in the egg, she has
listened to with complacency. The shells, however,
should be cleared from the nest, but unless circum-
stances render it necessary, the young chickens may
be allowed to remain. But suppose that the weather
is piercingly cold, and that the hen is restless, then let
the chickens have warmth and every attention. Those
hatched during the winter, or colder spring months,
require comfortable housing, the hen being with them,
and the less that interference be made between the
hen and her chicks, the better ; they troop around her ;
she protects them, gathers them under her wings, and
watches over them with the most earnest solicitude.

Some persons, especially in France, train capons to
act as nurses to their broods of chickens whi*h are
reared ; and some have recourse to artificial onuthers,
or boxes lined with a soft and warm material for the
protection of the brood.

That capons can be taught or trained to hatch a
clutch of eggs, and attend to the young, was known
to the ancients ; and indeed there are cases on record
of the cock having laid aside his lordly air, and devoted
himself with exemplary patience to the work of incu-
bation ; in other cases, he has taken the place of the
hen in watching over the chickens when accident has
deprived them of her care.

Baptista Porta, in his strange work on Natural
Magic, gives instructions as to the mode of taming
and training capons for the task of nursing. "In the
first place, the bird must be made so familiar as to
take food from the hand ; this primary step being ac-
complished, on the evening, when his services are re-

120 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

quired, the feathers must be plucked from off his
breast, and the bare skin be irritated by rubbing it
with nettles. The chickens must then be put to him ;
they will naturally huddle under him, and by rubbing
with their little downy heads allay the irritation caused
by the nettles. This process being repeated for two or
three nights^ he will gradually conceive an affection
for the chickens, and attend to them like a hen. The
writer suggests that this attachment may be based on
the principle of mutual distress producing mutual
sympathy, and that the querulous chirp of the chick-
ens may make the capon, while in pain himself, de-
sirous of allaying their .misery. A capon once accus-
tomed to this office will not abandon it, but when one
brood is grown up sufficiently, another newly-hatched
brood may be substituted in their place, and so on in
succession, the last chickens being as carefully attend-
ed to as were the first."

With respect to artificial mothers, they are undoubt-
edly useful when there is no natural parent nor trained
capon to protect and warm the chickens ; and many
persons are great advocates for them. These mothers
are nothing more than w^den trays, or boxes, so con-
trived as to impart the necessary heat to the young
chickens, after exclusion from tho^egg, till they are
sufficiently strong and grown to need no further assist-
ance. When chickens are hatched by artificial means,
as by the eccaleubiori., or in an oven, these protectors
are essential ; for, without some substitute for the
parent, the chicks would perish. They are described
as being framed of a board ten inches broad and fifteen
inches long, resting on two legs in front, four inches in
height, and on two props behind, two inches in height.
The board must be perforated with many small gimlet
holes for the escape of the heated air, and lined with
lambskin, dressed with the wool on; the woolly side
is to come in contact with the chickens. Over three
of these mothers, a wicker basket is to be placed for
the protection of the chickens, four feet long, two feet

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. - 121

broad, and fourteen inches high, with a lid open, a
wooden sliding bottom to draw out for cleaning, and a
long, narrow trough along the front, resting on two
very low stools, for holding their food. Perches are to
be fixed in the basket for the more advanced to roost
on. A flannel curtain is to be placed in front and at
both ends of the mothers, for the chickens to run
under, which they soon learn to push outwards and
i inwards. These mothers, with the wicker baskets
over them, are to be placed against a hot wall at the
back of the kitchen fire, or in any other warm situa
tion, where the heat shall not exceed 80° F.

When the chickens are a week old, they are to be
carried with a mother to a grass plot, for feeding, and
to be kept warm by a tin tube filled with some hot
water, which will continue sufficiently warm for about
three hours, when the Water is to be renewed. To-
wards evening, the mothers are to be again placed
against the hot wall, and thus continued, from day to
day, until the chicks are strong enough to take care
of themselves.

CHICKEN COOPS.

The simplest, and perhaps the most common method
employed for confining the hen after hatching her
young brood, is to lay a flour barrel on its bilge,
knocking out one head, and driving a few small stakes
into the ground directly in front. This makes a very
comfortable shelter for the hen, protecting her and her
chicks from the sun, wind, and rain, and allows the
latter to range about the garden or yard, where they
are enabled to pick up seeds, insects, worms, &c., and
thereby obtain a large share of their living.

This plan is objected to by many, in this countiy,
on the ground that the chickens are more exposed to
the depredations of hawks, minks, rats, &c., than they
would be if protected by their watchful mother by
their side. But, as it is necessary in all cases to have
the coop near the garden or house, not onlv on account
6

J 22

THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

of the safety of the young brood, but for the conveni-
ence of feeding them, as well as for the security of the
flowers and plants, it would be preferable to confine
the hen in a coop like that shown in the following cut,
and give liberty only to the chicks.

coop WITH FEEDING BOX ATTACHED.

Those who can well afford it, and
wish to display more taste in this
delightful branch of rural economy,
might build coops in a Gothic or
Chinese style, similar to that of the
adjoining cut. The size may vary
from that of a few feet square to a
height sufficient to admit a man.

i

MAKQl'EK OR TENT-SHAPED COOPS.

Annthrr kind, lately used by Mr. C. N. Bcment,
author of the "American Poulterers' Companion,"
answering a very good purpose, is the marquee coop,
denoted by the above fir:ure. It is made by nailing

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 123

short pieces of boards together, in such a way as to
form two legs of a triangle, the ground answering for
the other side. These coops should be at least two
feet in height, with one end boarded up tight, and the
other secured by nailing strips of boards, or laths, in
the form of a grate, leaving sufficient space between
them for the free passage of the chicks, without afford-
ing liberty to the hen. In front, there should be a
broad piece of board, as long as the coop is wide, on
which to feed the chickens and hen. This board may
be secured to the coop with leather or other hinges, so
as to admit of being raised up and closing the coop,
towards evening, which will not only answer the pur-
pose of guarding the young brood against rats and
other enemies during the night, but will prevent them
from wandering about the next morning on the dew
and wet grass before it is dry.

The coops should not be located too near each other,
as the chickens of different broods are apt to become
mixed, or wander to the wrong hen, where they will
be repulsed and even killed. Fifty or sixty feet apart
will be a sufficient distance, in general, to secure
safety to the young broods from injury by other fowls.

At the expiration of five or six weeks, the hen may
be released from her coop, every morning, when the
weather is fair, as soon as the grass is dry, and be
made to return again in the evening, if she does not
come of her own accord, and there be confined during
the night. By the end of two or three weeks more,
she may have her entire liberty with her broo 1, and
range at 4)leasure about the yard.

As the chicks, at first, will hardly be on an equal
footing with their older companions, in regard co the
distribution of their food, a "feeding coop" may be
provided for them by driving small stakes, or laths,
into- the ground, inclosing a space of two or three yards
in diameter, at such distances apart as will admit their
entrance, but prevent the ingress of the larger fowls.

124 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

The top of the inclosure must be covered with boards,
or otherwise, only having an opening with a lid, suffi-
ciently large to drop through their food.

FOOD or THE CHICKS PREVIOUS TO WEANING.

As to the food of the young brood, let them have any-
thing which is not absolutel}' poisonous. Sloppy matters
are better avoided till the little things are old enough to
eat a few grains of good wheat, of the best sample, which
will then not be thrown away upon them. Meat and
insect diet are almost necessary; but raw vegetables
chopped small, or Indian-meal dough, containing no salt,
so grateful to young turkeys, are caviare to chickens.
But whatever be the bill of fare, the meals must be given
at short intervals ; as much as they can swallow, as often
as they can eat. The reader will please to remember
that when he came into the world, all that was expected
of him was to grow and be good-natured. He had not
to provide his long clothes out of his mother's milk, nor
to elaborate pinafores from a basin of soaked biscuit;
but for poor little chickens, the only known baby-linen
warehouse is situated in their own stomachs. And with
all their industry, they are only half-clad, till flesh and
blood stop growing for a while, and allow down and
feathers to overtake them.

The period at which they are left to shift for them-
selves depends upon the disposition of the hen. Some
will continue their attentions to their chicks till they are
nearly full-grown, others will cast them off much earlier.
In the latter case, it may be as well to keep an eye upon
them, lor a few days, till they have established themselves
as ind pendent members of the gallinaceous cmnmunity.
For Ci.ickens, in this half-grown state, are at the most
critical period of their lives. They are now much more
liable to disease than when they were apparently tender
little weaklings crowded under their mother's^ wings.
It is just before arriving at this point of growth, that
artificially-hatched chickens are so sure to fail, whether
hot air, hot water, or sheepskin, be the substitute for the
mother's care.

\

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 125

FATTENING.

Let it now be assumed that the fowls have got their
full growth, or nearly so, as the cocks at least increase
somewhat in size till their third year. The breeder, at
this period, will have to determine which birds he retains
for stock, and which are to enjoy a less extended exist-
ence. On the process of fatting fowls, little that is new
can be offered, and tastes differ so exceedingly, that
almost every family has its own particular mode.
Some think a young fowl killed by dislocation of the
neck, not by bleeding, and without any fatting, hung up
in the feathers a few days in the larder, like game, the
greatest luxury ; others like them to be brought by con-
finement and select diet, to the greatest point of delicacy
and insipidity. For this purpose, rice may often be ob-
tained at a cheap rate. It should be boiled, not enough
to lose its granular form, in milk ; meat broth used in-
stead of milk is nourishing and fattening, but diminishes
the whiteness of the flesh and the delicacy of the flavor.
If fowls were brought to eat uncooked rice, it might
prove unwholesome by swelling in the craw. Cram-
ming is quite unnecessary; cleanliness in all cases, most
expedient. If any coarse or rank food is used, such as
tainted meat, greaves, rancid fat, or fish scraps, it will be
apt to impart a corresponding taint to the flesh. The
purer the diet, the more, delicate will be the flavor. Rice,
boiled as above directed, barley meal and milk, or boiled
potatoes mashed with Indian meal, are all excellent arti-
cles for the purpose, and easily obtained. The locality
and the cost price must often determine the matters
employed, care being only taken to avoid all that is
likely to prove hereafter offensive to the palate. For
it is an old notion, confirmed by modern experience, that
even laying hens should not be allowed to eat unsavory
nor strong-tasted substances, lest their eggs become
tainted with the flavor.

" Let bitter herbs be avoided, particularly wormwood ;
for hens that have eaten it lay extremely bitter eggs.
Some aver that the eggs from hens that have eaten im-

126 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

pure food, are mostly putrid and even poisonous, and if
ihey have fed filthily, excrementitious. They should
also abstain from lupines, (which are bitter,) for the
same reason, and also because they produce small swell-
ings under the eyes, as Crescentiensis observed; and
Palladius tells us, that unless these swellings are gently
opened with the needle and the core extracted, they
blind the fowls."* It is certain that a peculiar flavor is
perceptible in the eggs of those hens that have fed much
about dung heaps, or on grasshoppers.

A well-fatted fowl is undoubtedly a more economical
dish than a lean one. But Pliny tells us, with an ex-
pression of disapprobation, that the people of Delos were
the first inventors of the luxury. He mentions the
sumptuary laws, that in old Roman times were passed
to restrain such indulgencies, and how they were evaded.
This seems, in him, to be very like affectation ; for liv-
ing, as he did, in the best society of a most voluptuous
and self-indulgent age, he must often, in the character
of an accessory after the fact, have been guilty of the
misdemeanor of fatting i'owls.

Willoughby is a much more sensible fellow: "No
better flesh in the world," says he, "than that of a
year-old pullet well fed, or a fat capon ; nothing inferior
to, not to say better than, that of a pheasant or partridge.
Some there are that think, and we also incline to their
opinion, that the flesh of those hens is most sweet and
delicate which are fed at the barn door, running about
and exercising themselves in getting their food, by
scraping with their feet. And that the flesh of those is
less pleasant and wholesome, that are shut up in coops
and crammed. Some are so curious that they think
those limbs most wholesome which are most exercised,
and, therefore, in wild fow', they prefer the wings, in
tame, the legs."

The old Dutch mode of fatting, as described by Aldro-
vandi, is by no means a bad one : —

"Cardan is the authority, that if you mingle fat lizard,
(shred fat?) saltpetre, and cumnun, with wheat flour,
and feed hens on this food, they will get so fat, and the

* Aldrovandi.

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 127

people who eat them will grow so stout, as to burst.
John Jacob Wecker records that he learnt the following
secret of fatting hens from a certain Hollander : — ' In the
kitchen,' he says, 'make to yourself a box, divided into
many little boxes, each one with its own opening, through
which the hens can thrust their heads out of doors, and
lake their food. Therefore, in these little boxes, let
youthful hens, or pullets, be incarcerated, one in each ;
let food be offered every hour, drink being interdicted
for the time. But let the food be wheat moderately
boiled. The little boxes ought to be pervious below,
that the excrements may pass through, and be diligently
removed every day. But the hens ought not to be shut
up beyond two weeks ; lest they should die from too
much fatness. I am told, also, that among some people,
they get gloriously fat, and quickly, if beer is offered
them for drink, instead of water; also, that if they are
fed on brewer's grains, they lay more, as well as larger
eggs."

A correspondent of the London Agricultural Gazette
thus describes the method which he successfully prac-
tised for many years in India : — ■■" The fowl house, or
rather feeding house, for only fattening fowls were per-
mitted to be in it, was kept as cool as possible, (in Ben-
gal, remember,) and almost dark. Each fowl had a
separate pen ; they were fed once, and only once a day,
with rice, boiled as rice ought to be for Christmas ; not
to a mash ; but so that grain from grain should separate.
The quantity to each fowl was about two ounces (before
boiling). For the first three days, to each was given
about a tea-spoonful of 'ghoor,' a coarse sugar — about
half as much again of treacle would be an equivalent.
This commencing with sugar was held to be very im-
portant ; it cleansed the birds and disposed them to fat-
ten ; no water was given ; neither was any chalk nor
gravel, both being unknown in the country. In about
three weeks, the fowls were generally fat. I never, in
England, have seen finer than those I have killed within
that time, not even at Mr. Davis's, of Leadenhall Mar-
ket. If they did not fatten in three weeks, we supposed

128 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

that they did not mean to fatten, but this was of rare
occurrence, and proceeded, no doubt, from some ailment
beyond my power of discovering ; but, fat or otherwise,
they were never tougli. To boil the rice in buttermilk
is by far preferable to boiling it in water ; let the fowls
be as young as you can, if of full growth. Many people
run away with an impression that fowls fed on rice will
go blind ; it is dirt and sourness that cause it. How
often do we see a trough loaded with meal food, suffi-
cient for two or three days, placed before the unhappy
prisoner in the pen, who cannot escape from it, nor seek
other and sweeter food ! When the fowls have done
feeding, the trough should be removed, cleaned, and ex-
posed to the air until the next day's feeding time. At
my factory, in India, the troughs were every afternoon
thrown into a pond ; there they remained until next
morning, when, after an hour or two's sunning, they
were returned to the coops ; no blindness was known
there."

EXPERnVTENTS WITH BOILED GRAINS IN FATTENINa-

FOWLS.

It is the custom of poultry keepers, in France, to cook
the grain given to fowls which they intend to fatten,
boiling it in water till it is soft enough to be easily
bruised between the fingers, the boiling causing it to
swell till the farina splits the enveloping membrane, and
this they term bursting. Although it is the popular
opinion that burst grain is better than when it is dry,
for fattening poultry, this opinion has probably not been
established on accurate experiments. Be this as it may,
it is of no less importance to ascertain whether there is
any difference of expense in feeding poultry on dry or
on burst grain ; that is, whether, under similar circum-
stances, fowls eat more or less of one than of the other.

In order to ascertain this, M. Reaumur ordered four
pint measures of each of the six common sorts of grain
to be boiled till they were well burst, and he found that
the increase of bulk in each sort was the following: —

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 129

Pint
measures.

Four pints of oats, after bein^ boiled to bursting, filled 7

Four pints of barley, after being boiled to bursting, filled. ... 10
Four pints of buckwheat, after being boiled to bursting, filled 14
Four pints of maize, after being boiled to bursting, filled above 15
Four pints of wheat, after being boiled to bursting, filled a

little more than 10

Four pints of rye, after being boiled to bursting, filled nearly 15

Rice swells considerably more by boiling than any
of these six sorts, but it is rarely given to poultry, ex-
cept for fattening, under the notion that it tends to
whiten the flesh.

For the purpose of ascertaining whether the boiling
altered the preference of fowls for any of the particular
sorts, experiments, varied in every possible way, simi-
lar to those detailed above, were made by M. E,eau-
mur. The fowls were furnished with two, three, four,
five, and six different sorts, sometimes all the compart- «
ments of the feeding box being,filled with burst grain,
each different from the other, and sometimes each sort
of grain filled two of the compartments, one of them
having nothing but boiled, and another nothing but
dry grain. All that could be collected from these re-
peated experiments Avas, that the greater number of
fowls prefer boiled grain to raw, though there are
many of them which show a preference to the dry
grain, on certain days, and no permanency could be dis-
covered in the preference shown for any sort of burst
grain. Some fowls, for instance, which one day pre-
ferred boiled wheat, would on other days make choice
of buckwheat, maize, oats, or barley, and sometimes,
though more seldom, even of rye ; but rye, either
boiled or raw, is the least favorite sort of grain. It
follows as an important conclusion from such experi-
ments, that we may make choice of the sort of grain
which happens to be cheapest, without much, if any,
disadvantage ; always excepting rye, when other sorts
are to be had on reasonable terms.

Other experiments were required to show whether
there is any economy, or the contrary, in feeding poul-

130 THE DOMESTIC FO\VL.

try with boiled grain, and this was readily ascertained
from knowing, first, how much dry grain sufficed one
or more fowls, and then boiling the same quantity, and
trying how much of that would in like manner be suf-
ficient. The experiments made with the different sorts
of grain were as follows : —

Rye, although so very considerably increased in bulk
by boiling, so far from being more sufficing, becomes
less so, as fowls will eat rather more of it when it is
boiled than when it is dry. Seven hens and a ccck
consumed only three fourths of a pint measure of dry
rye in one day, but ate in the same time three pint
measures of the boiled grain; consequently, as three
pint measures of boiled rye are equivalent to four fifths
of dry, it would cost one twentieth more to feed fowls
with boiled than with dry rye, four fifths being one
twentieth more than three fourths.

Oats, although increased in bulk by boiling, nearly
one half, are not, any more than rye, rendered more
sufiicing ; for the fowls, which, in two days, would have
eaten four pint measures of dry oats, consumed in the
same time seven pint measures of the boiled grain ;
consequently it is no saving to boil the oats.

Moubray says, " oats are apt to produce the scour,
and chickens become tired of them ; but that oats are
recommended by many for promoting laying, and in
Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, for fattening."

Buckmheat, is increased in bulk by boiling still more
than oats, as four pint measures, when well boiled,
swell to fourteen ; yet is there small benefit obtained
by boiling buckwheat ; for the fowls cousume the four-
teen pint measures of the boiled grain nearly in Ihc
same time which four j)ints of the dry would have
sulficed them. Moubray says, also, that buckwheat is
an unsubstantial food.

Maize, or Indian Corn, is, on Ihc other hand, more
prolitablr, when boiled than wluMi given raw ; for the
fowls which would have got through a pint and a
(luiirter of Ihe dry maize, (;onsuiiied only three pint

THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 131

measures of the boiled grain, which are not equivalent
to one of the dry. It was for two days only that they
were able to eat in a single day three pint measures
of the boiled maize ; for after that, they either lost
their appetite, or came to dislike it, as they could not
get through more than two pint measures of the boiled
maize. Even calculating that they were to consume
three pint measures a day of the boiled grain, there
would be a saving of more than one fifth, and if they
were satisfied with two pint measure?, the profit would
be much more considerable ; for this would not be
equivalent to two thirds of a pint measure of the dry
grain. The saving, in this case, would be one third
and one fifth ; that is eight fifteenths, or more than one
half.

Barley is also much more economical when given
boiled than dry ; for fowls, which would have eaten
two pint measures of dry barley a-day, ate but three
pint measures daily of the boiled grain. Therefore,
as ten pint measures of boiled barley are produced
from four pint measures of dry, three pints of the
boiled are equivalent to no more than one and a fifth
of a pint of the dry ; consequently, the experience in
dry barley is to that of boiled as five to three, showing
a saving of two fifths, by giving boiled instead of dry
barley.

Wheat is shown by the preceding table to increase in
bulk by boiling about the same as barley ; but exper-
iments prove that the saving to be obtained by feeding
fowls with boiled wheat, is not nearly so much as
might thence have been anticipated ; for the same
fov/ls which consumed three pint measures of boiled
barley in one day, ate three pint measures of boiled
wheat. Three pints of boiled wheat, however, are not
equivalent to two pints of dry wheat, as in the case of
the barley, but only one pint and a half of dry wheat,
which was found to be the quantity (consumed in one
day by the same fowls. Now as a pint of boiled wheat
is equivalent to no more than two fifths of a pint of

132 THE DOMESTIC FOWL.

the dry grain, the three pints consumed a day are
equivalent only to one and a fifth of a pint of dry
wheat. Consequently, the proportion of what they
consumed of dry wheat was, to what they ate of boiled,
as five to four ; hence there is a saving of one fifth by
feeding with boiled wheat, as there is of two fifths, by
feeding with boiled barley.

These interesting experiments prove most clearly,
that, in every case, when the price of maize, barley or
wheat, renders it eligible to feed poultry therewith,
there is considerable economy in never giving the grain
dry, but well boiled. The expense of fuel, though it
must be taken into the account, must be small in
comparison with the advantage, particularly in fami-
lies where large fires are constantly kept up, as a very
trifling addition of fuel will be required to burst the
grains. It may be well to repeat that there is no sav-
ing, but loss in fuel and trouble, by boiling oats, buck-
wheat, or rye.

KILLING AND PREPARATION FOR MARKET.

When fowls are in readiness to kill, some people dis-
patch them simply by wringing their necks, plucking off
the feathers, and sending them to market with the intes-
tines in. This is a slovenly practice, doing great injury
to the flesh, as it partakes of the flavor of the excrements,
when suilered long to remain undres.sed, and is otherwise
impaired from the stagnant blood.

The most approved mode of fitting fowls for market,
is to kill them by cutting off their heads, on a block of
wood, at a single blow, with a hatchet or an axe, which
will deprive them at once of life, and drain their Hesh of
bl(jod. Then, the feathers and pin feathers should be
immediately plucked off, the intestines removed, the
blood wnshed out with cold water, and carefully hung
up in a cool, dry room, imtil ready to convey fo m.irket,
or otherwise to be used

^

THE TURKEY.

ORIGIN AND HISTORY.

'■ There is no poor animal so beset with

ignorant and destnictive empicisra, on its first
introduction into life, as the turkey."

AWON.

If we call to mind the many and valuable acquisi-
tions, from both the animal and vegetable kingdom,
which have been made subservient to the use of man,
within comparatively a very recent period, it is not too
much to believe that others, of nearly, or quite equal
value, still remain to reward the labor and pains of a
persevering search. There is the whole of Central
Africa, Central Australia, a great part of China and
Northern India, and innumerable half-explored or un-
explored islands, all waiting to be ransacked for our
benefit. And without depending on those distant re-
gions, we know not yet what we may yet find in the
unexplored tracts of Oregon, the Rocky Mountains,
or other American wilds.

Amongst the living tributaries to the luxury of
man, the turkey is an instance of the results yet to be
expected from the exploring spirit of our day. It is
the most recent, and, except the hen, the most valua-
ble of our domesticated birds. We may, indeed, call
it comparatively a new acquisition ; for what, after
all, is a period of three hundred years, compared with

134 THE TURKEY.

the time during which man has had dominion over
the earth and its brute inhabitants ?• The obscurity
which hangs over the domestication of this bird, and
which there is little chance of clearing away, except
by industrious ferreting amongst old family records
and memorandum books, shows that those who carried
it to the Old World, whence we obtained our stock,
doubtless, had no idea of the value of what they were
transporting ; but probably regarded it like any other
remarkable production of nature — a macaw or a tor-
tois. The young would be distributed among friends
with the same feeling that golden pheasants and such
like are with us ; these again would thrive and in-
crease, and the nation would suddenly find itself in
the possession of a race, not of pleasing pets, but of a
valuable, prolific, and hardy stock of poultry.

That we cannot fix the precise time, nor learn any
of the circumstances which relate to the introduction
of the turkey into Europe, may cause some astonish-
ment, when we reflect that it must have occurred at
some period after the conquest of America, and not
jirobably till after a considerable lapse of years, and
the establishment of the Spaniards in Mexico. Cortes,
in 1519, landed at the place where Vera Cruz now
stands, but it was not until after two years of labori-
ous warfare that the Spanish power became in the
ascendant, and opened the way for Spanish emigration
to Mexico. There is, however, reason to believe that
previously to the Spanish conquest, the turkey was in
a domesticated condition, both in Mexico and in the
Mdjacent islands; for Oviodo, who embarked for the
West indies, in 1-511, and resided as governor of the
lort and harbor of St. Domingo, in the island of Hayti,
then called Hispaniola, j)ublislied among other works,
(some very voluminous,) one entitled Tradado dc la
TT/'s/nr/'a Nnlnral di'. /as Im/ias, which was published
at Tolc,d(», in I5*2(>. In this work, he des('ril)(;s the
turkey as a kind of peacock, (pavo,) abounding in New
Spain, wheneo numbers had been transported to th«

THE TURKEY. 135

islands and the Spanish Main, and were domesticated
in the houses of the Christian inhabitants. It must
be observed that he calls the whole of that part of
America "las Indias," (the Indies,) and also "las
Indias occidentales," (the West Indies,) a name still ap-
plied to certain islands; hence, probably, the term "coq
d'Inde," originally arose, a term, however, which, if it
did thus originate, seemed to have conveyed a general
idea of this species being the native of Asiatic India ;
and under this impression, that it was a bird known to
the Grreeks and Romans, a bird, as the fable states,
into which the sisters of Meleagre were transformed,
while weeping for the loss of their brother, it obtained,
among the learned, the title of " Meleagris."

Belon was one of the first who considered the turkey
to be the Meleagris of the ancients, and this is the
more extraordinary as he was a scholar of eminence,
and the passages in which the Meleagris is mentioned,
sufficiently prove that it could not have been a turkey.
Aldrovandi, Gresner, and others followed in the wake of
Belon. Linnffius, though unfortunately he retains the
name "Meleagris," stamping the error thereby with
the weight of his authority, well knew that the turkey
was a native of the New World, for he places its hab-
itat " in America Septentrionali ;" he was also per-
fectly aware that it was the parent stock of the
domesticated breed; for he gives brief, but excellent
directions for the care of the young, and expressly
mentions their favorite food — " the young relish the
onion and the nettle, and must be taken heed of
against hunger and rain." It is generally known that
curd, the green part of onions chopped small, and
nettles, are among the kinds of food for turkey
chicks, whose very existence depends upon regular
feeding and protection from rain.

The English name, " Turkey," it is somewhat diffi-
cult to account for, except on the supposition that it
was generally believed to come from that country ;
perhaps, however, it was given because the bird was

136 THE TURKEY.

a stranger, in the same way as we apply the term
" Goth" to men rude and barbarous in their habits, or
the term " Turk," to persons of a savage and tyranical
disposition ; words often become perverted from their
original signification and merge into nicknames ex-
pressive of supposed qualities or conditions of things.
About the time when this bird appears first to have
been known in England, the Turkish power was held
in dread in Europe. The sultan, Suliman, the Great,
reigned from 1520 to 1566 ; his fleet was then the
first in the world, and the scourge of the Mediterra-
nean ; liis ships ravaged the coasts of Italy and Spain,
and his armies laid waste the territories of Hungary
and some adjacent parts of Germany, and the dread of
the Turks was univer;?al over Europe. It might have
been that the outlandish aspect of this bird, its deep gut-
teral notes, its haughty carriage, and irascible digposi-
tion, led to the imposition of the name. But, whatever
gave rise to this appellation, certain it is that the pres-
ent species was the subject of much confusion and
doubt among the earlier modern ornithologists, whose
learned discussions tended to perplex rather than clear
up any points of difficulty. John Walcott, a writer
on British birds, in 1789, says, " The turkey was first
brought to England about the year 1521," but he
gives no authority. It is certain that in the reign of
Henry VIII. the turkey was pretty general in Eng-
land. Yarrell, in his " British Fishes," quotes an old
couplet which runs thus :

" Turkeys, cnrpg, hops, pickcrcll, and beer,
Came into Knglaiiil all in one year."'

" The old couplet," adds he, " is certainly errone-
ous ; pike, or pickcrcll, were the subjects of legal reg-
ulations in the time of Edward the First. Carp are
mentioned in the Hoke of St. Allbans, ])rinted in
1469. Turkeys and hops were unknown till 1524,
previous to which wormwood and other bitter plants
were used to prrserve beer; and the pnrliaincnt, in

THE TURKEY. 137

1528, petitioned against hops as a wicked weed. Beer
was licensed for exportation by Henry the Seventh, in
.1492, and an excise on bear existed as early as 1284.
also in the reign of Edward the First."

About the year 1524, then, it would appear, the tur-
key was introduced into England, but whether from
Spain, or direct from America, we have no means of
knowing. Neither can we exactly discover at what
period France and Grermany received it, but most
probably at about the same time as England. Every-
where its intrinsic value would make it acceptable,
and cause it to be treated with the most careful
attention.

The dispersion of the turkey is not, however, so com-
plete as that of the common fowl. In India, Col. Sykes
informs us that it is reared in great numbers by the
Portuguese, and that it is met with only in a domestic
state. We cannot learn that it is reared in China,
where the fowl and duck abound, nor does it appear
to have a place among the domestic birds of Persia,
though in Kitto's account of Palestine, both the turkey
and the peacock are mentioned. There is a story told
in a w^ork called the " Sketches of Persia," which runs
to the following effect : — When two English gentlemen,
who were on their way to the city of Shiraz, arrived at
the town of Kazeroon, they heard so strange an ac-
count of two remarkable creatures that were to be
seen at a village fifteen miles distant, that they deter-
mined to go and see them. " They are very like birds,"
said their informants, " for they have feathers and two
legs ; but then, their head is bare and has a fleshy look,
and one of them has a long black beard upon his
breast ; but the chief point on which they dwelt, was
the strangeness of their voice, unlike that of any other
bird they have ever heard or seen. An old man, who
had gone all the way from Kazeroon to see them, said
that the sound was very much like that of the Arabic
language, but added, that though he had listened to them
with the greatest attention, he had not been able to

138

THE TURKEY,

understand a word they said. As it was very unpleas-
ant weather, and the roads wore exceedingly bad, the
Englishmen were much fatigued by the time they got.
to the village in which the strange creatures were.
The people of the village took them to the house where
the animals were' kept, the door was opened, and out
marched a turkey cock and hen ! The former seemed
to rejoice much in his release from his confinement,
and began to gobble his Arabic with great vehemency.
Though vexed at having taken a tedious journey for
nothing, yet the travellers could not help laughing
at the denouement. The people were, however, ex-
ceedingly surprised, when informed that these strange
creatures were very common in India and England.
It seemed that the birds had escaped from a vessel
which had been wrecked in the Gulf of Persia, and
had gradually made their way to the place where they
then were.

Although, as before observed, the exact time and
circumstances, under which the turkey was introduced
into the various countries of Europe, are in some ob-
scurity, still the wild original of the domestic stock is
not only well known, but still abounds in some of the
wooded districts of America remote from civilization.

Two species only are known to naturalists, namely,
the common wild turkey, [Melea^ris s;alIopaiH),) of
North America, the origin of our domestic stock, and
the Honduras turkey, {M. oce/fdfa,) a bird, which, in
the metallic splendor and varying tints of its plumage,
outrivals the peacock, if not every other tenant of the
air. But, except, perhaps, in some of the dense un-
trodden woods of Yucatan and of Central America,
from Cape Honduras to the tenth degree of north lati-
tude, this bird might be sought for in vain. Of its pecu-
liar habits and manners nothing is positively known.
We may .suppose, however, that it resembles, to a great
degree, the common wild turkey of the north. Could
it bo dnincslicatod in our Southern States, what a
splendid a(!(|uisition should wo have to our poultry
'•nrds and lawns ! "

THE TURKEY.

139

THE WILD TURKEY.

As the common wild turkey is confessedly the origin
of all our domestic varieties, a description of it, as it
exists in a state of nature, cannot but prove interesting,
Bartrara, the prince of Canino, (Charles Lucien Bona-
larte,) Audubon, and others, have given graphic
pictures of its habits, founded on actual observation, ot
flocks in their native woods, upon which authorities
most of the following description is founded : —

The male wild turkey, when full grown, is nearly
four feet in length, and more than five in exten«t of
wing. The irides are dark-brown. The head, (which
is very small in proportion to the body,) and half ot
the neck are covered by a naked bluish skin continued
over the upper half of the neck and uneven with
warty elevations, changeable red on the upper portion,
and whitish below, interspersed with a few scattered
black hairs. The flaccid and membranous naked skin,
also changeable on the lower part of the neck, extends
downwards into large wattles. A wrinkled conical
fleshy protuberance, capable of elongation and with a
pencil of hairs at the tip, takes its rise from the base
of the bill, where the latter joins the front. When
this excrescence is elongated under excitement, it cov-

140 THE TURKEY,

ers the bill and depends several inches below it. A
tuft of long rigid black hair springs from the lower
part of the neck at its junction with the breast, shoot-
ing out from among the plumage to the length of nine
inches. The base of the feathers of the body, which
are long and truncated, consists of a light fuliginous
down ; this part of the feather is succeeded by a dusky
portion, which is again followed by a broad shining
metallic band, varying from copper color or bronze to
violet or purple, according to the play of the light, and
the tip is a broad velvety band ; but this last is absent
in the feathers of the neck and breast. The general
])lumage presents a glancing metallic lustre, which is,
however, least glossy on the lower part of the back
and tail coverts. The wings are concave and rounded,
not extending much if at all beyond the base of the
tail. Quills twenty-eight ; primaries blackish banded
with white, secondaries whitish, banded with blackish,
tinged towards the back particularly with brownish-
yellow. Tail fifteen inches in length at least, rounded
at the extremity ; the feathers eighteen, broad and
capable of expansion and elevation into a fan shape.
The general color of these feathers is brown mottled
with black, crossed by numerous narrow, undulating
lines of the same. There is a broad black band near
the tip, then a short mottled portion, and lastly, a
broad dingy yellowish band. The bird stands rather
high on its robust red legs, the scales of which have
blackish margins, and the blunt spurs are about an
inch long; the claws arc dusky. Bill reddish, but
horn-colored at the tip.

The female, at the age of about four or five years,
attains her full size and coloring. At this age hens
have the pectoral fa.scicle of hair developed to the ex-
tent of four or five inches, which, according to Mr.
Audubon, they exhibit a little in the second year if not
barren. But this fascicle is much thinner than that of
the male. Barren hens do not obtain this distinction
until a very advanced age, and, being preferable for the

THE TURKEY. 141

table, the hunters single them from the flock, and kill
them in preference to the others. The female wild
turkey is more frequently furnished wit the hairy tuft
than the tame one, and this appendage is gained ear-
lier in life. The great number of young hens without
it, has, no doubt, given rise to the incorrect assertion
of a few writers that the female is always destitute of
it. The irides are similar in color to those of the male.
Bill and spurless legs less stout. Head and neck with
less of naked skin, being partially covered with dirty-
grey feathers. Those on the back of the neck have
brownish tips, and so produce a longitudinal band there ;
the short caruncle on the front is incapabable of elon-
gation. Prevailing hue of plumage, dusky-grey, each
feather having a metallic band duller than in the male,
then a blackish band, and lastly a greyish fringe. The
blackish band, is almost obliterated on the neck feath-
ers and under surface. The whole plumage is more
sombre than that of the male ; there is less white on
the primaries, and there are no bands on the seconda-
ries. The color of the tail is much as it is in the male.
Length not exceeding three feet and a quarter.

The young of both sexes resemble each other so
closely, before the naked membrane acquires its tinge
of red, as to be scarcely distinguishable. The females,
however, when a few days old, are somewhat larger
than the males, and have a weaker piping note. The
males then begin to stand higher on their legs, which
are stronger than those of the females, and soon ex-
hibit the rudiments of spurs. On the approach of the
first winter, the young males show a rudiment of beard,
or fascicle of hairs, on the breast, consisting of a mere
tubercle, and attempt to strut and gobble. The sec-
ond year, the hairy tuft is about three inches long ; in
the third, the turkey attains its full stature, though it
certainly increases in size and beauty for several years
longer. The concealed portion of the plumage on the
anterior portion of the back is sprinkled with pale fer-

142 THE TURKEY.

ruginous down, which disappears as the bird advances
in age.

The weight of the hen averages about 9 lbs., but
the males far exceed the females, and differ consider-
ably in bulk and weight. " From the accounts," says
Bonaparte, " which I have received from various parts of
the Union, 15 or 20 lbs. may be considered a fair state-
ment of their medium weight ; but birds of 30 lbs. are
not very rare, and I have ascertained the existence of
some weighing 40 lbs." Mr. Audubon saw one in the
Louisville Market that weighed 36 lbs. The pectoral
appendage of this bird measured more than a foot in
length.

The wild turkey is a noble bird, far exceeding its do-
mestic relative both in size and beauty. Crosses,
however, in this country, often take place between the
wild and tame race, and are highly valued, both for
external qualities and for ihe table. Indeed, in dis-
tricts where this bird is common, such crosses are very
frequent, the wild male driving away its domestic rival,
and usurping the sultanship of the seraglio.

Eggs of the wild turkey have been frequently taken
from their nests, and hatched under the tame hen.
The young preserve a portion of their uncivilized na-
ture, and exhibit some knowledge of the difference
between themselves and their fostermother, roosting
apart from the tame ones, and in other respects show-
ing the force of hereditary disposition.

The domesticated young reared from the eggs of the
wild turkey arc often emj)loyed as decoy birds to those
in a state of nature, Mr. William Bloom, of Clear-
field, Pennsylvania, caught five of six wild turkeys
when quite chickens, and succeeded in rwiring them.
Although sulUcicntly tamo to feed with his other tur-
keys, and generally associate with tlunn, yet they al-
ways retained some of the original propensities, roosting
by themselves, and higher than the tame birds, gen-
erally on tho top of some tree or of the house. They
were also more readily alarmed. On the approach of

THE TURKEY. 143

a dog, they worfld fly off and and seek safety in the
nearest woods. On an occasion of this kind, one of
them flew across the Susquehanna, and the owner was
apprehensive of loosing it. In order to recover it, he sent
a boy with a tame turkey, which was released at the
place where the fugitive had alighted. This plan was
successful. They soon joined company, and the tame
bird induced his companion to return home. Mr.
Bloom remarked that the wild turkey will thrive more,
and keep in better condition than the tame, on the
same quantity of food.

The wild turkey is irregularly migratory, as well as
irregularly gregarious. Whenever the forest fruits,
(or mast,) of one portion of the country greatly exceeds
that of another, thither are the turkeys insensibly led.
By gradually meeting in their haunts with more fruit,
the nearer they advance towards the place in which it
is most plentiful. Thus, in an irregular manner, flock
follows flock, until some districts are deserted, while
others are crowded with an influx of arrivals. " About
the beginning of October," says Audubpn, " when
scarcely any of the seeds and fruits have fallen from
the trees, these birds assemble in flocks, and gradually
move towards the rich bottom lands of the Ohio and
Mississippi. The males, or, as they are more com-
monly called, the ' gobblers,' associate in parties of
from ten to a hundred, and search for food apart from
the females, while the latter are seen either advancing
singly, each with its brood of young, then about two
thirds grown, or in union with other families, forming
parties often amounting to seventy or eighty individ-
uals, all intent on shunning' the old cocks, which,
when the young birds have attained this size, will
fight with and often destroy them by repeated blows
on the head. Old and young, however, all move in
the same course, and on foot, unless their progress be
interrupted by a river, or the hunter's dog force them
to take wing.

"When they come upon a river, they betake them-

144 THE TURKEY.

selves to the highest eminences, and there often remain
a whole day, and sometimes two, as if for the purpose
of consultation. During this time, the males are heard
gobbling, calling, and making much ado, and are seen
strutting about, as if to raise their courage to a pitch
befitting the emergency. Even the females and young
assume something of the same pompous demeanor,
spread out their tails, and run round each other, pur-
ring loudly, and performing extravagant leaps. At
length, when the weather appears settled, and all
around is quiet, the whole party mounts to the tops of
the highest trees, whence at a signal, consisting of a
single chtck, given by a leader, the flock takes flight
for the opposite shore. The old and fat birds easily
get over, even should the river be a mile in breadth,
but the younger and less robust frequently fall into
the water — not to be drowned, however, as might be
imagined ; they bring their wings close to theij: body,
spread out their tail as a support, stretch forward their
neck, and striking out their legs with great vigor,
proceed rapidly towards the shore ; on approaching
which, should they find it too steep for landing, they
cease their exertions for a few moments, float down
the stream until they come to an accessible part, and,
by a violent effort, generally extricate themselves from
the water. It is remarkable that, after immediately
crossing a large stream, they ramble about for some
time, as if bewildered. In this state they fall an easy
prey to the hunter.

*' AVhen the turkeys arrive in parts where the mast
is abundant, they separate into smaller flocks, com-
posed of birds of all ages and both sexes, promiscuously
mingled, and devour all before them. This happens
about the middle of November. So gentle do they
sometimes become after these long journeys, that they
hav<! been seen to approaeh the farm houses, associate
wilh the domestic fowls, and enter the stables and
corn cribs in (juest of food. In this way, roaming

THE TURKEY. 145

about the forests, and feeding chiefly on mast, they
pass the autumn and part of the winter."

The season of courtship begins about the middle of
February. The females now separate from the males,
whom they endeavor to shun, but by whom they are
perseveringly followed.

At this time, the males begin to gobble strenuously,
and strut about, making that peculiar whirling jar
with their wings, striking the quill feathers smartly
on the ground, which all must have observed in the
domestic bird. They utter a succession of puffs from
the lungs. They spread out and erect the tail, and
draw back the head, while the loose skin of the neck
swells and assumes the color of scarlet. Thus they
make advances to the females, who roost apart, utter-
ing occasional call notes, to which every male within
hearing londly responds, several hastening to the spot
whence the call proceeds, eager to pay their homage.
Thus it happens that the males frequently meet each
other, in which case desperate conflicts ensue, ending
often in bloodshed, and often in the loss of life, the
weaker falling under the blows inflicted on his head
by his stronger rival. In the combat, they use beak,
wings, and spurs, striking and pulling each other,
the feathers being ruffled, the tail partly raised, and
the wings held drooping, ready for a blow:

Old females, when addressed by the male, strut
about almost as proudly as he does, and more than
half way meet his ardent advances ; but females un-
der a year old are not to be won so easily. The solici-
tations of the male, under these circumstances, are
more pressing and more energetic, till at length he
ingratiates himself in her favor. Thus they are mated
for the season, though the male, being polygamous,
does not confine himself to one female, but solicits the
kindness of as many as he chances to meet. The
seraglio follow their favorite sultan, roosting at night
near him, if not on the same tree. This unitedness
lasts, however, only for a short time ; for, as soon as
7

146 THE TURKEY.

they begin to lay, they gradually leave his company,
and indeed sedulously avoid him, except for a few
hours during the day, and make their nests in some
concealed spot, among logs, brushwood, and intertan-
gled foliage, in order that they may escape not only
the eye of the crow, which is a great devourer of the
eggs of the turkey, who, if he were to find them,
would, from jealousy, infallibly break them all. At
last, the males find themselves altogether deserted.
Their mutual rivalskip ceases ; they meet each other
in peace, and cease to utter threats of mutual defi-ance ;,
they seek retired situations in order to rest and recruit
their energies ; for, at this juncture, like worn-out rakes,
they are utterly exhausted, and have lost flesh and
activity. When recovered and improved in condition,
they draw together again, and commence their wan-
derings in united parties.

It is generally about the middle of April that the
female begins to select a site, and arrange her rude
nest, which consists simply of withered leaves, in
some depression on the ground amidst dense brush-
wood, or in such an obscure place as the locality
affords. The eggs, like those of the domestic bird,
are of large size, and of a dull or cream white, minutely
freckled or dotted with reddish-brown; their average
number varies from ten to fifteen. While the gradual
addition of egg to egg is going on, the hen displays
surprising instinctive caution. On leaving her charge,
she is careful to cover the whole with dry leaves, so
artfully disposed as to render it difficult even for one
who has watched her movements to find the nest, and
on returning to it, she varies her rout, scarcely ever
returning to it twice by the same course. Hence it is
mostly by accident that the nest of the hen is discov-
ered. It not unfrequently happens that several hens
associate together and form a common nest, probably
for mutual aid and assistance, and rear their broods
together. Mr. Anchibon says that he once found three
hens sitting on forty-tw't eggs. In such eases, one of

THE TURKEY. 147

the females at least is ever on guard, no raven nor crow
then daring to invade it. While in the act of incuba-
tion, the hen is not readily driven from her nest by
the appearance of danger. A person walking care-
lessly along, as if taking no particular notice, may
pass a nest within five or six paces, the female crouch-
ing low to avoid observation ; but, as Mr. Audubon
has ascertained, if a person make his approach in a
stealthily searching manner, she will quit it while he
is yet thirty yards distant, and assuming a stately
gait will move away, uttering every now and then a
clucking note, probably hoping by this means to
draw off the intruder and baffle his search. We learn
from the same writer that the hen seldom or never
abandons her nest if it has been discovered by man,
but that if a snake or any other animal has sucked
any of the eggs she leaves it altogether. Under such
circumstances, or when the eggs have been removed,
she seeks the male, and recommences the preparation
of another nest ; but as a rule, she lays only a single
batch of eggs during the season. When the eggs are
on the eve of hatching, the female will not leave her
nest under any circumstances while life remains ; she
will even allow an enclosure to be made around her,
and thus be as it were imprisoned, rather than seek
her own safety by flight. Mr. Audubon says, " I once
witnessed the hatching of a brood of turkeys, which I
watched for the purpose of securing them, together
with the parent. I concealed myself on the ground
within a very few feet, and saw her raise herself half
the length of her legs, look anxiously upon the eggs,
cluck with a sound peculiar to the mother on such
occasions, carefully remove each half-empty sjiell, and
with her bill caress and dry the young birds that
already stood tottering and attempting to make their
way out of the nest. I have seen them all emerge
from the shell, and in a few moments after, tumble,
roll, and push each other forward with astonishing and
inscrutable instinct."

148 THE TURKEY.

Before leaving the nest with her young brood, the
female shakes herself, adjusts her plumage, and ap-
pears roused to the exigencies of the occasion ; she
glances upwards and around her, in the apprenension
of enemies, and as she moves cautiously along, keeps
her brood close about her ; her first excursion is gen-
erally to a little distance only from the nest„ to which
she returns with her brood to pass the first night.
Subsequently, they wander to a greater distance, the
hen leading her charge over dry undulating grounds,
as if aware of the danger of damp and humid spots.
Wet, indeed, is fatal to young turkeys while covered
only with down; hence in very rainy seasons, the
broods become greatly thinned, for the young, if once
completely wetted, seldom recover ; their vital ener-
gies sink under the abstraction of caloric during evap-
oration.

At the age of a fortnight, the young birds begin to
use their wings ; hitherto they have rested on the
ground, but now they begin to roost on the low
branches of some large tree, crowding close to each
side of the mother, and sheltered beneath her broad
wings. They now wander about more freely, visiting
the glades and open lands bordering the woods in
search of wild strawberries and other fruit, grasshop-
pers, the larvcE of ants and other insects, and roll
themselves in the sand and dust in order to clear their
growing feathers of loose scales and parasitic vermin ;
deserted ants' nests are favorite dusting places.

By the month of August, the young birds have ac-
quired considerable growth, and use their wings and
legs with great vigor and readiness, so that they arc
able to Qscape the sudden attack of foxes, lynxes, and
other beasts of prey, by rising quickly from the ground,
and mounting the tallest branches of trees. The
young cooks now begin to show their distinctive char-
acteristics, and even to utter an imperfect gobble,
while the young hens pur and leap. Several broods
now Hock together, aAd s: continue united, till after

THE TURKEY, 149

the October migration, and through the winter, when
they leave the females, the middle of February bring-
ing a recurrence of the same scenes already described.
The young hens, in their turn, are to become parents,
and the young cocks will fight for the mastery.

When, during the winter, a sharp frost succeeds a
heavy fall of snow, so as to form a hard crust on its
surface, turkeys will sometimes remain on their roosts
for three or four days or longer, declining to search for
food, unless indeed when farms and barns are within
a short distance ; they then direct their course to the
stacks of corn, and enter the barns and stables in quest
of grain. During melting snow-falls, turkeys will
travel very great distances, and at such extraordinary
speed that no hunter can keep up with them. They
have then a dangling, straggling way of running,
which, awkward as it may seem, enables them to out-
strip any other animal. " I have often," says Audu-
bon, " when on a good horse, been obliged to abandon
the attempt to put them up, after following them for
several hours. This habit of continued running in
rainy or very damp weather of any kind is not peculiar
to the wild turkey, but is common to all gallinaceous
birds. In America, the different species of grouse ex-
hibit the same tendency."

aEOGRAPHIOAL DISTRIBUTION.

The natural habitat of the wild turkey extends from
the north-western territory of the United States to the
isthmus of Panama, south of which it is rarely
found, notwithstanding the statements of authors who
have mistaken the curassow for it. In Canada and
the now densely-peopled parts of the United States,
wild turkeys were formerly more abundant than at
present, but, like the Indian and the buffalo, they
have been compelled to yield to the destructive inge-
nuity of the white settlers, often wantonly exercised,
and seek refuge in the remotest parts of the interior.
Although they relinquish their native soil with slow,

150 THE TUUKEV.

reluctant steps, yet such is the rapidity with which
settlements are extended and condensed over the sur-
face of this country, that we may anticipate a day at
no distant period, when the hunter will seek the wild
turkey in vain.

The wooded parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennes-
see, and Alabama, the unsettled portions of the states
of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois,
the vast expanse of territory north-west of these states,
on the Mississippi and Missouri, as far as the forests
extend, are more supplied than any other parts of the
Union with this valuable game, which forms an im-
portant part of the subsistence of the hunter and trav-
eller in the wilderness. It is not probable that the
range of this bird extends to, or beyond, the Rocky
Mountains. The Mandan Indians, who, a few years
ago, visited the city of Washington, considered the
turkey one of the greatest curiosities they had seen,
and prepared a skin of one to carry home for exhibi-
tion.

In some parts of Florida, Georgia, and the Caroli-
nas, the wild turkey is still common, but less so in
the western parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia. Some,
also, are said to exist in the mountainous districts of
Sussex county. New Jersey. In New England and
Lower Canada, they were formerly very abundant,
but as their places of resort became settled and thickly
peopled, they retired and sought refuge in the remotest
recesses of the interior, until they entirely disappeared.

Thus far has our sketch applied to the general his-
tory and description of the wild turkey ; and as the
tame variety resembles its unreclaimed progenitor,
in most of its marked peculiarities, namely, its ramb-
ling habits, its manner of roosting, the antipathy of
the males to the eggs, often to the young, in the
secrecy in which the female ))rcfers to incubate, and
in the tenderness of her young, I will next consider
the turkey in a domesti sated state.

THE TURKEY.

151

THE DOMESTIC TURKEY.

SYNO:fTMF.s. — Meleagris gallopavo, of Naturalists ; Coq d'Inde, Din-
don, of the French ; Pavo, of the Spaniards ; Truthahn, Calcultischer
Hahn, of the Germans ; Turkey, Turkey Cock, of the English and
Anglo-Americans.

The domestic turkey can scarcely be said to be di-
vided, like the common fowl, into distinct breeds ;
although there is considerable variation in color, as well
as in size, but no Bantam, or dwarf race exists, unless
we except the small, delicate-fleshed turkeys of Hemp-

152

THE TURKEY.

stead Plains, near New York, which often weigh, when
dressed, not more than 4 or 5 lbs. The finest and
strongest birds are those of a bronzed black, resemb-
ling, as closely as possible, the original stock. These
are not only reared the most easily, but are generally
the largest, and fatten the most rapidly. Some turkeys
are of a coppery tint, some of a delicate fawn-color,
while others are parti-colored, grey, and white, and
some few of a pure snow-white. All of the latter are
regarded as inferior to the black, their color indicating
something like degeneracy of constitution, if not
actual disease. A variety is said to exist in the avi-
ary of Madame Backer, at the Hague, with a topknot
springing from the crown of the head, resembling that
of the plumed Poland fowls.

To describe the domestic turkey is superfluous ; the
voice of the male ; the changing colors of the skin of
the head and neck ; his proud strut, with expanded
tail and lowered wings, jarring on the ground ; his
irascibility, which is readily excited by red or scarlet
colors, are points with which all who dwell in the
country are conversant.

RANGE AND DOMESTIC ACCOMMODATION.

The adult turkey, it is well known, is extremely
hardy, and bears the rigors of our coldest winters
with impunity even in the open air ; for, during the
severest weather, flocks, will frequently roost at
night upon the roof of a barn, or the branches of tall
trees, preferring such an accommodation to an indoor
roost. The impatience of restraint and restlessness of
the turkey, render it unfit company for fowls in their
dormitory ; in fact, the fowl house is altogether an
improper place for these large birds, which require
open sheds and high perches, and altogether as much
freedom as is consistent with their safety.

Although, turkeys will roost even during the winter
months on trees, it is by no means recommended that
this should bo allowed, us tho feet of these birds aro

THE TURKEY 153

apt to become frostbitten from such exposure to the
air on the sudden decline of the temperature far be-
low the freezing point. It must be remembered that the
domestic turkey, hardy as it is when adult, is not equal
in point of endurance to its wild relative breed in the
woods and inured to the elements.

Turkeys are fond ot wandering about pastures,
hedgerows, and the borders of fields ; they love to visit
turnip fields, where, besides the leaves of the turnips,
which they relish, they find insects, snails, slugs, &c.,
which they greedily devour. In the morning, they
should have a good supply of grain, and after their re-
turn from their peregrinations another feed ; by this
plan, not only will the due return home of the flock be
insured, but the birds will be kept in good store con-
dition, and ready at any time to be put upon fattening
diet. Never let them be in poor condition — this is an
axiom in the treatment of all poultry — it is difficult,
and takes a long time, to bring a bird into proper con-
dition, which has been previously poorly fed or half
starved.

OHOIOE or THE TURKEY COCK.

The turkey code should be vigorous, broad in the
breast, clean in the legs, with ample wings, and a well-
developed tail plumage ; his eyes should be bright, and
the carunculated skin of the neck full, and rapid in its
changes of color. Though capable of assuming his le-
gitimate rank among the hens, when a year old, he is
not in perfection, (notwithstanding the contrary opinion
of some,) until he has attained his third year, and is
entering upon his fourth ; and he continues in his prime
for three or four succeeding years. Thus, for two,
three, or four years, or longer, may all the young cocks
be devoted to the poulterer, one perhaps of particular
beauty being preserved within that space of time for
the ornament of the farm yard.

The turkey cocks which are kept for breeding,

rather than, fur the table, "ought not" says Mascall,

7*

154 THE TURKEY.

" to be passing a yere, or two yeres old — ^three yeres is
the mosit, and too much — for, being olde, they are so
heavy in treading, they wyll commonlye hurt the
hennes, in broosing their baekcs, and treading off their
feathers off their backes. And, also, it is not good to
keep two cockes in treading time ; for one will hinder
the other, so that your hennes' egges come to small
profite in setting."

" Your turkie cock," says Markham, "should be a
bird, large, stout, proud, and majesticall, for, when he
walketh dejected, he is never good." According to
M. Parmentier, both the cock and hen ought to have
short legs, a full shape, and great vivacity and energy
in all their actions. For breeding, it is peculiarly
necessary that both should be well formed, and in
healthy condition.

Turkey cocks are pugnacious and vindictive, and
often ill-treat the hens. I have known them to at-
tack children, and have witnessed combats between
them and the game cock, in which the latter was
more oppressed by the weight of his antagonist than
by gladiatorial skill — I have, in fact, seen the bulky
hero worsted ; he cannot use his spurs with the ad-
dress exhibited by the game cock, which, moreover,
fights with method.

SELECTION OF THE HEN.

Thr hen turkey should be dark-colored, like the
cock — those with white feathers appearing amids^t the
black jiluniago should be rejected ; her figure should
be plump, and her actions lively and animated. The
hen breeds when a year old, or rather in the spring
succeeding that in which she herself* left the egg; but
she is not in her prime until the age of two or three
years, and will continue for two or three years more .in
full constitutional vigor. But whether the breeder
prefers to keep a store stock for several years, or
a yearly or biennial change, will depend on his
views and the general pr.iclicc of the neighborhood

THE TURKEY. 155

around him. It is recommended to keep a first-rate
cock for three or four years, or even longer, although
one might change his store flock of hens, and, indeed,
if these produced first-rate chickens, he should be in no
hurry to substitute younger birds in their place. Of
course, the stock, whatever its prescribed number
may be, should be kept up, deficiencies by death and
accidents being duly supplied.

NTJMBER OF HENS TO BE ALLOTTED TO EACH COCK.

It would appear that an almost unlimited number
of hens may be allowed to a single male — in fact the
caresses of the male only once or twice are required for
the fecundation of all the eggs which she will lay dur-
ing the current season ; but, in order to make assur-
ance doubly sure, the number of hens under one lord
may be limited to fifteen or twenty ; that is, if it is
desirable that so many should be kept.

The number of hens, however, which should be put
with one cock is disputed amongst several authorities,
as we have seen to be the case with the common fowl.
M. Farm en tier says, that, when one has a certain
number of turkeys, it is indispensable to have a pro-
portional number of cocks ; and is of opinion that one
cock will be sufficient for twelve females ; and in this
number he cannot be far wrong, if once treading is, as
he seems to think, proved by experiment, efficient to
fecundate all the eggs of one laying. So satisfied, in-
deed, is he of this fact, that he thinks the cock may be
dispensed with and sold, after the hen begins to lay.

Lawrence, on the other hand, advises six hens to a
cock ; though he thinks more may do no harm ; and
mentions it, as a common practice with breeders, to
keep a cock for the use of any neighbors who may
have so few hens as to render it too expensive to keep
one.

LAYING.

About the middle of March, generally speaking, the
female commence.^ laying ; she indicates this coming

156 THE TURKEY.

event by a peculiar cry, by strutting about with an
air of self-satisfaction, and often by prying into out-of-
the-way places, evidently in quest of a secret spot of
incubation — for her instinctive dread of the male is
not removed by domestication, nor has the male lost
his antipathy to the eggs. She should now be closely
watched, and some management is required to induce
her to lay in the nest assigned her. The nest should
be prepared of straw and dried leaves ; it should be se-
cluded, and to excite her to adopt it, an egg, or a piece
of chalk cut into the form of an egg, should be placed
in it. When her uneasiness to lay is evident, and
symptoms prove that she is ready, she should be con-
fined in the shed, barn, or place in which her nest, (in
a large wicker basket,) is prepared, and let out as soon
as it is deposited. It is generally in the morning that
the turkey hen lays, and mostly every other day ;
though some lay daily, until the number amounts to
from fifteen to twenty. As the eggs are laid, it is as
well to remove them, (leaving the decoy egg or piece
of chalk,) until the number is complete, as they are
liable to be broken, or sucked by rats, weasles, minks,
or skunks. They may then be restored to her for in-
cubation.

Some persons are in the habit of giving turkeys
stimulating food at the laying period, in order to pro-
mote their fecundity, particularly oats and hemp .seed ;
but this is quite superfluous, and may even, perhaps,
be injurious, by tending to produce "clear" or in-
fertile eggs. By proper food and shelter, during win-
ter, indeed, turkeys may be brought to pair and lay
earlier than they otherwise would do ; but, though this
might have the advantage .>f procuring an earlier
bntod, it must render it more dillicult, on account of
the- cold wcatluT, in spring, to rear it with success.

The, habit. r»f laying in the morning may be usefully
taken advantage of, where several turkey hens arc
kept. Their nests may be examined, individually
before they go out, and keep back those which

I

THE TURKEY. 157

are about to lay, till they have done so. This will
effectually prevent the loss of a single egg, by lay-
ing in a secret nest in the hedges, or woods. When
they roost in the open air, as is most natural to them,
and sometimes practised for the sake of convenience,
and to render the birds healthy, it is nearly impossible
to prevent the loss of some eggs.

During the whole time of laying, the cock must be
carefully kept apart from the hen, at least in the
morning, when she is laying ; otherwise, if he find her
on the nest, he will ill-treat her, drive her away, and
break her eggs,

EGGS.

The eggs of the turkey are larger and more length-
ened than those of the common domestic fowl, of dull
cream color, and speckled with refldish dots. They
ought to be taken up as soon as laid, lest the hen, which
is heavy and awkward in her motions, should break
them on returning to lay, and also to keep them from
being sucked by rats or skunks. They may be kept
in a basket, either with or without dry bran or straw,
hung up in a cool, dry, dark place, till the hen leaves
off laying, when none of them will be too old to set for
hatching, though, when much older, it may be doubt-
ful whether they will hatch at all.

It is recommended, by some, to keep each hen's
eggs distinct, that they may be put under those
which laid them ; but this appears to be an unnecessary
trouble, as a hen turkey will not only successfully
hatch the eggs of her own species, wherever they may
be procured, but also those of geese, ducks, and com-
mon fowls.

It does not appear from Audubon's account, that
the wild turkey has usually more than one brood in
the year, unless her eggs have been carried off or de-
stroyed ; and Buffon says the tame turkey lays only
once a year. The latter is wrong in this ; for, under
favorable circumstances, when well housed, fed, and

158 THE TURKEY.

taken care of, the hen turkey will lay a second time
towards the end of summer, sometimes sooner and
sometimes later.

In the second laying, there are rarely more than a
dozen eggs ; and in order to have the brood from
these successful, more than ordinary care will be
requisite.

When a second laying is expected, the sooner one
hen is turned away from her brood, and the brood
mixed with that of another, hatched about the same
time, the better chance there is of rearing it; as the
hen, which is so turned away, will lay again in a fort-
night or three weeks, and thus hatch a second time be-
fore the month of July is out. Even under these cir-
cumstances, the chance of rearing the young ones is
very uncertain, as they are hardly strong enough to
meet the cold nights in the autumn, when they often
become what is called " club-footed," and die.

INCUBATION,

The turkey hen is a steady sitter, and in this re-
spect resembles the wild bird — nothing will induce her
to leave the nest ; indeed, she often requires io be re-
moved to her food, so overpowering is her instinctive
afiection ; she must be freely supplied with water
within her reach ; should she lay any eggs after she has
commenced incubation ; these should be removed — it
is proper, therefore, to mark those which were given to
her to sit upon. The hen should now on no account,
be rashly .disturbed ; no one except the person to whom
she is accustomed, and from whom she receives her
food, should be allowed to go near her, and the eggs,
unless circumstances imperatively require it, should not
be meddled with.

On about the thirty-first day, the chicks leave the
eggs. Now, in a state of nature, the wild hen always
manages far better than she would do if interfered
with l)y man, were his interference j>ossible, and so we
believe will the domestic turkey hen, if her nest be placed

THE TURKEY. ' 159

(and it might in a certain degree,) as it-is in nature ;
this we know, that turkeys which have laid their eggs
in out-of-the-way places, and have been allowed to in-
cubate there, have brought their troop of downy young-
lings into the farm yard with evident pleasure and
satisfaction — no extra attention having been paid to
them. It is usual, however, in Europe and the northern
parts of the United States, to remove the young chicks,
one by one, as they make their exit, and place them in
a basket of warm flannel, tow, or feathers, until all are
out, and then restore them to the hen ; this is done
as a precautionary measure, lest any accident should
happen to them.

in a state of nature, the turkey only rears one brood
during the season, unless her eggs have been destroyed
or removed, nor will the domestic hen incubate twice,
if allowed to rear her own brood ; some, however, which
like, as the common phrase is, " to work a free horse
to death," recommend that the turkey be induced to
hatch a second time in the season. This is effected
by taking her young brood from her as soon as pos-
sible, and mixing it with another brood of the same
age, as nearly as may be ; her cares being no longer
required for her young, and her instincts unsatisfied ;
she seeks the company of the male, and in about three
weeks, again commences laying, until the number of
eggs is complete, when she re-engages in the task of
incubation. But I object to this practice in toto. It
is cruel, and it taxes the system ; she has already sat
patiently for thirty days, that is four weeks and two
days, and surely that is quite enough. Besides, the
brood thus hatched will be late in the season, and late
broods of turkeys cannot be reared without very great
care ; they cannot stand the chilly mornings of autumn
nor the frosty nights ; their limbs become swollen and
rheumatic, and they die one after another, few sur-
viving, and these few never become fine, healthy
bird from which the breeder would select his stock.
Let nature alone. Should a hen lay after hatching her
clutch of eggs, and should she, (which is very unlike-

160

THE TURKEY.

ly,) indicate a desire for incubation, il is better to pre-
vent her, and use the eggs for household purposes.

TREATMENT OF THE YOUNG BROOD.

The treatment of the chicks next demands considera-
tion. Some books tell you to plunge them in cold water,
to strengthen them ; those that survive will certainly be
hardy birds. Others say, "make them swallow a whole
pepper corn,'' which is as if we were to cram a New-
town pippin down the throat of a new-born babe. Oth-
ers, again, say, "give them a little, ale, beer, or wine."
We know, unhappily, that some mothers are wicked
enough to give their infants gin, and we know the con-
sequences. jNot a few advise that they be taken away,
and kept in a basket by the fire-side wrapped in flannel,
for eight or ten hours. Why take them away from her?
She has undergone no loss, no pain, nor labor ; she wants
no rest, having had too much of that already. All she
requires is the permission to indulge undisturbed the
natural exercise of her owe affectionate instinct.

We have seen that even the wild chicks are delicate,
and unable to endure wet. We may say the same with
regard to young grouse and partridges, the flocks of
Avhich are much thinned by a wet season. But if the
wild chicks are tender, much more so are those of the
domestic strain. As in the case of young fowls, the
turkey chicks do not require food for several hours. It
is useless to cram them, as some do, fearing lest they
should starve ; and, besides, the beak is as yet so tender
that it runs a chance of being injured by the process.
When the chicks feel an inclinntion for food, nature di-
rects them how to pick it up. There is no occasion for
alarm if, for thirty hours, they content themselves with
the warmth of their parent, and enjoy her care. Yet
some food must be provided for them, and this should be,
of course, suited to their nature and appetite. Here,
too, let the simplicity of nature l)e a guide. I say this,
becaiise some have recommended spices, wine, and even
bathing in cold water.

Give thetn nothing; do nothing to them; let them be
in the nest under the shelter ol their mother's wings at

THE TURKEY. 161

least eight or ten hours; if hatched in the afternoon, till
the following morning. Then place her on the grass, in
the sun, under a roomy coop. If the weather be fine,
she may be stationed where you choose, by a long piece
of flannel list tied round one leg, and fastened to a stake
or a stone. But the boarded coop saves her ever-
watchful anxiety from the dread of enemies above and be-
hind— the crow, the raven, the hawk, the rat, the weasel ;
and also protects herself — she will protect her young — •
from the sudden showers of summer. Offer at first a
few crumbs of bread ; the little ones, for some hours,
will be in no hufry to eat; but when they do begin,
supply them constantly and abundantly with chopped
egg, shreds of meat and fat, curd, boiled rice, mixed with
cress, lettuce, and the green of onions. Melted mutton
suet poured over' barley or Indian-meal dough, and cut
up when cold ; also, bullock's liver boiled and minced,
are excellent things. Barley or Indian meal, mixed
thick and stiff with water or milk, nettle tops, leeks, and
many other things, might be added to the list; but it is
probable that a few of these may now and then be re-
fused by some fanciful little rogues. Little turkeys do
not like their food to be minced much smaller than they
can swallow it; indolently preferring to make a meal at
three or four mouthfuls to troubling themselves with the
incessant pecking and scratching in which chickens so
much delight. But at any rate, the quantity consumed
costs but little; the attention to supply it is everything.

The young of the turkey afford a remarkable instance
of hereditary and transmitted habits. From having
been tended for many generations with so much care,
they appear naturally to expect it almost as soon as they
are released from the shell. We are told that young
pointers, the descendants of well-educated dogs, will
point at the scent of game without any previou.s
training ; and so turkey chicks seem to wait for the at-
tention of man before they can have any experience of
the value or nature of those attentions. Food which
they would refuse from a platter, they will peck greed-
ily from the palm of a hand ; a crumb which would be
disdained, if seen accidentally on the ground, will be

162 TUK TURKEY.

relished from the tip of a finger. The proverb that "The
master's eye fattens the horse," is applicable to them,
not in a metaphorical, bat in a literal sense; for they
certainly take their food with a belter appetite if their
keeper stays to distribute it, and see them eat it, than if
he merely set it down and left them to help themselves.

I believe this to be the case with more domesticated
animals than we are aware of, and appears natural
enough if we remember how much more we enjoy a meal
in the society of those we love and respect, than if we
partook of it in indiiferent or disagreeable company.

However, there can be no doubt that young turkeys,
pampered and spoiled for about three hundred genera-
tions, have at length acquired an innate disposition to
rely on the care of man. When the early voyagers
discovered new islands, the birds upon them were quite
tame, and easily killed by sticks and stones, being fear-
less of man ; but they soon learned to know their enemy,
and this newly-acquired sagacity was possessed by their
offspring, which had never seen a man. Wild and
domesticated turkeys are, in fact, from the same original
type; it is only necessary to compare them, when
hatched together under a hen, to be convinced of the
principle of hereditary transmission of habits — the wild
young ones instantly fly from man, the tame ones are
indifferent to his presence. Young of rabbits, wild and
tame, show this contrast more strongly than any crea-
tures with which I am acquainted.

The turkeys, then, are hatched, and we are rearing
them. Abundant food for the mother and her young,
constant attention to their wants, are the grand desid-
erata. An open glade, in a grove, with long grass and
shrubs here and there, is the best possible location. A
great deal is said about clear and fresh water for tur-
keys ; but I iiave observed that if left to their own choice,
they will be as content and healthy with the rinsings
of the scullery, or the muddiest pool, as with the purest
spring. The long grass will alTord them cover from
birds of prey ; the hen will herself drive otf four-footed
enen)ies wilh great courage. Insects, too, will abound
in such a situation. When the little creatures are three

THE TURKEY. 163

or four days old, they will watch each fly that alights
on a neighboring flower, fix it with mesmeric intensity,
and by slow approach often succeed in their final rush.
But in the best position you can station them, forget
them not for one hour in the day. If you do, the little
turkeys will for a time loudly yelp,

" O then remember me,''

in notes less melodious than those of a. prima donna,
and then they will be sulky and silent. When you
at length bring their delayed meal, some will eat,
some will not. Those that will not, can only be saved
by a method at all other times unjustifiable; namely, by
cramming; but it must be done most gently. The soft
crumb of bread rolled into miniature sausages should be
introduced till their crops are full. For drink, many
would give wine. I advise milk. The bird wants
material, not stimulant. It has been actually wire-
drawn. It has grown all the hours you have neglected
it, without anything to grow from. Like a young plant
in the fine spring season, it will and must grow ; but it
has no roots in the fertile earth to obtain incessant
nourishment. The roots which supply its growth are in
its stomach, which it is your office to replenish. " Pre-
vention is better than cure." Such a case ought never
to occur in a well-cared-for poultry pard.

The time when the turkey hen may be allowed full
liberty with her brood, depends so much on season,
situation, &c., that it must be left to the exercise of the
keeper's judgment. Some, whose opinion is worthy of
attention, think that if the young are thriving, the
sooner the old ones are out with them the better, after
the first ten days or so. A safer rule may be fixed at
the season called "shooting the red," a "disease," as
some compilers are pleased to term it ; being about as
much a disease as when the eldest son of the turkey's
master and mistress shoots his beard. When young
turkeys approach the size of a partridge, or before, the
granular fleshy excrescences on the head and neck begin
to appear ; soon after, the whole plumage, particularly
the tail feathers, start into rapid growth, and the " dis-

164 TIIK TVKKliV.

ease" is only to be counteracted by liberal nourishment.
If let loose at this time, they will obtain much by foraging,
and still be thankful for all you choose to give them.
Caraway seeds, as a tonic, are a great secret with some
professional people. They will doubtless be beneficial, if
added to plenty of barley or Indian meal, boiled potatoes,
chopped vegetables, and refuse meat. And now is the
time that turkeys begin to be troublesome and voracious.
What can you expect else from a creature that is to
grow from the size of a robin to 12 or 15 lbs. in eight or
nine months? They will jump into the potato ground,
scratch the ridges on one side, eat every grub, wireworm,
or beetle that they find, and every half-grown potato.
From thence they will proceed to the ruta-bagas ; before
the bulbs are formed, they will strip the greeji from the
leaves, thereby checking the future growth of the
root. At a subsequent period, they will do the same to
the white turnips, and here and there take a piece out
of the turnip itself. Tliey are seldom large enough
before harvest to make so much havoc among the
standing grain, as cocks, hens, and Guinea fowls, or they
have not yet acquired the taste for it; but when the
Indian corn begins to ripen in August or September, and
the young wheat comes up in October and November they
will exhibit their graminivorous propensities, to the great
disadvantage of the farmer. The farmer's wife sees them
not, says nothing, but at Christmas boasts of the large
amount of her turkey money. One great merit in old
birds, (besides their ornamental value, which is our
special recommendation,) is, that in situations where
nuts, acorns, and mast are to be had, they will lead o(T
their orood to these, and comparatively, (that is all,)
abstain from ravaging other crops. It is, therefore, not
fair for a small occupier to be overstocked with turkeys,
(as is too often the case, and with other things also,) and
then let them loose, like so tnany harpies, to devastate
and plunder their neighbors' fields,

FATTENING.

On llio first of October, it will be time to begin to
Ihink of fattening some of the earliest broods, in order

I

THE TURKEY. 165

to supply public houses, and such families as require
turkeys early in the season; but they are like 6very
other immature production, inferior in quality. To
eat turkey poults is a wasteful piece of luxury ; those
who order them are occasionally deceived by a small
hen of the previous year. In the Italian markets, hen
turkeys sell for a cent a pound more than the cocks ; and
there are turkey butchers of whom you may buy the
half or a quarter of a bird. A hen will be five or six
weeks in fatting ; a large stag,* two months, or longer,
in reaching his full weight. The best diet is barley
or Indian meal, mixed with, water, given in troughs,
that have a flat board over them, to keep dirt from
falling in. A tupnip with the leaves attached, or a
hearted cabbage, may now and then be thrown down
to amuse them. Some use plain oats, but barley or
Indian meal is preferable, acting more quickly.

Cramming is unnecessary, though it may hasten the
progress. In some forests, where there are immense
quantities of mast, turkeys will get perfectly fat upon
them ; but this, although no doubt profitable to the
" gude wife," is by no means pleasant to every palate
after the bird has been on the spit. Beech mast, hov/-
ever, in small quantities, and as the substratum of
fatting, rather improves the flavor than otherwise.
Acorns, w^hich they will often swallow whole, do not
come amiss. When they have arrived at the desired,
degree of fatness, those which are not wanted for im-
mediate use must have no more food given them than
is just sufficient to keep them in that state ; otherwise
the flesh will become red and inflamed, and of course
less palatable and wholesome. But with the very best
management, after hav.'ng attained their acme of fat-
tening, they will frequently descend again, and that so
quickly, and without apparent cause, as to become
quite thin. Cock birds play this game oftener than
hens. The turkey differs froiu the rest of our poultry
in being fit for the table after its youth is past. Many

• When a cock tuikey arrives at the age of two years, he is called a " stag."

166

THE TURKEY,

of the large birds that are brought to market are not
less than eighteen months old ; some double that age.
Nor are they the worse for it, provided the lady of the
house be informed of the circumstance, and so enabled
to leave a due interim between the killing and the
cooking.

Almost every district or country, however, has a pe-
culiar mode of fattening turkeys, and everywhere it
depends on local resources. In one place, it is acorns,
hickory nuts, beech mast, or chestnuts, sometimes
boiled, and mixed with Indian or barley meal ; others
prefer to feed them, evejy morning, a month previous
to killing, with boiled potatoes mashed with the meal
of buckwheat, barley, Indian corn, or beans, according
to their cheapness or abundance, made into a paste, of
which the turkeys are allowed to eat as much as they
please. Every evening, the remains of the paste is
removed, and thrown away ; the trough, or vessel, in
which it was kept, is thoroughly cleaned for the next
morning ; because, if the weather be warm, the paste
is liable to become sour, and endanger their health.
For eight days previous to slaughtering time, the tur-
keys are allowed, in the evening before going to roost,
a small quantity of barley or Indian-meal dough,
which, in the course of that period, will render them
exceedingly plump, delicious, and fat.

It has been assorted, in fact proved, by a late trial
made on the farm of Mr. R. L. Colt, of Paterson, New
Jersey, that turkeys fatten faster, and with less ex-
pense, by cnponising- them, which, also, produces
better and sweeter flesh. But how far this will prove
profitable, future experiments will show.

THE GUINEA FOWL.

ORIGIN AND HISTOET.

The Africana, which most people call a Numidica, is like a
Meleagris, except that it bears on its head a red helmet
and comb, both of which are blue in the Meleasris,

Columella.

The G-uinea fowl, in its natural habitat — that is in
a state of nature — appears to be exclusively confined
to the burning wastes of Central Africa, although it is
found wild on the islands of Ascension, Hayti, Cuba,
and Jamaica, where they sometimes do much injury to
crops and are shot as game. In Africa, it frequents
the open glades and borders of forests, the banks of
rivers, and other localities where grain, seeds, berries,
insects, &c., offer an abundant supply of food. It is
gregarious in its habits, associating in considerable
flocks, which wander about during the day, and col-
lect together on the approach of evening. They roost
in clusters on the branches of trees, or large bushes,
ever and anon uttering their harsh grating cry, till
they settle fairly for the night.

The G-uinea fowl does not trust much to its wings
as a means of escape from danger ; indeed, it is not
without some difficulty that these birds can be forced
to take to flight, and then they wing their way only
to a short distance, when they alight, and trust
to their swiftnesss of foot. They run with very
great celerity, are shy and wary, and seek refuge

168

THE GUINEA FOWL.

amongst the dense underwood, threading the mazes of
their covert with wonderful address. The female in-
cubates in some conceaVed spot on the ground ; for the
male, as in the case of the turkey, will break the eggs
if he discovers them. This habit, unnatural as it may
be deemed, appears to be very common among galli-
naceous birds. The domestic cock, however, evidently
shares in the triumph of the hen, when she has laid
her eggs, and answers her peculiar note or cackle of

joy-
It cannot be for a moment doubted that the ancient
Greeks and Romans were well acquainted with two or
three species of the Guinea fowl, the descriptions of
which hardly answer to those of the present day ; con-
sequently it is not easy to trace out its history. In
fact, strange as it may seem, that a bird noticed by
Aristotle, Clytus, Pliny, Varro, and Columella, should
not ages since have pervaded Europe ; it is not until
after the introduction of the turkey from America,
that the Guinea fowl became naturalised in Western
Europe. Must we not, then, pardon Belon and Aldro-
vandi for considering the turkey as the Mcleag-n's,
seeing, if our suspicions be correct, that they did not
know the Guinea fowl ? In short, from ancient times,
through the middle ages, and to a comparatively re-
cent period, we lose all trace of this bird, and what
is more, it appears that the modern Europeans re-
ceived it not from Africa, its native country, but from
the Western World, to which, with negroes torn from
their homes in Guinea and condemned to slavery, it
was transported also. This bird is, indeed, so common
in several of the West-India Islands, that some have
thought it to be indigenous there ; but this is a mis-
take;. In fact, in an old work, (Obscrv. sur los Gout,
de I'Asie,) we arc informed that, in the year 1508,
nr al)out that time, great numbers of these birds were
carried into America by the vessels which traded in
slaves ; but tha*, the Spaniards, instead of attempting

i

THE GUINEA FOWL. 169

to tame them, or render them domestic, turned them
at large into the wild savannas, where they have in-
creased in such prodigious numbers, that they may
well appear to be indigenous.

Though extensively spread, the G-uinea fowl is not
even now a very common bird. It is kept in India,
but, according to Colonel Sykes, is to be seen only in
a domestic state, and is bred almost exclusively by
European gentlemen. It thrives, he adds, as well as
in its native country.

In England, the Guinea fowl is less generally kept
than the turkey, nor is it abundant in France. In
the colder latitudes of Europe, this bird is very rare,
and is, in fact, seldom, if ever, to be seen in Sweden,
Norway, or Northern Russia. It is not noticed by
Linnaeus in his " Fauna Suecica," though he v/as well
acquainted with the species. In various parts of
North America, it is found, and thrives well.

If, then, in modern days. Western Europe received
the Guinea fowl from America, or the adjacent islands,
how happens it that, living as it did in the vivaria of
the Romans, it should not have spread itself over Eu-
rope, and been common in England, from early times?
We are assured that it has been so. Mr. H. D. Rich-
ardson says, " it would be difficult to determine the
precise period at which the Guinea fowl was first
brought into Great Britain ; its introduction must, at
all events, have taken place at a reinote date, for we
are informed, in Kennet's " Parochial Antiquities,"
that it was known in England as early as the year
1277." If this be the case, how happens it that we
see no notice taken of it among such birds as peions,
or peacocks, cranes, bustards, and other birds, which
figured in the feasts of our British ancestors, nor even
at a later time, than the turkey graced the board?
Again, had the Guinea fowl been common, would Be-
lon and Aldrovandi have ever regarded the turkey as
the Meleasrris?

8

170 THE GUINEA FOWL.

THE GUINEA HEN.

Stnoktmes. — Nvviida mcleagris, of Naturalists ; Piniade, of the
French; Pintnda.oi i\\e Spaniards; Perl/iuhv, of the Germans; Come-
Back, in Norfold. England ; Guinea Hen, Chiinea Fowl, of the English and
Anglo-Americans.

The plumage of this bird is singularly beautiful,
being spangled over with an infinity of white spots on
a black ground, shaded with grey and brown. The
spots vary from the size of a pea to extreme minute-
ness. Rarely, the black and white change places,
causing the bird to appear as if covered with a net-
work of lace. A white variety is not uncommon, but
is less hardy, and it is doubtful how long either this,
or the former one, would remain permanent ; probably
but for few generations. Pied birds, blotched with
patches of white, are frequent, but are not compara-
ble, in point of beauty, with those of the original wild
color. The head and face are remarkable. The scar-
let wattlc.<^, naked skin, distinct mark of the eye brow,
bright, glancing eyes, and comical, quick expression,
make, at a front view, a perfect miniature of a clown,
dres.sed and painted for the circus or pantomime.

DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE COOK AND HEN.

It is not every one who knows a cock from a hen
of this species. An unerring ru'e is, that the hen

THE GUINEA FOWL, 171

alone uses the call note " come back," " come back,"
accenting the second syllable strongly, from which
they are often called " come backs." The cock has
only the harsh, shrill cry of alarm, which, however, is
also common to the female.

PAIRING.

There is one circumstance, in regard to the habits
of the Gruinea cock, which may not generally be
known ; that is, he is monogamous, or having one
wife only, pairing with his mate, like a partridge, or
pigeon, and remaining faith^l to her, (perhaps with
one or two trifling peccadilloes,) so long as they con-
tinue to live together. It is generally supposed that
he, like the common cock, is pleased with a plurality
of wives ; and the supposition is acted on with bad
practical effect. In the case where a Guinea cock
and two hens are kept, (a usual number,) it will be
found, on close observation, that though the three keep
together so as to form one " pack," according to their
original instinct, yet that the cock and one hen will
be unkind and stingy to the other unfortunate female,
keep her at a certain distance, merely suffering her
society, and making her feel that she is with them
only on sufferance. The neglected hen will lay eggs,
in appearance, like those of the other, but not so many,
probably, in the same nest. If they are to be eaten,
all well and good ; but if a brood is wanted and the
eggs of the despised one chance to be taken for the
purpose of hatching, the result is disappointment and
addled eggs. If the produce of the favorite, or rather
the lawful wife, are selected, at the end of the month,
you have so many strong chicks ; if a mixture of eggs
come to hand, the hatch is in proportion Therefore,
let all those who wish to succeed with G-uinea fowls,
match their birds as strictly as the couples in a
country dance. The best way to commence keeping
them is, to procure a sitting of eggs from some friend,
on whom you can depend, for their freshness : and

172 THE GUINEA FOWL.

also, if possible, from a place where only a single
'pair is kept.

Their amours are conducted with the most strict
decorum and privacy. The cock, however, is properly
polite and attentive to his own hen, in public, walking
very close by her side, so as to touch her wings with
his own, offering her tit-bits, now and then a worm,
or a grain of corn ; he has also a habit of running
very quick for a fe'»v steps, and then walkingaffectedly
on tiptoe, with a mincing air, like the dandy in a
Christmas pantomime, setting up his back and in-
creasing his apparent height. These latter symptoms
are less evident in youth, when it is necessary to make
the selection, and the call note will be found the safest
guide. He attends his own hen to the nest, waits for
her close at hand, till she has made her contribution
o the treasury already there ; and will occasionally
betray the situation of the secret hoard, by his extreme
solicitude in announcing the approach of intruders.

LATINO.

Of all known birds, this, perhaps, is the most pro-
lific of eggs. Week after week and month after
month see little or no intermissidh of the daily deposit.
Even the process of moulting is sometimes insufficient
to draw off the nutriment the creature takes to make
feathers instead of eggs. As the body of a good cow
is-a distillery for converting all sorts of herbage into
milk, and nothing else, or as little else as possible, so
the body of the Guinea hen is a most admirable machine
for producing eggs out of insects, vegetables, garbage,
or grain.

Eggs of tlie Gruinoa fowl are occasionally produced
covered with wrinkles, as if the shell had shrunk in
the process of hardening. These sometimes are con-
fined to one end, (the smaller,) and sometimes extend
over the whole surface. They are evidently the re-
sult of weakness or over-exertion of the egg organs,
appearing in young and healthy birds only at the close

THE GUINEA FOWL. 173

of their long-laying season ; in old and weak ones,
showing themselves in the first-laid eggs, and increas-
ing in depth and extent as the season advances. The
same thing is less frequently seen among turkeys that
are about to cease laying. tSuch eggs are quite good
for the table, but should not be taken for the purpose
of hatching. They appear to contain a less portion of
yolk than the perfect egg.

^0- INCUBATION.

From their great aptitude for laying, which is a
natural property, and not an artificially-encouraged
habit, as before observed, and also from the very little
disposition they show to sit, it is believed, that these
birds, in their native country, do not sit at all on their
eggs, but leave them to be hatched by the sun, like
ostriches, to which they bear a close affinity. It is
certain that the sands of tropical Africa are more than
hot enough to hatch them, and that the young birds
are unusually vivacious and independent, if they have
but a supply of proper food, which they would find in
the myriads of insects engendered there.

They are in season from the middle of December
till May ; and their period of incubation lasts at least
twenty-six days.

A Bantam hen is the best mother, being lighter, and
less likely to injure the eggs by treading on them than a
full-sized fowl. She will well cover nine eggs, and
incubation will last about a month. The young are ex-
cessively pretty. When first hatched, they are so strong
and active as to appear not to require the attention re-
ally necessary to rear them. Almost as soon as they
are dry, from the moisture of the egg, they will peck
each other's toes, as if supposing them to be worms,
will scramble with each other for a crumb of bread,
and will domineer over any little Bantam, or chicken,
that may perhaps have been brought off in the same
clutch with themselves. No one, who did not know,
would guess, from their appearance, of what species

174 THE GUINEA FOWL.

of bird they were the offspring. Their orange-red bills
and legs, and the dark, zebra-like stripes, with which
they are regularly marked, from head to tail, bear no
traces of the speckled plumage of their parents.

FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT.

Hard-boiled egg, chopped fine, small worms, mag-
gots, bread crumbs, chopped meat, or suet, whatever,
in short, is most nutritious, is their most appropriate
food. This need not be offered to them in large quan-
tities, as it would only be devoured by the mother
Bantam, as soon as she saw that her little ones had
for the time satisfied their appetites ; but it should be
frequently administered to them in small supplies.
Feeding three, four, or five times a day, is not nearly
often enough ; every half hour, during daylight, they
should be tempted to fill their little craws, which are
soon emptied again by an extraordinary power and
quickness of digestion. The newly-hatched Guinea
fowl is a tiny creature, a mere infinitesimal of the
full-grown bird ; its growth is consequently very rapid,
and requires incessant supplies. A check once re-
ceived can never be recovered. In such cases, they
do not mope and pine, for a day or two, like young
turkeys under similar circumstances, and then die ;
but in half an hour after, being in apparent health,
they fall on their backs, give a convulsive kick or two,
and fall victims to starvation. The demands of na-
ture for the growth of bone, muscle, and particularly
of feather, are so great, that no subsequent, abundant
supply of food can make up for a fast of a couple of
hours. The feathers still go on, grow ! grow I! grow !!!
in geometrical progression, and drain the sources
of vitality still faster than they can be supplied, till
the bird faints and expires from want of fullness.

This constant supply of suitable food, it is believed,
is the great secret in rearing the more delicate birds,
turkeys, (Juinea fowls, ph(^asants, cScc, never (o suffer
the growth of the chick, (which goes on whether it

THE GUINEA FOWL. 175

has food in its stomach or not.) to produce exhaustion
of the vital powers, for want of the necessary aliment.
Young turkeys, as soon as they once feel languid,
from this cause, efuse their food when it is at last
offered to them, (just like a man whose appetite is
gone, in consequence of having waited too long for his
dinner.) never would eat more, were it not forced
down their throats, by which operation they may
frequently be recovered ; but the little Guinea fowls
give no notice of this faintness, till they are past all
cure ; and the struggle of a few minutes shows that
they have, indeed, outgrown their strength, or rather
that the material for producing strength, has not been
supplied to them in a degree commensurate with their
growth,

A dry, sunny corner in the garden will be the best
place to coop them with their Bantam mother. As
they increase in strength, they will do no harm, but
a great deal of good, by devouring worms, grubs cat-
erpillars, maggots, and all sorts of insects. By the
time their bodies are little bigger than those of spar-
rows, they will be able to fly with some degree of
strength ; and it is very pleasing to see them essay
the use of their wings at the call of their fostermoth-
er, or the approach of their feeder. It is one out of
millions of instances of the Provident Wisdom of the
Almighty Great , that the wing and tail feathers of
young gallinaceous birds, with which they require to
be furnished, at the earliest possible time, as a means
of escape from their numerous enemies, exhibit the
most rapid growth of any part of their frame. Other
additions to their complete stature are successively
and less immediately developed. The wings of a
chicken are soon fledged enough to be of great assist-
ance to it ; the spurs, comb, and ornamental plumage
do not appear till quite a subsequent period.

When the young Guinea fowls are about the size of
quails, or perhaps a little larger, their mother Bantam,
(which we suppose to be a tamC; quiet, matronly crea-

176 THE GUINEA FOAVL.

ture,) may be suffered to range loose in the orchard
and fields and no longer be permitted to enter the gar-
den, lest her family should acquire a habit of visiting
it at a time when their presence would be less wel-
come than formerly. They must still, however, re-
ceive a bountiful and frequent supply of food ; they
are not to be considered safe till the horn on their heads
is fairly grown. Indian meal, as a great treat, cooked
potatoes, boiled rice, anything in short, that is eatable,
may be thrown down to them. They will pick the
bones left after dinner with great satisfaction, and no
doubt, benefit to themselves. The tamer they can be
made, the less troublesome will those birds be which
you retain for stock ; the more kindly they are treated,
the more they are petted and pampered, the fatter and
better-conditioned will the others become, which you
design for your own table, or as presents to your
friends, and the better price will you get, if you send
them to market.

At a certain period, they will have got beyond the
management of their good little Bantam mother, and
will cast off her authority. They will form what has
appropriately been called a "pack ;" prowling about
in a body, after insects, and seeds, or grazing together,
(for they eat a great deal of grass,) still in a pack;
fiercely driving away any intruder on their society,
and all giving tongue, in one chorus, at the approach
of any danger. When fully grown, they weigh from
3 to 4 lbs.

Birds, thus reared on the spot where they are meant
to be kept, are sure to thrive better, and give less
trouble than those procured from a distance ; they
sometimes, will not remain in their new home, but
wander about in search of their old haunts till they
cither find them, or are themselves lost, destroyed, or
stolen.

It is of no use to shut up these fowls to fatten, un-
less, they have previously been made particularly
tame, as they would sulk, pino, and die, before they

THE GUIIVEA FOWL. 177

became reconciled to confinement, in spite of its extra
diet. The only plan, therefore, is to keep them in
high condition during the winter, by liberal hand-feed-
ing. The best practice is not to kill them with the
knife, like other poultry, but to dislocate their necks,
leaving the blood in them to remedy the dryness ot
their flesh, which is the great fault an epicure would
find with them. They should also remain in the lar-
der as long as possible before being cooked. It was
formerly the fashion for farmers' wives and daughters
to make tippets and muft's of the smaller feathers,
which much resemble chinchilli fur in appearance,
and were both elegant and-useful.

This bird is no great favorite with poultry keepers,
in general, but is one of those unfortunate beings,
which, from having been occasionally guilty of now
and then a trifling fault, has acquired a much worse
reputation than it really deserves. Notwithstanding
this, it is useful, ornamental, and interesting during
life, and a desirable addition to the table, if properly
dressed, when dead.

THE PEA FOWL.

ORIGIN AND HISTORY.

The peacock view, still cxqnisitely fair.
When clouds forsake, or when invest the air ;
His gems now brightened by a noon-tide ray ;
He proudly waves his feathers to the day,
A stmt majestically slow assumes,
And glories in the beauty of his plumes.

Paraphrase or the Book or Joa.

The common pea fowl has probably been tamed and
domesticated ever since there have existed human
eyes to admire it. It is said to have been brought
from the barbarians into Greece ; and being for a long
time rare, it was then exhibited for money to the ad-
mirers of beauty in a similar manner as menagerie
birds are with us, at the present day. At Athens,
both men and women were admitted to examine it
every new moon, and profit was made by the show ;
and, as Antyphon says in his speech against Crasistra-
tu.s, the male and female were valued at 1,000
drachmif, or about i/f-irA) the pair.

The remarkable j)oint in this account is, that the
creature was not gratuitously exhibited, like the tri-
um|)hal spoils of conquered nations, but was made a
wild-beast .show, for a consideration, and as a matter
of gain. It would be interesting to know the price of
admission, what sort of " brass l)and" performed before
the doors, and whether the j)ictorial representations,

THE PEA FOWL, 179

hung outside, at all outrivalled the brilliant display of
Barnum's Museum, in Broadv/ay.

So charming is the perfect combination of grace and
splendor diplayed by these most lovely creatures, so
excellent is their flesh, so hardy are they in their
adult state, that were it not for certain inconveniences
attendant upon keeping them, and also, perhaps, for
the indifference with which everything not rare is apt
to be regarded by us, they would be sought after as
never-tiring objects wherewith to gratify the sense of
sight. Who does not remember the thrill of delight
with which, in childhood, he first gazed upon their
brilliant gorgeousness ? Peacocks and gold fill our
youthful imaginations as fit elements of the magnifi-
cence of Solomon ; and no fable more fitly chose its
decorations than that which attached these feathered
gems, in association with the many-colored Iris, to the
train of the imperial Juno, who adorned its tail with
the hundred eyes of Argus — eyes which the poet calls
" star-like gems." Even the hen of the pea fowl,
though sober in her coloring, is harmoniously shaded,
and every movement is coincident with the line of
beauty.

But the most extraordinary peacock in the world,
altogether unique, and likely to remain so, whose va-
lue reduces that of the Athenian birds to a mere
nothing, and which is only to be approached in this
respect by the goose which lays golden eggs, if we
could find her, is kept at Windsor Castle, and long
may her Majesty, Q,ueen Victoria, continue in posses-
sion of it. Not being larger than an ordinary hen, it
consumes but little food ; and does no mischief in the
gardens, but rarely permitted to go abroad. It would
be cheap at £30,000 ; for, independent of its worth as
a trophy, and the strange history attached to it, its
tail is made up of diamonds, and the rest of its body
is composed of other costly materials, of which gold is
the least precious! It is a specimen of ornamental
poultry, and not unsuitable, perhaps, to the monarch

180 THE PEA FOWL.

of Great Britain ; but if I may presume to g-uess at
the tastes of the royal owner, more pleasure is derived
from the sight of her living models than from the in-
animate splendors of this glittering toy, although it
does so far —

Outshine the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold.

MiLTOH.

That the peacock should, in all times, have been
admired for its singular beauty is not surprising.
"When it moves along in state with its wings lowered
to the ground and its tail spread, the rays of the sun
glancing upon its gorgeous plumes, iridiscent with
metallic effulgence, the eye of every beholder is ar-
rested, and all gaze with admiration on the glorious
spectacle. When we talU of the peacock spreading its
tail, we use popular language. The gem-adorned
plumes, with their loose silken barbs, are not the tail,
but the tail coverts. The tail is beneath these, and
hidden by them, and consists of rather short, stiff
rust-colored feathers, which serve as a support to the
train.

1 would here willingly give an account of the habits
and manners of the wild pea fowls in the jungles of
India, parallel to that of the wild turkey of the Ameri-
can forest:-!, but no Wilson, no Audubon, no Bonaparte,
has written their history, and, for myself, I have never
seen one in its native woods. I might, indeed, tran-
scribe much respecting pea-fowl shooting from the
works of various writers, sportsiiuui in India ; but from
ill! this we gain no positive information. The reader
must, therefore, pardon mo for the meagre history of
the wild bird. However, what it is in captivity in our
country, th-xt it is in the forests of India, domestication
having litt\<! ionucnced its nature.

Them (;an be little doubt that the splendor of this
bird first attracted the notice of the ancients, yet in
luxurious Koine, its beauty v>as not its safeguard ; on

THE PEA FOWL, 181

the contrary, it was slaughtered in very wantonness,
for the sake of a few parts only deemed worthy of
being introduced as small items in the dishes of royal
lunatics or noble madmen. The sneer of Martial must,
in his day, have been biting ; he saw the peacock in its
glory, and then beheld it murdered for the sake of its
brainsr. "Well might he say —

" Oft as the hird his gem-starred plumes displays
In admiration dost thou stop to gaze,
And canst thou then, hard-hearted, take its life,
And coolly give it to your hireling's knife."

Of the favorite dishes of the Emperor Vitellius, called
the buckler of Minerva, was prepared with the livers
of a choice fish, the scarus, {Scarus creticus,) the
tongues of flamingos, and the brains of peacocks. The
bird figured also in the feasts of Hortensius and other
sensualists.

GEOGRAPHIOAL DISTRrBUTION.

The pea fowl is extensively spread in a wild state,
in India and the Indian Islands. It is abundant in the
dense woods of the Grhauts, and is readily domestica-
ted, many of the Hindoo temples in the Dukhun, as
Colonel Sykes informs us, having considerable flocks
of them. On comparing specimens of the wild bird
with the domesticated pea fowl of our country, he
found no difference in any respect. " Irides intense
red-brown," or rather, he should say, blood-red.

The wild pea fowl associates in numbers, and where
a favorite feeding ground invites them, hundreds some-
times collect together, but they are very wary, and run
with extreme velocity.

Colonel Williamson, in his account of peacock shoot-
ing, states that he has seen them in astonishing num-
bers about the passes in the jungletery district
Whole woods were covered with their beautiful plu-
mage, to which the rising sun imparted additional
brilliancy ; he states that small patches scattered
about, cultivated with mustard which was then in
bloom, induced the birds to collect there for the sake

182 THE PEA FOWL.

of feeding on the plant, and he speaks of the beauty
of the scene as enchanting, and so indeed it must have
been ; for he adds, " 1 speak within bounds when I
assert that there could not be less than twelve or
fifteen hundred pea fowls of various sizes within sight
of the spot where I stood for near an hour."

The connmon peacock was, till lately supposed to he
the only species of its genus ; but both preserved and
living specimens of the Aldrovandine pea fowl, which,
for a long while, was supposed fabulous, have been
recently introduced into England. But there is also a
third sort, which, on account of the confusion of
synonymes, has not received from naturalists the atten-
tion it deserves. The difficulty has been increased by
the conversion of " Japan" into "japanned" by some
writers. Japonensis, or Japonicus, are not, however,
synonymous with Javanensis nor Javanicus ; Java
and Japan are countries separated by many hundreds
of miles of distance, even by many degrees of lati-
tude and longitude. Yet Sir W. Jardine, in the " Na-
turalist's Library" gives the Pavo javanensis as the
same as the Japan peacock. His figure represents the
Java bird, as also does that in Grriffith's edition of
Cuvier's " Animal Kingdom," although the title
" Japan Peacock" is added to it. It is possible that
both species may be indigenous in one or both of these
respective countries, in which case, the specific names
are not wrong, but only confu.sed.

The Japan peacock is somewhat less in size than
the common, the white patches of naked skin on the
cheeks are smaller, the wings are blue-black, edged with
iiietallic-greeu instead of being mottled like tortoise
shell, the imbricated feathers on the back are smaller
and less conspicuous, and the whole coloring of the
bird is of a darker tone. The hen, on the contrary,
is much lighter than the common sort, with a tendency
to spangled, perhaps even ocellated, plumage all over
her body, and she has scarcely any glistening feathers
on the neck , her size is also mferior, and her propor-
tions more slender.

THE PEA FOWL.

183

THE PEACOCK.

SvNONYMF.s. — Pavo cristutus, of Naturalists ; Mohr, of the Mahrattag ;
Paon, of the French ; Pavnn, Pavo real, of the Spaniards ; Pfau,
P/auhahn, of the Germans ; Peacock, of the English and Anglo- Ameri-

The pea fowl is too weil known to require a detailed
description. There are two varieties of this species,
the " pied" and the " white." The first has irregular
patches of white about it, like the pied G-uinea fowl,
the remainder of the plumage resembling the original
sort. The white have the ocellated spots on the tail
faintly visible. These last are tender, and are much
prized by those who prefer rarity to real beauty . They
are occasionally produced by birds of the common kind,
in cases where no intercourse with other white birds
can have taken place. In one instance, in the same

184 THE PEA FOWL.

brood, whose parents were both of the usual colors,
there were two of the common sort, one white cock,
and one white hen.

As might be expected of a bird that has been reared
in captivity for several thousand years, the pea fowl
has been rendered very tame, and capable of consider-
able attachment to man in almost every country in
the globe. By regular feeding, it has easily been made
to take its place as a liveried attendant at the front
door, in order to show himself, and await with great
punctuality, for his meals. Indeed, so charming is
the perfect combination of grace and splendor, displayed
by these most lovely creatures, so excellent is their
flesh, so hardy are they in their adult state, that, were
it not for certain inconveniences, attendant upon keep-
ing them, and also, perhaps, for the indifference with
which everything not rare is apt to be regarded by us,
they would be sought after as never-tiring objects
wherewith to gratify the sense of sight. " Thus does
curiosity, in minds essentially vulgar, predominate
over the lasting sense of beauty ; and the glories of the
visible heavens, no less than the splendors of the pea-
cock, are passed with indifference by unreflecting
millions, because both are every-day sights."

The natural disposition of the peacock is selfish and
gluttonous, and it is only by pampering this weakness
that he can be persuaded into obedience and attach-
ment. He is vain, and at the same time ungallant.
Ho is far from manifesting the politeness and attention
which the common cock show.s towards his mates.
The peacock will greedily snatch from the mouth of
iiis hens those tit-bits and delicate morsels which the
cock would either share with his favorites, or yield to
them entirely. The peahen, in return, cares less for
her lord and master, and is more independent of him,
when once her amorous inclinations have been in-
dulged. She then rcjgards the display of his tail, his
puffings and struttings, and all the rattling of his

THE PEA FOWL. 185

quills, with the coolest indifference. Nor does he seem
to care much about her admiration, or to make all
this exhibition of his attractions to secure her notice,
but is content, if he can get some astonished hen, or
silly bewildered duck, up a corner, to wonder what all
this fuss is about. Like other vain coxcombs, he ex-
pects the lady to make the- first advances. Although
occasionally cruel, the peacock is shy of fighting, par-
ticularly when in full plumage ; nor do these birds so
frequently engage with each other as with those of a
different species, such as drakes, cocks, &c. One, out
of feather, was seen to keep up a three-hour struggle
with a musk drake ; had it been in full plumage, it
would not have shown fight at all.

Another objection to them, is their alleged wanton
destructiveness towards the young of other poultry, a
propensity respecting which, the accounts are very
contradictory. It is believed, however, that the pea-
cock becomes more cruel as he advances in life, al-
though they often vary in their dispositions. A writer
on this point says, " I have known them to kill froni
twelve to twenty ducklings, say from a week to a
fortnight old, during one day ; but if they come across
a brood of young chicks or ducklings, a few days old,
they would destroy the whole of them." And yet, in
the face of all this condemnatory evidence, we now
and then see a favorite bird, with neck of lapis lazuli,
back of emerald, wings of tortoise shell, and tail out-
shining the rainbow, in some old-fashioned farm yard,
the pet of his mistress, who is, perhaps, the most suc-
cessful poultry woman in the neighborhood, and whose
stock shows no sign of any murderous thinning. The
peahen, which, when she has eggs or young, seems
really a more guilty party, is not, in general, even
suspected. So true is it that " one man may steal a
horse, while another must not look over a hedge."

Nervous and fastidious persons object to their cry,
or call, which, indeed, is not melodious ; and a strip
of woollen cloth is sometimes hung round their necks

186 THE PEA FOWL.

in the fashion of a collar, to silence them ; the appen-
dage, however, is anything but an ornament, and the
effect is not permanent. But it must be regarded as
an unhealthy symptom, when any natural or rural
sound is displeasing to the ear. The bleating of sheep,
the pattering of rain, the hum of bees, the pealing
thunder, the laughter of children, the breezy rustling
of a grove, the lashing of wintry waves, and the sigh-
ing of summer winds, have all been felt by listeners in
their happiest moods to be most musical, — to have an
effect more touching than any music ; and should,
therefore, be welcome, instead of distasteful, to the
healthy sense. And even the screams of pea fowl,
ringing from a distance on a summer's evening, will
suggest an abundance of images and recollections
that cannot fail to interest any but the most dull and
unimaginative minds.

RANGE AND DOMESTIC ACCOMMODATION.

The causes which disincline many persons from in-
dulging themselves v/ith the daily spectacle of this in-
approachable model of beauty, are, in the first place,
the depredations that it commits upon gardens. For
this, there is no help. The dislike which these birds
have to enter a fowl house, and their decided determi-
nation to roost on trees, or lofty buildings, prevents
our exercising a control which should restrain them
from mischief till an eye can bo kept upon their move-
ments. At the first dawn, or at the most unsuspected
moments, they will steal olf to the work of plunder.
A mansion, therefore, the fruit and vegetable garden
of which is at a distance, is almost the only place
where they can be kept without daily vexation. The
injury they do to /lowers is comj)aratively trifling;
though, like the Guinea fowl, they are great eaters of
buds, cutting them out from the axils of the leaves as
cleanly as a surgeon's dissecting knife would do.
They must also have a dusting hole, which is largo and
unsightly ; but this can be provided for them in some

THE PEA FOWIi. 187

out-of-the-way nook ; and by feeding and encourage-
ment, they will soon be brought to dispose themselves
into a tableaux vivant, at whatever point of view the
tasteful eye may deem desirable. No one with a very
limited range should attempt to keep them at all.
But where they can be kept, they should be collected
in considerable numbers, that their dazzling effect may
be as impressive as possible. It should be understood,
however, that no vineyard be at hand The greenness
and sourness of the grapes, which caused the fox to
refrain, would be but a weak argument with them.

Old birds, received at a distance, are difficult to
settle in a new home. Housing they do not like, and
will scarcely bear. Most liberal feeding is the best
bond of attachment, but even with that, they will un-
expectedly be olT, and will, perhaps, be stopped on the
high road, like other suspicious vagrants. It is recom-
mended to procure a sitting of eggs, place them under
a hen turkey, and have the pleasure of watching their
whole progress, literally ab ovo. Those who are im-
patient to have a full-grown stock, should still select
birds not more than three years old.

LAYING-, BROODING, AND SUBSEQUENT TREATMENT.

In general, the peahen makes her nest on the bare
ground, amongst nettles, or rank weeds ; sometimes
she chooses the shelter of a young fir. The egg very
much resembles that of the ostrich in miniature, being
smooth, but indented all over with little dimples, as if
pricked with a large pin. It is somewhat bigger than
a turkey's egg, bulging considerably at the larger
end, of a dull, yellowish-white, and occasionally, but
not always, spotted, or rather freckled, with a few
small reddish-brown marks. The newly -hatched
chicks are streaked on the head and neck with alter-
nate stripes of dingy-yellow and pale-brown ; the legs
are of a dusky-yellowish tinge.

The probable term of life of the pea fowl is eighteen
or twenty years ; and the young poults may be eaten

188 THE PEA FOWL.

at nine months old. The female does not lay till her
third summer ; but she then seems to have an in-
stinctive fear of her mate, manifested by the secrecy
with which she selects the place for her nest ; nor, if
the eggs are disturbed, will she go there again. She
lays from four or five to seven. If these are taken, she
will frequently lay a second time, in the course of the
summer, which plan is recommended to those who
are anxious to increase their stock. She sits from
twenty-seven to twenty-nine days. A common hen
will hatch and rear the young ; but the same objec-
tion lies against her performing that office, except in
very fine, long summers, for the pea fowl, as for tur-
keys ; namely, that the poults require to be brooded
longer than the hen is able conveniently to do. A tur-
key will prove a much better foster mother in every
respect. The peahen should, of course, be permitted
to take charge of one set of eggs. Even without such
assistance she will be tolerably successful.

The chicks are engaging little things, most elegant
in appearance, very tame and confident. They may
be made to sit upon the hand to peck flies from the
window. The same Wise Provision is evinced by
them, as in the Gruinea fowl, but still in a greater
degree. The demands of nature for the growth of
bone, muscle, and particularly of feathers, are so great,
that no subsequent abundant supply of food can make
up for a fast of a couple of hours. The feathers still
go on, grow ! grow ! ! grow ! ! ! in geometrical pro-
gression, and drain the sources of vitality still faster
than they can bo .supplied, till the young birds faint
and expire from want of fullness.

Their native jungle, in India, tall dense, sometimes
impervious, swarming with reptiles, quadrupeds, and
even insect enemies, would be a most dangerous habi-
tation for a little tender thing, that can but run and
merely squat. Accordingly, they escape from the egg
with their (juill feathers very highly developed. In
three days, they will lly up and perch upon anything

THE PEA FOWI,. 189

a yard in height ; in a fortnight, they will roost on
trees, or the tops of sheds ; and in a month or six
weeks, you would see them on the ridge of the barn,
if there are any intermediate low stables, or other
building, that would help them to mount from one to
to the other.

If fatted, the pea fowls should be shut up together
with any turkeys they may have been in the habit of
associating with, and fed exactly the same. If con-
fined alone, they pine. They are, however, an excel-
lent viand at a much more advanced age, and without
any more fatting, provided they have been well fed,
and killed at a proper season ; that is, when they are
not renewing their plumage, and are in the larder
hung up a sufficient time before cooking. A disregard
to these points has probably led to their being so little
appreciated as a dainty dish. Pork, in the dog days,
and illegal oysters, might, in a similar manner, give a
bad repute to other good things, did we not manage them
better. When dressed for table, they should be larded
over the breast, covered with paper, roasted by a gentle
lire, and served with brown gravy, exactly like par-
tridges or pheasants. Wlien moulting, extra diet and
varieties of food, including hemp seed and animal sub-
stances, are most desirable.

THE TAME DUCK.

ORIGIN AND HISTORY.

It TTOnld be cuTions to know when this species was first domesti-
cated ; but, reader, the solution of such a question is a task on whieh I
shall not Tenturo.

AUDUBOW.

In regard to the origin of the ordinary farmyard
duck, but one leading opinion seems to have prevailed
in all the compilations from Aldrovandi down to Au-
dubon, that it is nothing more than the tame descend-
ant of the common wild duck, {Aims boschafi,) of
Europe, or the old English mallard. It is a pity to
disturb so plausible and general a belief ; but an at-
tempt to approximate to the solution of Audubon's
problem ^^when this species was first domesticated,''''
has raised some doubts upon the subject, which it is
of no uso to suppress. One thing, however, is very
certain — the wild breed and the tame will freely inter-
mix, and the progeny partake rather more decidedly
of the habits and manners of the former, than of the
latter.

There are, indeed, many points, irrespective of the
varied colors in our domestic breeds, in which the
tame and wild ducks differ. For instance, the tamo
duck is polygamous, but the wild species mates.
Again, the feet of the wild duck are black while those
of the tame birds are flesh-colored or red.

THE TAME DUCK. 191

THE WILD DUCK.

As to its history, one thing, I think, may be demon-
strated, that is, that the date of its first appearance in
domestication on the European continent is not very
remote, however high may be its antiquity in India
and China. In pursuing this sort of inquiries, which
are daily becoming more interesting and more impor-
tant in their conclusions, one regrets that untranslated
works on natural history or farming, (if such there be,)
in the oriental languages, are sealed records to almost
every one who has the leisure to make use of their
contents. It is extremely probable that great light
might be thrown on the origin and history of our do-
mesticated animals by a careful inspection of such
works. As it is, we are left to obtain our evidence
from imperfect and more recent traces, with the ex-
ception of geology.

If the swan and the pelican were forbidden to the
Israelites, and their carcasses to be held in abomination,
(see Leviticus, xi. 18,) the duck would probably be
included in the list of unclean birds ; or, rather, we
may, without violence, suppose that the Hebrew words
translated " swan " and "pelican," are used generi-

192 THE TAME DUCK.

cally for all web-footed fowls. But, as Scott says
" here the critics find abundance of work,"

I have already alluded to the artificial incubation
of the eggs of fowls in Egypt; the sams thing occurs
with ducks' eggs in China. The rearing of ducks as
well as pigs Ihere is a matter of considerable im-
portance. Thousands of ducks are hatched by artificial
warmth, the eggs being laid in boxes of sand, which
are placed on a brick hearth, a proper temperature
being maintained around them, until the ducklings
emerge from their shells. The ducklings, it is said,
are at first fed with cray fish and crabs boiled and cut
small, and afterwards mixed with boiled rice. In
about a fortnight, they are able to shift for themselves ;
they are then provided with an old stepmother, who
leads them where they are to find provender, being
first put on board a " sampan," or boat which is destined
for their habitation, and from which the whole flock,
300 or 400 in number, go out to feed and return at
command. This method is used nine months out of
the twelve ; for, in the colder months, it does not suc-
ceed, and is so far from a novelty that it may be seen
everywhere, more especially about the time of cutting
the rice, when the masters of the duck boats row up
and down the rivers, according to the opportunity of
procuring food, which, during that season, is found in
plenty at the ebb of the tide on the rice plantations
which are overflowed at high water. It is curious to
see how the ducks obey their master ; for, some thou-
sands belonging to different boats, will feed upon the
same spot, and on a siglftl given, follow the leader to
their respective crafts, without a stranger being found
among them. The communication between the bank
and the boat, is by means of a narrow plank ; and
it is stated by a gentleman long resident in the Ce-
lestial Empire that the first duck which gains the
boat is ordinarily rewarded with a handful of rice,
but that the last undergoes a smart chastisement. Of
this discipline, the birds become, from its repetition,

THE TA.ME DUCK

193

soon aware, hence each strives to be foremost ; one un-
fortunate must of course be the last, and undergo its
punishment.

Among the ancient Egyptians, ducks were in great
request, and Herodotus informs us that they were
eaten salted, without any other preparation.

" Groose and duck painting, seems to have been a
favorite subject among the Egyptians. In Rosellini's
plates, (No. iv. M. C.,) there is a picture from a tomb
at Thebes, which represents a continuous subject; it
lies in one compartment, and is read from right to left.
On the extreme right, four men are pulling a long rope
attached to a net, in which a num ber of birds, appa-
rently ducks, are caught upon a lake or some water;
a fifth man, a little in advance of the four, has also
hold of the rope, and seems to be giving a signal to the
.rest, while a man hid among some plants, (papyri?)
appears to be giving a signal and recommending care
and silence. Further on the left, are two men carry-
ing the ducks on their shoulders, and a little further,
a man putting them into earthern vessels, formed like
Roman amphorce, after the feathers have been plucked
and the legs cut off, the heads of the ducks were kept
on, and in this state they seemed to have been put
into the amphorce, probably containing salt or pickle.
In the extreme left of the picture, two men are seated,
one of whom seems as if he were rubbing something
into a duck ; one hand is closed as it would be -if it
were full of salt, and with the other he is raising one
of the wings, apparently for the purpose of rubbing in
tlie salt. The other figurepppears to us to be pluck-
ing the feathers off the neck of a duck ; but Rosellini
describes him as sprinkling a handful of salt upon it.
These two seated figures are placed near a frame work,
formed by two upright poles and a third placed across.
From this cross poll, the geese, which are plucked and
ready for the amphorae, are suspended by the neck.
This painting, according to Rosellini, is on the tomb
of a royal scribe called Titi, who exorcised his art in
9

10 t THE TAME DUCK.

the reigns of Thutraes IV. and of Ameno II., in the
beginning of the eighteenth century before the Chris-
tian era, and hence, if Rosellini's interpretation of the
inscriptions is right, the picture is 3,600 years old."

In other delineations of the same work, ponds
in gardens, with tame ducks, geese, and fishes, sur-
rounded by fruit trees, are presented. It is somewhat
remarkable, that, esteemed as the duck was by the an-
cient Egyptians, neith(!r this bird in a tame state, nor
the goose, though wild fowls are abundant, is to be seen
as of extraordinary occurrence in the villages ; the same
observation applies to ^^yria, and also to Persia and
Western Asia in general. These aquatic birds are
rarely eaten by the Moslems ; and, as there is every
reason to believe, were rejected by the ancient He-
brews. The wild duck abounds in Syria and other
parts of Western Asia, where marshes and lakes afford
it a congenial habitation. Wild fowls swarm also on
the lake of Tiberias.

It may be shown, however from negative evidence,
that the Romans at the time of our Saviour, and sub-
sequently, were not acquainted with the domesticated
luck. I can find no passage plainly declaring that
they were, but many implying that they were not.

Columella, after having given directions for the
rearing of geese, which, with one or two laughable
exceptions, are more sensible and practical than are to
be found in modern works, proceeds to offer instruc-
tions for making the neswfrophion, or duckery. He
speaks of it as a matter of curiosity rather than profit;
" for ducks, teal, mallanlH phalorides," says he, " and
such like birds, are fed in confinement." Then it is
to be surrounded with a wall fifteen feet high, and
roofed with netting, in order " that the domestic birds
may have no yowv.r of jlyins; out, nor eagles and
hawks of flying in." His mcde of increasing his stock
shows that ducks had not at that time become natu-
ralised as prolific inmates of the Roman poultry yards.
^ When any one is dosirou'- of establishing a duckery,"

THE TAME DUCK 195

continues he, " it is a /ery old mode to collect the
eggs of the above-mentioned birds, (such as teal, mal-
lard, &c.,) and to place them under common hens;
for the young thus hatched and reared, cast off their
wild tempers, and undoubtedly breed, when confined
in menageries. For if it is your plan to place fresh-
caught birds that are accustomed to a free mode of
life in captivity, they will be but slow breeders in a
state of bondage."

Cicero also speaks of hatching ducks' eggs under
hens, (De Natura Deorum, II.,) but there is nothing
in the passage from which to infer that those ducks
were domesticated, but rather the contrary ; as he re-
marks how soon they abandon their foster mother and
shift for themselves.

Pliny describes the flight of ducks, as rising imme-
diately from the water into the higher regions of the
atmosphere ; a performance that would make our duck
keepers uneasy. The very little mention that he
makes of ducks at all, shows that he did not habitually
see them in domestication.

" Suppose it, however, to be proved," says Dixon,
"that the tame duck is a comparative novelty in the
West, it by no means follows that it is so on the Asi-
atic continent and islands, nor, as a corollary, that it
is a tamed descendant of our mallard. If the skele-
tons of one and the other v/ere placed side by side, it
would require, not a skillful comparative anatomist,
but only an observant sportsman, or even an ordinary
cook, to point out which was which.* Nor has sufh-
cient weight been attached to the circumstance of one
bird being polygamous, and the other monogamous."
When I come to speak of the domestic goose, it will
be seen how little such a difference is likely to be the
result of domestication. Let us not forget, too, that
the domestication of wild races is an art that demands
quiet, peace, patience, and superabundance, not merely

*" You need not be at a loss to know a wild duck. The claws in the wiM
tpeciu8 are black— Coi.. Hawker ^

196 Tli;-: J' ME DLCK.

for its successful issue, but for its being exercised at
all, and was little likely to be much practised by any
European nation, in the interval between the fall of
the Roman Empire and the present day, with a crea-
ture that required a course of generations to reclaim
it. I am inclined, therefore, to consider the race of
farmyard ducks as an importation, through whatever
channel, from the East, and to point out the discovery
of the passage of the Cape of Grood Hope, (1493,) as
the approximate date. The early voyagers speak of
finding them in the East Indies exactly similar to
ours ; and the transmission of a few pairs would be a
much easier task than to subdue the shyness and
wildness of the wild mallard, and induce an alteration
in its bony structure.

The mallard, though not gone, is fast diminishing
as a permanent inhabitant of England ; the tame duok,
so much larger and heavier, if its descendant, can
hardly be called a degenerate one. The mallard is
very widely diffused over the continental part both of
the Old and the New World, and therefore its supposed
adaptation to domestic life is as likely to have occur-
red in Asia as in Europe. Its dislike to salt water
has made it less cosmopolitan among the islands.
Dampier, in his "Voyages," repeatedly mentions that in
the East Indies, "the tame fowls are ducks and dung-
hill fowls, both in great plenty ; he does not describe
the ducks, except as " the same with ours." He was
doubtless correct in believing them to bo the same ;
although wc know that the old travellers, and many
of the modern emigrants, are not very precise in their
zoology, and indeed might .sometimes be excusably
jiuzzled. For instance, when Captain Wallis, .soon
after he had discovered Otaheite, saw animals lying
on the .shore with their fore feet growing bt^hind their
heads, rising every now and then, and running a little
way in an erect |)osturc ; he was naturally incited
with curiosity to inspect them more closely ; and after-
wards found that they were dogs with their fore legs

THE TAME DUCK. 197

tied behind them, brought down by the natives as a
peace-ofFering and a festival dish.

One of the most valid arguments in favor of the de-
rivation of the tame duck from the mallard, is to be
found in the readiness with which the former returns
to a wild or a half-wild state. In Norfolk, England,
there is a breed called "marsh ducks," more from
their habits and place of birth than from any peculiar-
ity of race. They are mostly of plumage generally
similar to the mallard, though an ornithologist would
immediately distinguish them ; their size and the
firmness of their bones are intermediate "between the
wild bird and the common farmyard duck. They are
turned out on the marshes to forage for themselves ;
indeed, it would be next to impossible to keep them
at home ; and of the number which are annually lost
to their masters, it would seem likely that quite as
many assume an independent condition, as are killed
by birds, beasts, or men, of prey ; but still they do
not appear to be ever found actually and entirely wild.

CHOICE OF VARIETIES.

The variety, at present, most in request, is the
" dark-colored Rouen, or Rhone duck," originally from
France, but common both in England and in this
country. The " English," or " Aylesbury" white va-
riety, though handsome and strong, is inferior in fla-
vor, the flesh being too light-colored and " chickeny,"
as it is termed. Great numbers of these fowls, how-
ever, are fattened in Buckinghamshire, England, for
the London markets, where, in consequence of their
large size, they command high prices. There is
also the " crested," or " topknot duck," a beautiful
ornamental tame variety, which breeds early, lays
freely, and hatches well. They occur pure white,
black, or mixed with black and white. Then there is
the " musk" or "Muscovy" duck, which, from its
large size, and peculiar habits, demands a more ex-
tended notice.

198 THE TAME DUCK

THE MUSK DUCK.

SrwoNTMES — ^nas moschala, of Linnxus ; ^nas tijlvettrii hraziliensit,
of Ray ; Cane musquee, of the French ; hisamduftend Ente, of the Ger-
mans ; Pata real, Pala grande, Pata almisclada, of the Spaniards ;
Musk Duck, Muscovy Duck, of the English and Anglo-Americans.

The musk duck, so termed from the strong scent of
umsk which its skin exhales, is undoubtedly the type
of a genus very distinct from that of the common kind.
In this species, the feathers are large, lax, and powdery,
the cheeks, are extensively naked, and the base of the
bill is carnnculatcd. This duck greatly exceeds the
ordinary kind in size, and the male is far larger than
the female. The general color is glossy blue-black,
varied more or less with white, the head is crested,
and a scarlet fleshy space surrounds the eye, contin-
ued from scarlet caruncles at the base of the beak.
Tail destitute of the curled feathers so conspicuous in
the tail of the common drake. In a wild state, the
drake is of a brownish-black, with a broad white patch
on the wings, the female being smaller and more ob-
scurely colored. But in a state of domestication, it
exhibits every variety of col )r, like the com tiwn duck.

The tropical regions of t^^outh America are the na-
tive country of the musk dnrl<, which may account
for its dislike to a cold bath \i\ our northern climate.
Its frizzled crest is analogous to that of some curas-
sows, natives of the same continent. It is fond of
warmth, passing the night, at the north, not in the open
air, but in the fowl house with the cock and hens ;

THE TAME DUCK. 199

and selecting "by day, the most sunny corner to bask
and doze in.

" Can a duck swim ?" is a pert question sometimes
asked with little expectation of an answer in the neg-
ative. Here, however, is a duck, which, if it can
swim, performs that action in such a clumsy way as
haT-dly to deserve the name of swimming. Those who
expect that its singular appearance would render it a
curious, if not an elegant companion, among our more
attractive ducks will be disappointed ; for it will nev-
er go near the water, if it can help it, but will prefer
the farm yard, the precincts of the kitchen, or even
the piggery itself, to the clearest stream that ever
flowed. In fact, it hates water, except some dirty
puddle to drink and drabble in. When thrown into a
pond, it gets out again as fast as it can. It does, in-
deed, sometimes seem to enjoy an occasional bath,
and so does a sparrow or a Canary bird. Its very
short leg does not appear to be mechanically adapted
for the purpose of swimming. It waddles on the sur-
face of a pond as much as it does on dry land ; it is
evidently out of its place in either situation. Its pro-
per mode of locomotion is through the air ; its congenial
haunts are among the branches of trees.

The female of the musk duck has considerable pow-
ers of flight, and is easy and self-possessed in the use
of its wings. It is fond of perching on the tops of
barns, walls, &o. Its feet appear by their form to be
more adapted to such purposes than those of most
other ducks. If allowed to spend the night in the
hen house, the female will generally go to roost by
the side of the hens, but the drake is too heavy to mount
thither with ease. His claws are sharp and long ; and
he approaches the tribe of " scratchers," (rasores, )
in an un-scientific sense, being almost as dangerous to
handle incautiously as an ill-tempered cat ; and will
occasionally adopt a still more offensive and scarcely
desoribable means of annoyance. He manifests little
affection to his feaiah partner, and none towards her

200 THE TAME DUCK

offspring. The possession of three or four mates suits
him and them, better than to be confined to the com-
pany of a single one. He bullies other fowls, some-
times by pulling their feathers, but more frequently
by following them close, and repeatedly thrusting his
face in their way, with an offensive and satyr-like ex-
pression of countenance ; or salaciously pursuing
them, whether male or female, until he has accom-
plished his purpose, or at least has made an attempt.

The musk duck, though a voracious feeder, is easily
fattened, a prolific breeder, and consequently, may be
profitably reared. The male pairs readily with the
common tame duck, producing, by the cross, a hybrid,
or mongrel, which is incapable of "breeding in a line."
The female, however, will pair with the common drake
and produce a good sort. The hybrid generally has a
deep-green plumage, and is destitute of the red car-
uncled membrane on the cheeks, as well as of the
musky odor of the gland on the rump.

Her eggs are scarcely distinguishable from those of
the common duck; they are well flavored. The time
of incubation is five weeks ; but in all birds that I
have observed, the duration of that period varies so
much according to circumstances, that a mean of
many observations must be taken to arrive at a correct
standard. The time required by the hybrid eggs be-
tween this and the common duck, is intermediate
between the respective periods.

The newly-hatched young resemble those of the
common tame duck ; they are covered with down, the
shades of which indicate the color of the future feath-
ers; and they do not jor some time show any apj)ear-
anco of the tuberculated face. They are delicate, and
require some care while young, but are quite hardy
when full grown. Their food should be anything that
is nutritious, both plenty and a variety of it.

The musk duck is excellent eating, if killed just be-
fore it is fully fledged ; but it is longer in becoming fit

THE TAME DUCK. 201

for the table than the common duck. The flesh is
at first high-flavored and tender, but an old bird would
be rank, and the toughest of tough meats. It is
strange that a dish should now be so much out of
fashion as scarcely ever to be seen or tasted, which,
under the name of Gruinea duck, graced every feast
in England a hundred and fifty years ago, and added
dignity to every table at which it was produced.

RANGE AND DOMESTIC ACCOiyrP/rODATION OF THE COMMON
TAME DUCK.

It is not in all situations that common ducks can
be kept with advantage ; they require water much
more, even, than the goose ; they are no grazers, yet
they are hearty feeders, and excellent " snappers-up
of unconsidered trifles ;" nothing comes amiss to them —
green vegetables, especially when boiled, the rejecta-
menta of the kitchen, meal of all sorts made into a
paste, grains, bread, oatcake, animal substances,
worms, slugs, and crushed snails, insects and their
larvae, are all accepted with eagerness. Their appe-
tite is not fastidious ; in fact, to parody the line of a
song, "they eat all that is luscious, eat all that they
can," and seem to be determined to reward their own-
er by keeping themselves in first-rate condition if the
chance of so doing is afforded them. They never need
cramming — give them enough, and they will cram
themselves ; yet they have their requirements, and
ways of their own, which must be conceded. Con-
finement will not do for them ; a paddock, a pasture,
an orchard, a green lane, and a pond ; a farm yard,
with barns, and water, a common, smooth and level,
with a sheet of water, and nice ditches, abounding in
the season with tadpoles and the larva3 of aquatic in-
sects, are the localities in which the duck delights,
and in such are they kept at little expense. They trav-
erse the green sward in Indian file, (an instinctive
habit,) and thus return at evening to their dormitory,

202 THE TAME DUCK.

or emerge from it to the edge oi the pond, cr sheet of
water, over which they scatter themselves ; thus also,
they come to the call of their feeder.

Ducks should always have a lodging-place of their
own, they should be separate from fowls, and never
housed beneath their perches ; yet where fowls are
kept, a little contrivance will suffice to make their
berth, even in a fowl house, tolerably comfortable. In
winter, a thin bedding of straw, rushes, or fern leaves
should be placed on the floor of their dormitory, and
frequently changed.

As respects the accommodation of the tarhe duck,
Mascall says, " Yee must make a ponde of two feete
deepe, so long and wyde as the place will serve, and
that the water there may run full continuallye to the
brimme thereof, that the bankes may not be marde,
and also made with plaister, and cimmond, (cement ?)
in the .bottom, and all about the sydes paved with
smooth stone, that no wecdes do g-row therein, but
that the fowle may have clear water still run thorovv.
And in the midst yee shall make a mount of earth,
and thereon sowe beannes of Egypt, and such other
green herbes as commonly comes in water, to cover
and hyde those fowla tliereiu ; for some of them loves
to be hid in tuftes of grasse, roses, (rushes ?) sedge,
and such ; notwithstanding, yee muste not cover their
holes, for the water must be once in the day without
wecdes."

"Where there is much extent of water or shrubbery,
within the range of ducks, they are liable to lay and
sit abroad, unless they are constanlJy looked after, ami
driven home at night, and j)rovided with proper shelter
or pens. These may bo made of rough boards, or of
rustic work, thatc^hed wi(h straw, as denoted in the
ritllowing cut. They may also be made after the mode
OI the |)ouUry lionso, at p. 86.

THE TAME DUCK,

203

DUCK POND AND HOUSES.

The internal arrangement of these houses may vary,
according to the means and taste of the proprietor, only
providing the ducks with nests or nest boxes, in order
that they may lay and incubate undisturbed, and
affording proper protection for the young.

PAIRING AND LAYING.

One drake, according to M, Parmentier, is sufficient
for eight or ten ducks, while Columella limits the
number of ducks to six ; and others to four or five.
They begin to lay towards the end of February, and
sometimes earlier, but so far from producing the lim-
ited number of about sixteen eggs, some will lay as
many as fifty, and even neady double that number.
They do not, usually continue to lay, however, later
than May or June, unless they are very well fed — the
great secret for rendering them prolific, provided they
do not become too fat.

At the laying season, ducks require to be closely
looked after, inasmuch as they are not so easily brought
to lay in the nests prepared for them as common fowls ;
but will stray away to hedges and other by-places to
lay, anil will even somotinies drop their eggs in the
water. When they succeed in laying out their nuni-

204 THE TA.ME DUCK.

ber of eggs without their nest being discovered, they
will hatch them, and not make their appearance till
they bring their young family home to the yard, ex-
cept in raw, cold weather. As ducks usually lay either
at night, or very early in the morning, it is a good
way to secure their eggs, to confine them during the
period when they must lay, a circumstance easily as-
certained by feeling the vent.

It will accordingly be requisite at the approach of
the laying season, in spring, to give them food in a
particular place three or four times a-day, to prevent
them from wandering, and when once they can be
got to lay in a nest prepared for them, they will prob-
ably continue to do so, without laying elsewhere.

The eggs of the duck are readily known from those
of the common fowl by their bluish color and larger
size, the shell being smoother, not so thick, and with
much fewer pores. When boiled, the white is never
curdy like that of a new-laid hen's egg, but transpa-
rent and glassy, while the yolk is much darker in
color. The flavor is by no means so delicate. For
omelets, however, as well as for puddings and pastry,
ducic eggs arc much better than hens' eggs, giving a
finer color and flavor, and requiring less butter.

INCTTBATION.

The tame duck is not naturally disposed to incubate,
but in order to induce her to do so, towards the end of
laying, two or three other eggs may be left in each
nest, taking care every morning to take away the
oldest laid, that they may not l)o spoiled. From eight
to ten eggs may be given, according to the size of tlio
(luck, and her ability to cover them, taking particular
care not to sprinkle them with cold water, as some
authors wrongly advise. This precaution, at the best,
is supcrdnous, if it be not hurtful. The duck requires
some care when she sits ; for as she cannot go to her
food, attention must be paid to place it before her ;
and she will l>e content w'th it, whatever be its qual-

THE TAJIE DUCK. 205

jty: it lias even been remarked, that when ducks are
too well fed, they will not sit well. The period of in-
cubation is about thirty days, which is somewhat lon-
ger than that of the wild species.

The first broods of the season are usually the best,
because the heat of summer helps much to strengthen
the ducklings ; the cold always preventing the later
broods from getting strong.

The duck is apt to let her eggs get cold, when she
hatches. Yet Reaumur says, he had one of the com-
mon species, which only left the nest once a day,
towards eight or nine in the piorning ; and before leav-
ing it, covered the eggs over with a layer of straw,
which she drew from the body of the nest, to screen
them from the impression of the air. This layer,
above an inch thick, secured the eggs so well, that
it was impossible to guess that they were there. But,
every duck is far from giving the same proofs of so
much foresight for the preservation of the warmth of
the eggs, as this one was, and it often happens that
they let them cool. The ducklings are no sooner ex-
cluded, than the mother takes them to the water,
where they dabble and eat at the very first, and many
of them perish, if the weather is cold.

All these reasons often induce poultry keepers to
have ducks' eggs hatched by hens or turkey hens ;
and being more assiduous than ducks, these borrowed
mothers take an affection for the young, to watch
over, which requires great attention ; because, as these
are unable to accompany them on the water, for which
they show the greatest propensity as soon as they are
excluded, they follow the mother hen on dry land, and
get a little hardy before they are allowed to take to
the water without any guide. Yet, they can do with-
out a mother as soon as they are excluded from the
shell.

REARING- AND FEEDING- THE YOUNG.

The best mode of rearing ducklings depends very
much upon the situation in which they are hatched.

203 THE TAy.!', 1 rcK.

For the first month, the confinement of their mother,
under a coop is better than too much liberty. All
kinds of sopped food, buckwheat flour, Indian or
barley meal and water mixed thin, worms, Sec, suit
them. No people are more successful than cottagers,
■who keep them for the first period of their existence
in pens two or three yards square, cramming them
night and morning with dried pellets of flour and
water, or egg and flour, till they are judged old enough
to be turned out with their mother to forage on the
common or the village pond.

When ducklings have been hatched under a com-
mon hen, or a turkey hen, they are not generally
allowed to go to the water till they become a little
hardy, by remaining on land ; but the moment they
see water, they naturally plunge into it, to the great
alarm of their fostermother, which cannot follow them ;
a circumstance which has been remarked by the earli-
est writers, and is finely depicted by M. Rosset in his
" Poeme de I' Agriculture."

It is necessary, to prevent accidents, to take care
that such ducklings come regularly home every eve-
ning ; but precautions must be taken before they are
permitted to mingle with the old ducks, lest the latter
ill-treat and kill them, though ducks are by no means
so pugnacious and jealous of new-comers as common
fowls uniformly are.

FATTENING.

According to Grervase Markhani, pulse, or any kind
of grain, will fatten ducks or diKsklings in a fortnight;
but if he had tried this, he would have found that his
receipt was not always successful.

Lawrence says that butchers' oflal is excellent for
fattening ducks, as it does not give the flesh the rank,
disagreeable flavor which it always imparts to pork.
Acorns, on the contrary, while they are gotxl for fat-
tening, injure the flavor of the flesh, and barley in

THE TAME DUCK. 207

any form is apt to render the flesh insjpid, and woolly,
or, as it is termed, " chickeny."

As the duck is both a voracious feeder and fond of
liberty, it will fatten very well when allowed to roam
about, provided it has abundance of food ; but it ex-
pedites the process of fattening, to have recourse to
coops, quiet, and darkness.

In Lower Normandy, where great numbers of ducks
are reared and fattened, the poulterer prepares a paste
with the flour of buckwheat, made into gobbets, with
which they are crammed thrice a-day, for eight or ten
days, when, though not full fat, they are sufficiently
marketable to bring a remunerating price.

In Languedoc, when ducks have been rendered tol-
erably fat by being at large, they are cooped up by
eights or tens in a dark place, whence they are taken
out morning and evening to be crammed. This is
done by a girl, who crosses their wings on her knees,
opens their bill with her left hand, while with her
right she stuffs them with boiled maize. Many ducks
are suffocated by the operation, and killed outright,
but their flesh is not the worse for the table, provided
that they be immediately bled. It requires a fortnight
to complete the process, which increases the size of
their liver enormously, and oppresses their breathing
in a distressing manner. The sign of their being suf-
ficiently fat is, when the tail opens like a fan, from the
fat pressing on the roots of the feathers.

THE DOMESTIC GOOSE.

ORICJIN AND HISTORY.

A team of twenty geese, a snow-white train !
Fed near the limpid lake with golden grain,
Amuse my pensive hours.

Pope.

The domestication of the common goose, like that
uf the domestic fowl, hides itself, as we pursue it, in
the remotest depths, and obscurest mists of ancient his-
tory. It has already been hinted that, by the Hebrews,
as by many modern naturalists, it would probably be
classed generically with the swan, and so be included
in their list of unclean birds. Among the (xreeks and
Romans, it .seems to have been the only really doiiKisti-
catcd water fowl they |)ossc.ssed ; and appears to have
held exactly the same place in their esteem, that it still
retains with us, after the lap.so of two or three thous-
and years I Indeed, a modern writer may escape great
|)art of the trouble of compo.sing the natural history of
the domestic? goose, if he will only coHciet the materials
that are scattered amongst an(!i»!nt authors. A very
early notice of them occurs in Homer. Penelope, re-
lating her dream, says, " I have twenty geeso at
home, that eat wheat out of water, and I am delighted
to look at them."

The alarm given at tht; apprcuich oi the army of the

THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 209

Ganls by the geese kept in the capitol of Rome, oc-
curred so long back as a. u. c. 365, or 388 years before
Christ. The passage is worth extracting —

" Thus they were employed at Veil, whilst, in tha
mean time, the citadel and capitol in Rome were in
utmost danger. The Gauls either perceived the track
of a human foot, where the messenger from Veil had
passed, or, from their own observation, had remarked
the easy ascent at the rock of Carmentis ; on a moon-
light night, therefore, having first sent forward a per-
son unarmed to make trial of the way, handing their
arms to those before them ; when any difficulty oc-
curred, supporting and supported in turns, and draw-
ing each other up according as the ground required,
they climbed to the summit in such silence, that they
not only escaped the notice of the guards, but did not
even alarm the dogs, animals particularly wartchful
with regard to any noise at night. They were not un-
perceived, however, by some geese, which being sacred
to Juno, the people had spared, even in the present great
scarcity of food ; a circumstance to which they owed
their preservation ; for the cackling of these creatures,
and the clapping of their wings, Marcus Manlius was
roused from sleep, — a man of distinguished character
in war, who had been consul the third year before ; and
snatching up his arms, and at the same time calling to
the rest to do the same, he hastened to the spot, where,
while some ran about in confusion, he, by a stroke
with the boss of his shield, tumbled down a G-aul who
had already got footing on the summit ; and this man's
weight, as he fell, throwing down those who were
next, he slew several others, who, in their consterna-
tion, threw away their arms and caught hold of the
rocks, to which they clung. By this time, many of the
garrison had assembled at the place, who, by throwing
javelins and stones, beat down the enemy, so that the
whole band, unable to keep either their hold or foot-
ing, were hurled down the precipice in promiscuous
ruin,"

210 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE.

Lucretius, referring to this event, attributes the
vigilance of the geese to their fine sense of smell:
" The white goose, the preserver of the citadel of the
descendants of Romulus, perceives at a great distance
the odor of the human race."

Virgil, alluding to the same occurrence, ascribes the
preservation of the capitol to a " silver goose." Both
these poets, therefore, inform us that the domestic
goose of their days differed as much from the grey-lag
or the white-fronted, as it does at present, a circum-
stance which the reader is requested to bear in mind.

Pliny, about four hundred years later, remarks :
*' The goose is carefully watchful ; witness the de-
fence of the capitol, when the silence of the dogs would
have betrayed everything. ^ * * * * m^ possible,
also, that they may have some discernment of wisdom.
Thus one is said to have stuck perpetually to the phi-
losopher Lacydis, never leaving him, either in public,
in the baths, by night, nor by day. Our folks are wiser,
who are aware of the goodness of their liver. In those
that are crammed, it increases to a great size ; when
taken out, it is laid to swell in milk mixed with honey.
And it is not without cause that it is a matter of de-
bate who was the first to discover such a dainty,
w^hether Scipio Metellus, of consular dignity, or M.
tSeius, a Roman knight at the same epoch. But,
(what is certain,) Messalinus Cotta, the son of Messala,
the orator, discovered the method of cooking the web
of their feet, and fricassecing them in small dishes
along with cock's combs. I am ready heartily to at-
tribute the merit to the kitchen of cither. It is Wf)n-
derful that this bird should travel on foot from the
Morini, (in the north of Franco,) to Rome. Those
which are tired are carried to the front; so that the
rest push thera on by a natural crowding. *****
In some j)laecs they arc plucked twice a year."

It is very natural to inijuiro whence so remarkable
and valuable a bird was originally obtained ; but the
conclusion generally arrived at apj)oars to be inconsist

THE DOMESTIC GOOSE, 211

ent, not merely with truth, but even with probability ;
namely, that it results from the crossing and intermix-
ture of several wild species. None of these ancient
accounts indicate any such fact ; but on the contrary,
declare that the domestic goose was in the earliest
ages, (dating with respect to man,) exactly what it is
now. The very same arguments that are used to
show that the domesticated goose is a combination of
the " grey-legged," (Anser pahistris,) " white-front-
ed," or "laughing goose," {A. albifrons,) and "bean
goose," [A. ftrus,) would equally prove that the Anglo-
Saxon race of men is derived from a mixture of the
Red Indian, the Yellow Chinese, and the tawny Moor.

But the supposition that all our domesticated crea-
tures must necessarily have an existing wild original,
is a mere assumption ; and it has misled, and is likely
to mislead, investigators, as far from the truth as did
the old notion about fossil organic remains, that they
were Lithoschemata, as Aldrovandi has it, sketches
in stone, abortive efforts of Nature, imperfect embryos,
instead of fragmentary ruins of a former state of
things. Some naturalists seem already to have had
misgivings that such a theory respecting domestic
animals is not tenable. According to popular opinion,
the domestic goose is usually considered as having been
derived from the "grey-legged goose," but such a cir-
cumstance is rendered highly improbable from the
well-known fact that the common gander, after attain-
ing a certain age is invariably (?) white I

The origin of the domestic goose is indeed unknown
if we look to man, or his influence, to have originated
so valuable and peculiar a species ; but not unknown
if we believe it to have been created by the same Al-
mighty Power who animated the Mammoth, the Plesi-
Osaurus, the Dinornis, and the Dodo. For let us grant
that the grey-legged goose is the most probable exist-
ing parent to the domestic sort. Now, even that is
becoming a rare bird ; and the more scarce a creature
is in a wild state, the scarcer it is likely still to be-

212 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE.

come. Suppose the grey-legged goose extinct ; by no
means an impossibility. Then those who must have a
wild original from which to derive all our domestic
animals would be compelled to fall back on some other
species still less probable. It is surely a simpler
theory to suppose that creatures that were cotemporary
with the mammoth, have, like it, disappeared from the
earth in their wild state, but have survived as depen-
dents on man, than to engage in attempts at reconcil-
ing incongruities and discrepancies, which, after all,
cannot satisfy the mind, but leave it in as doubtful
a state as ever.

Still less is the " white-fronted," the ancestor of the
domestic goose. Entirely white specimens of the
Anas albifrons are indeed occasionally hatched in con-
fmement, and the common goose may now and then
exhibit traces of an admixture or dash of blood with
it, as it certainly does occasionally, of a cross with the
C'hina goose {A. cy^nu'ides) ; but these are mere im-
purities which wear out, and the race returns to the
well-known domestic type. And it will be allowed by
most persons who have ])ossessed a variety of these
birds, and who have watched and tended them day by
day, that the domestic goose is sulliciently separated
from the grey-legged by the color of its feet and legs ;
from the white-fronted, by the extreme difference of its
voice, manner, time of incubation, color of the eyey,
greater thickness of neck, convexity of profile, and
many other particulars that are more easily perceived
than described.

It might be urged, as a further essential dilference,
that the domestic goose is polygamous, whereas all
wild geese that we are accjuainted with are monoga-
mous. It is true that wild geese, in captivity, will
couple witli the females of other sjiccies, but that takes
place by their latterly neglecting their own mate for
the time^ not by entertaining two or more mistresses
at once. It will be replied, that habits of polyarny are
the cH'ccts of domestication ; but what proof have we

THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 213

of such an assertion ? Domestication has not yet in-
duced the pigeon nor the Guinea fowl to consort with
more than one partner, and the swan, called "domes-
tic," by some writers, remains obstinately and even
fiercely faithful in its attachments.

THE DOMESTIC GOOSE.

Stwowtmbb. — ^n«erpoZtt»fr»s (?.,) of Naturalists ; Oie commune, of the
French ; Oemeine Oans, of the Germans ; Ansa dovtestica, of the Span-
iards ; Goose, Common Goose, of the English and Anglo-Americans.

Of the domestic goose there really is but one variety,
individuals of which are found varying from entirely
white plumage, through different degrees of patched-
ness with grey, to entirely grey coloring. The gan-
ders are generally, not invariably white. Such are
sometimes called " Embden geese," from a town of
Hanover, of that name, famous also for groats. High
feeding, care, and moderate warmth, will induce a
habit of prolificacy, which becomes, in some measure,
hereditary. The season of the year at which the
young arc hatched, influences their future size and
development. After allowing for these causes of diver-
sity, it will be found that the domestic goose consti-
tutes only one species or permanent variety.

214 . THE DOMESTIC GOOSE.

RANGE AND DOMESTIC ACOOMMODATION.

With respect to the range and domestic accomoila-
tion of geese, they require a dormitory apart from oth<sr
fowls similar to the one shown at p. 203 for the tame
duck, or the rustic poultry house at p. 86, and a green
pasture, or common, with a convenient pond or stream
of water attached.

Mascall, following Columella ^ directs as most proper
for geese to " have a large court, close paled or walled,
of nyne foot hye, that no vermin may enter, and all
about within the same to make alleys and galleries,
with partitions and chambers for one alone to sleep in
and over the same, to set your house for them, made
strong with stono or brick four foote square, plaste
about your courte, and to eche house a close door for
them to come in and out to lay, and also to shut them
in when ye shall have cause. Then, if there be not a
ponde or river nye unto them, and to the house yee
must then make one, else to seeke their water farre
off, which is not good, for geese that sitte must have
water to bathe them when they rise from their neast,
or else, as some say, their egges will not prosper, If
there be no water, must make a ponde, clay it in the
bottom for the water to remain ; and make it some-
what deep, that they may plunge therein ; for a say-
ing is, a goose will not live withoute bathing and
washing her often, no more than a beast without pas-
ture."

"All men," says Markham, "must understand,
that, except he have either pond or streame, ho can
never keepe geese well." Yet if we arc to trust M.
Parmentier, the vicinity of rivers and ponds is not ab-
solutely necessary to the most successful rearing of
geese ; for in districts destitute of these advantages, a
small reservoir, where they can bathe, will be quite
sufficient.

In France, geese are put up in thirties in the same
lodge, with roofs and partitions to. separate them, never

THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. . 215

allowing more than eight under one roof. All damp
must be avoided, for geese at all times are fond of a
clean, dry place to sleep in, however much they may
like to swim in water. It is not a good method to
keep geese with other poultry ; for when confined in
the poultry yard, they become very pugnacious, and
will very much harrass the hens and turkeys.

Columella advises to pasture geese in marshy or
moist ground, and to sow for them vetches or tares,
mellilot, clover, and fenugreek, but more particularly
chiccory, and lettuce, of which, he says, they are very
fond .

" Q-rasse, says Markham, " they must necessarily
have, and the worst, and that which is the most use-
lesse, is the best, as that which is moorish and unsa-
voury for cattell."

In allowing geese to range at large, it is requisite to
be aware that they are very destructive to all garden
and farm crops, as well as to young trees, and must,
therefore, be carefully excluded from orchards and
cultivated fields. It is usual to prevent them getting
through the gaps in fences, by hanging a stick or
"yoke" across their breasts.

If we traverse a pasture or common, on which geese
are kept, we find the flocks of the respective owners
keeping together, and if by chance they mingle on the
pond or sheet of water, they separate towards evening
and retire, each flock to its own domicile. On exten-
sive commons where many thousands of geese are
kept, this rule is scarcely ever broken ; the flocks of
young geese brought up together, as their parents were
before them, form a united band, and thus distinct
groups herd together, bound by the ties of habit.

PAIRING.

It was ascertained bv M. St. Grenis, of France, that
geese will pair like pigeons and partridges ; and in the
course of his experiments, he remarked, that, if the
number of the ganders exceed that of the geese by

216

THE DOMESTIC GOOSE.

two, and even by three, includiug the common father,
no disturbance nor disputes occur, the pairing taking
place without any noise, and no doubt by mutual
choice. Besides the common father, he left two of the
young ganders unprovided with female companions ;
but the couples which had paired, kept constantly to-
gether, and the three single ganders did not, during
temporary separations of the males and females, ofter
to approach the latter. He also remarked, that gan-
ders are more commonly white than the females.

Those who breed geese, generally assign one gander
to four or five females. M. Parmentier recommends
the gander, to be selected, of a large size, of a fine
white, with a lively eye, and an active gait ; while the
breeding goose, he says, ought to be brown, ash-grey,
or party-colored, and to have a broad foot. The grey
geese are supposed to produce the finest goslings,
while the party-colored ones produce better feathers,
and are not so apt to stray from home.

Whatever care may be taken in selecting grey geese,
with white ganders, Stephanus assures us, that a black
sort will frequently be produced, which he says, " are
skant so fruitful as the other, nor so good to house ;
wherefore, nourish as few blacke geese as ye may, for
their flesh is not so good, being much dryer." And
again : " They are better to be all white than grey,
or mixte with two colors, and the blacke color is worste
of all, and of leaste goodncsse."

LATINO.

When well fed, in a mild climate, geese will lay
twice or three times a year, from five to twelve eggs
each time, and some more, that is, when they are left
to their own way ; but if the eggs be carefully re-
moved as soon as laid, a goose may be made, by abun-
dant feeding, to lay from twenty to fifty eggs without
intermitting. They begin to lay early in the spring,
usually in March, and it may bo known when an indi-
vidual is about to lay, by her carrying about straws to

THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 217

form her nest with ; but, sometimes, she will only-
throw them about.

AVTien this is observed, the geese should be watched,
lest they lay in some by-place, and the eggs be lost.
" Wherefore," ^ays Mascall, " towarde night, ye must
take them up, and feele how many be ready to lay,
which ye shall perceive if shee be nye laying, yee shall
feele the end of her egge harde at her vent. Then
shutte her up, and put her alone in a neast till she have
layd, so she will seeke that place agayne to lay."

It is an essential precaution, M. Parmentier says, as
soon as it is perceived that geese want to lay, to coop
them up under their roof, where nests made of straw
have been previously prepared. If they can once be
induced to lay in this nest, they will continue to do so
till their number of eggs is completed.

In order to have early goslings, geese should be
brought to lay early by keeping them in a warm, clean
place, and feeding them on stimulant food.

INCUBATION. ^

"When a goose is observed to keep her nest longer
than usual, after laying an egg, it is a pretty sure in-
dication that she is desirous of sitting. , The nest for
hatching should be made of clean straw, lined with
hay, and from fourteen to eighteen eggs will be as
many as a large goose can conveniently cover. Dur-
ing the period of incubation, the gander is very atten-
tive to his favorite, sits by her, and is vigilant and
daring in her defence.

The goose sits about one month, and requires to
have food and water placed near her, that she may not
be so long absent as to allow the eggs to cool, which
might cause her to abandon her task. It is the prac-
tice of some to put vinegar in the water, and of
others to lift them off the nests to make them drink,
but neither of these is necessary.

It is an economical way of getting a great number
of goslings, to employ turkey hens to hatch. The
10

21*^ THE DOMESTIC GOOSE.

common fowl has been equally praised for filling this
important function ; but the eggs of the goose being
very large, and their shell very hard, a hen is not bulky
enough to hatch more than eight or ten, even if we
employ the Cochin-China, or great Malay. The tur-
key hen, therefore, deserves to be preferred, because
she can hatch twelve or fifteen. This function of the
goose being thus filled by another, she is not kept from
laying, and yields eggs in great abundance.

In the environs of Toulouse, in France, where many
hybrid geese are reared, increasing with the common
duck and the large musk duck, they give the eggs to
the common fowl to hatch ; and to these are added
two or three of the large-sized goose eggs. The hy-
brid bird from this crossing conducts the goslings in a
superior manner, and always walks at their head.

CARE OF THE GOSLINGS.

Like turkey chickens, goslings are a month in hatch-
ing, and must be taken from under the mother, lest, if
feeling the young ones under her, she might perhaps
leave the rest of the tardy brood still unhatched. After
having separated them from her, they may be kept in
flat pens, or baskets, covered with a cloth, and lined
with wool ; and when the whole brood is come forth,
the first hatched may be returned to the mother.

On the first day after the goslings are hatched, they
may be let out, if the weather be warm, care being
taken not to let them be exposed to the unshaded heat
of the sun, which might kill them. The food given
is prepared with some barley or Indian meal, coarsely
ground, bran, and raspings of bread, which are still
better, if .soaked and boiled in milk, or lettuce leaves,
and cru.sts of bread boiled in milk.

Afterwards, advantage must be taken of a fine warm
.sun to turn them out for a few hour.-*; but cold and
rain being very hurtful to them, they must in bad
weather be cooped up, and prevented from mixing with
the larger ones, unless they have strength enough to

THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 2l9

defend themselves against any hostile attack, to which
new-comers are usually exposed. To such goslings as
are a little strong, bran or Indian-meal dough may be
given twice a-day, morning and evening, continuing
to give them this food till the wings begin to cross on
the back, and after this, green food, which they are
particularly fond of, may be mixed with it, such as
lettuce, beet leaves, and the like.

FATTENING.

Like other fowls, geese may be brought by proper
management to a great degree of fatness ; but the
period at which they are at the fattest must be chosen
to kill them, otherwise they will rapidly become lean
again, and many of them would die.

Greese may be fattened at two diffei-ent periods of
their lives, in the young state, when they are termed
" green geese," and after they have attained their full
growth. The methods at each period are very nearly
the same.

The writer of the article on poultry, in Baxter's
" Library of Agriculture," recommends steamed po-
tatoes, with a gallon of buckwheat or ground oats to
the bushel, mashed up with the potatoes, and given
warm. This, it is said, will render geese, cooped in a
dark, quiet, cool place, fat enough in three weeks.

M. Parmentier gives very copious details of the
French methods of fattening. The whole process, he
says, consists in plucking the feathers from under the
belly ; in giving them abundance of food and drink,
and in cooping them up more closely than is practised
with common fowls, cleanliness and quiet being, above
all, indispensable. The best time is in the month of
November, or when the cold weather begins to set in;
if it is longer delayed, the paring season approaches,
and prevents them from becoming fat.

When there are not many geese to fatten, they are
put into a cask with holes bored in it, through which
they may thrust their heads to feed ; and being natur-

220 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE.

ally voracious, the love of food is greater than the love
of liberty, and they fatten rapidly. The food consists
of a paste, made of buckwheat, barley or Indian meal,
with milk and boiled potatoes.

In Poland, a similar method is practised, the goose
being put in an earthen pot without a bottom, and of
a size not to allow the bird to move. Similar food
as that just mentioned is given in abundance, and the
pot is so placed that the dung may not remain i-n it.
The process is completed in a fortnight, and the geese
are sometimes so increased in size, that the pots have
to be broken to get them out.

When the great number of geese to be fattened ren-
ders the preceding plan inconvenient and too expensive,
they may be taken from the pasture, and cooped up
twelve together, in narrow pens, so low that they can
neither stand upright, nor move in any direction.
They should be kept scrupulously clean by often re-
newing the litter of the pens. A few feathers may be
previously plucked out from the rump and from under
the wings. A quantity of cracked Indian corn, suf-
ficient for once feeding, may be boiled and put into a
feeding trough, with clean water in a separate vessel,
from which they may be permitted to eat whenever
they feel inclined. At the commencement, they eat
a great deal constantly, but in about three weeks, their
a])petite falls off. As soon as this is perceived, they
maybe crammed, at first twice a-day, and towards the
end of the process, thrice a-day. For this purpose, a
tin funnel is used, with a pipe five inches and a half in
length, and less than an inch in diameter, with the
end sloped oil' like the mouth piece of a llageolet, and
rounded at the edge, to prevent it scratching the throat
when it is introduced. A small, round bag is adjusted
to the pipe, through which grain is introduced into the
crop. Tiie operator sits squat on the ground, h(tlds
the goose with one hand, introduces the pipe of the
funnel into the mouth with the other, and presses in
the food till the crop is filled. Water is at the same

THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 221

time given to the geese to drink, and must always be
left near them, as the cramming renders them very-
thirsty. A woman who is dexterous will cram ten
geese in an hour. In less than a month, a goose may,
in this way, be fattened to an enormous bulk.

In Belgium, a lean goose is confined in a small coop
made of fir, narrow enough to prevent.it from turning,
while there is a place behind for passing the dung, and
another in front to let out the head. AVater is supplied
in a trough in front, having some bits of charcoal in it
to sweeten it. A bushel of maize is considered enough
of food for a month. It is soaked in water the day
before it is used ; and the goose is crammed morning
and evening, while it is allowed, during the day, to eat
and drink as much as it chooses. About the twenty-
second day, a quantity of poppy oil is mixed with the
maize. In a month, it is seized with difficulty of
breathing, and a lump of fat under each wing indicates
that it is time to kill it, lest it should bechoaked with
fat, and die.

By this process, the liver of the goose is increased so
much, that it will weigh from one to two pounds, and
will besides yield about three ounces of fat, which
is much employed in French cookery for dressing
legumes, &c.

Among six geese, the fatteners commonly succeed
with no more than four, and these generally the young-
est. The Romans, who were fond of enlarged goose
livers, were very careful to keep them quiet and in the
dark. In some places on the continent, they nailed
their feet to a board, burnt out their eyes with a hot
iron, and kept them before a large fire, allowing them,
however, as much water as they chose to drink ; but
these barbarous practices are now seldom resorted to.

M. Viele, of France, found, by experiment, that
geese fattened without cramming, cannot be brought
to weigh above 12 or 13 lbs., while by cramming, they
can be made to weigh at least a third more.

THE CHINA GOOSE.

Stnokymes. — Anser ct/gnoitUf, Anas ct/^ftoides, Cygnus sinensis, of
Naturalists , L'oie de Guinee, of Bufl'on ; Oie de Chine, of the French ;
Chinesiidie Gans, Gans von Guinea, of the Germans ; Qanso de China,
Gxnso dc Guinea, Ganso de cisne, of the Spaniards ; China Goose, Hong-
Kong Goose, Swan Goose, Chinese Swan, Guinea Goose, Spunisli Goose,
African Goose, and a host of other names, of the English and Anglo-
Americans

There is a venerable joke told about a Spanish Dun
who knocked at a cottage door to ask a nifrht's lodging:
" Who's there ? — what do you want ?" demanded the
inmates. " Don Juan Jose Maria Antonio Pedro Alon/.o
Carlos Geronimo, &c., &c., &c., wants to sleep here
to-night." " Get along with you," was the reply, "how
should we find room here for so many fellows." It will
be seen by the list of names at the head of this article,
that the China goose is in the same position as the
Spanish Don.

Confusion, therefore, and j)erplexity are the certain
lot of whosoever attempts to trace this bird in our books
of natural history. Its place of birth has excluded it
from all monographs or limited ornithologies. In very
few systematic works is it mentioned at all, which is re-
markrible of a bird so striking in its apjicarance, which
there is every reason to believe must have been domes-
ticated for a long period. The uncertainty that has
existed as to its correct name and really native country
may be one cause of this. Like the Jews, or the Gii)sies,
it has not been allowed to claim a place among the

THE CHINA GOOSE. 223

natives of any one region ; and like many others fur-
nished with a variety of aliases, it ends by being alto-
gether excluded from society.

The old writers call it the Guinea goose, for the
excellent reason, as Willughby hints, that in his time it
was the fashion to apply the epithet " Guinea" to every-
thing of foreign and uncertain origin. Thus, what at
this day is erroneously called the " Muscovy duck," was
then called the "Guinea duck." Not long back, it was
common to refer every strange or new object to a
French source. " Spanish goose" is another title, pro-
bably as appropriate as Guinea goose. Bewick has

THE CHINA GOOSE.

given an admiral wood cut of this bird, but he has evi-
dently selected the gander, which is taller and more erect
than the female, though to both may be applied Wil-
lughby's description, " a stately bird, walking with its
head and neck decently erected." Bewick calls it the
" swan goose." The tubercle at the base of the- bill, the
unusual length of neck, and its graceful carriage in the
water, give it some claim to relationship with the aris-
tocracy of lake and river. Cuvier goes further, calls it
at once Cygnus sinensis, (Chinese swan,) and says that

224 THE CHINA GOOSE,

this and the Canada goose cannot be separated from the
true swans. A goose, however, it decidedly is, as is
clear from its terrestrial habits, its powerful bill, its
thorny tongue, and its diet of grass.

There is something in the aspect of this creature, the
dark-brown stripe down its neck, its small bright eye, its
harsh voice, its ceremonious strut, and its affectation or
seldom being in a hurry, which seem to say that it came
from China. It would perfectly harmonise in a picture
of Chinese still life; or in a Chinese garden, with artifi-
cially-arranged rocks, dwarf trees, crooked trellises, and
zigzag pathways ; or, in a more extended landscape, it
would group well on a broad river, beside a boat filled
with shaven fishermen, with their trained cormorants
and pig-tailed children. If it does come from China, it
has no doubt been domesticated for many hundred years,
perhaps as long as the peacock or common fowl. An
evident proof of this is the large number of eggs they
may be made to lay by an increased supply of nourish-
ing food. This is very different from the disposition to
"lay everlastingly," as seen in the Guinea fowl, and some
varieties of the domestic hen — the black Spanish, for
instance, — because the China goose does, in the end, feel
a strong desire to incubate as soon as her protracted
laying is done, whereas entire exemption from the
hatching fever is the great merit of the "everlasting
layers." If liberally furnished with oats, boiled rice, &.C.,
the China goose will, in the spring, lay from twenty to
thirty eggs before she begins to sit, and again in the
autumn, after her moult, from ten to fifteen more. It is
not, as in the Guinea fowl, a spontaneous flow of eggs,
for which the ordinary diet of the creature is suflicient,
but is as much dependent on feeding as the fatness to
which a bullock is brought. A goose belonging to Mr.
Dixon, which he supplied with as much oats as she
could eat, besides grass, potatoes, and cabbages, laid
eggs larger than ordinary ; one of them, with a double
yolk, weighed 7l oz., or nearly half a pound. Double-
yolked eggs are very rare, except among birds that have
been long domesticated.

Another proof is their deficient power of flight cou)-

THE CHINA GOOSE. 225

pared with the rest of their congeners, owing to the
larger proportionate size of their bodies. The common
domestic goose flies much more strongly than her sister
from China. Indeed, of all geese, these are the worst
flyers. There is no occasion to pinion them. While
the Canada goose thinks little of a journey from the
nprth pole, or thereabouts, to Carolina ; while the
Egyptian goose pays an occasional visit from Africa to
Great Britain, while the merry Httle laughing goose, if
tamed and allowed the use of its wings, is almost as
much at ease in the air as a pigeon, the China goose, to
get out of the way of a frisky spaniel can hardly manage
to flutter across a lawn.

Said the tame goose to the wild one, " On such a day,
I shall fly away." The wild goose replied to the tame
one, " On such a day, I shall fly away, too, if it be the
will of Allah." At the appointed time, the wild goose
performed her annual migration ; the tame one remained,
and cannot fly to this day. If China, instead of Egypt,
had given rise to the above fable, we should believe that
the Anas cygnbides was the vain-boastful bird.

The prevailing color of the plumage of the China
goose is a brown, which has aptly been compared to the
color of wheat. The different shades are very har-
moniously blended, and are well relieved by the black
tuberculated bill, and the pure white of the abdomen.
Their movements on the water are graceful and swan-
like. It is delightful to see them on a fine day in spring
lashing the water, diving, rolling over through mere fun,
and playing all sorts of antics. Slight variations occur
in the color of the feet and legs, some having them of a
dull-orange, others black; a delicate fringe of minute
v\ hite feathers is occasionally seen at the base of the bill.
These peculiarities are hereditarily transmitted, but do
not amount to more than mere varieties.

The male is almost as much disproportionately larger
than the female as the musk drake is in comparison with
his mate. He is much inclined to libertine wanderings,
without, however, neglecting to pay proper attention at
home. If there is any other gander on the same pre-
mises, they are sure to disagree ; one of the two had
10*

226 THE CHINA GOOSE.

better be got rid of. Both male and female are, perhaps,
the most noisy of all geese; at night, the least footfall or
motion in their neighborhood is sufficient to call forth
their clanging and resonant trumpetings. This, to a lone
country house, is an advantage and a protection. Any
fowl stealer would be stunned with their din before ho
captured them alive, and the family must be deaf indeed
that could sleep on through the alarm thus given. But
by day it becomes a nuisance to the majority of hearers,
and has caused them to be relinquished by many ama-
teurs. One is inclined to address them asO'Connell did
the uproarious fellow who was interrupting his speech,
"I wish you had a hot potato in your mouth."

BREEDnra and REARINa.

The eggs of the China goose are somewhat less than
those of the domestic kind, of a short oval, with a smooth
thick shell, white, but slightly tinged with yellow at the
smaller end. The goslings, when first hatched, are usu-
ally very strong. They are of a dirty-green, like the
color produced by mixing Indian ink and yellow ochre,
with darker patches here and there. The legs and feet
are lead color, but afterwards change to a dull-red. If
there is anything like good pasturage for them, they
requir no further attention than what their parents will
aflbrd them. After a time, a little grain will strengthen
and forward them. If well fed, they come to maturity
very rapidly. In between three and four months from the
time of their leaving the shell, they will be full-grown
and ready for the spit. They do not bear being shut up
to fatten so well as common geese, and therefore those
destined for the table are the belter for profuse hand-
feeding. Their llesh is well-fiavored, short and tender;
their eggs are excellent for cooking purposes. Hybrids
between them and the conimon goo.se are prolific ; the
second and third cross is much prized by some English
I'armcrs, |)articularly for their ganders ; and in many
flocks, the blood of the ('hina goose may often be traced
by the more erect gait of the birds, accompanied by a
faint stripe down the back of the neck. With the

THE CHINA GOOSE. 227

laughing, or white-fronted goose, they also breed
freely.

The large number of eggs laid by these birds has led
some persons to imagine that, like Guinea fowls, they
were inexhaustible, so that, when at last the goose did
make her nest in earnest, (which may be known by her
mixing her own down with the straw,) no eggs had been
reserved for the poor thing to sit upon. The best plan
is to date the eggs with a pencil as they are laid, and
consume only those which are more than three weeks
old. They are usually very late with their broods, but
will rear them well enough if they are allowed to take
their own time, and do it after their own manner. Their
period of incubation is five weeks. They are steady
sitters when they once begin in earnest, and exemplary
parents. The goose, on leaving her nest to feed, covers
her eggs carefully. Any difficulty in rearing them
results from want of proper management. If, for in-
stance, when the bird does at length sit, she is insuffi-
ciently supplied with eggs, or with those which have
been kept too long; or if she be permitted to be dis-
turbed by dogs, &LC. ; if she be suffered to steal a nest,
and sit on more than see can cover — things will go
wrong. The great number of eggs laid may perhaps
cause an uncertainty that each one is properly fecun-
dated.

THE WHITE, CHINA GOOSE.

"Manas he extends his dominion over earth and ocean, is gener-
ally a Destroyer, occasionally an Enslaver, and so far a Protector ;
hence, sometimes, even a Selecter and Improver, but nCTer a
Creator.

Dizoif.

" Every like is not tho same," is a principle that is
beginning more and more to influence the reasonings
of zoologists, and to effect their conclusions with re-
spect to iviUl animals. But, according to the prevailing
opinion with domestic ones, a diametrically opposite
axiom would seem to hold ; as the latter are described
and catalogued apparently on the rule that " Things
may be unlike, and yet the same." The various kinds
of domestic fowls are supposed to be " varieties" — by
which, it is presumed, is meant transmutable, or at
least, transmuted forms — of one, or at most, two or
three wild originals ; and the history of the common
domestic goose is quietly settled by considering it as
the result of a fusion of tiree or four different species
melted and mixed into one. Believe it ! those wlio
may, and classify it with tho marvellous st<:)ry of the
" bcrniclc gcjose originating from a worm engendered
in the sea from rotten wood !"

But, before finally determining to fix tho appellation
of species, or variety, to any particular race of animals,
it will be necessary first to settle the question of what
is meant hy the t(;rms Genua, Species, and Variety.
They are all understood to denote certain degrees of

THE \^^^ITE, china goose. 229

difference, that are made use of to assist in classifica-
tion ; but the precise lines of demarcation of each are
extremely difficult to define. It is generally assumed
that individuals of different genera will refuse to breed
together ; that the mules between different species are
sterile ; and that varieties are merely accidental, and
recent instances of a slight alteration in the external
character of species, which do not affect their contin-
uance as a race, and, perhaps, disappear altogether
after a time. But in opposition to this, hybrids have
been produced between the Egyptian goose and the
penguin duck, also between the common fowl and the
G-uinea fowl, the siskin and the Canary bird ; prolific
mules are constantly occurring between all sorts of
species of geese ; and it is well and practically known,
that though varieties breed freely with each other,
nothing is so difficult as to establish a cross that shall
be a perfect amalgamation of two distinct varieties.
Even individual peculiarities are reproduced in the
course of generations. For, some breeders of great
experience firmly maintain that white pea fowls are
not a mere accidental variety of the common kind, but
a distinct sort ; asserting that the cases, in which
white birds are produced from colored parents, are only
a breaking out of mixed blood, the " crying back,' in
fact, to a cross some generations past. The white
pea fowls are certainly of inferior size, and in their pro-
portions bear more resemblance to the Japan breed
than to the true Pavo cristatus.

In truth, species and varieties differ only in degree.
If we admit that the latter are merely recent changes
of organization, we cannot refuse to allow that the
former are so likewise ; and thence proceeding back-
wards, we must apply the same view to genera and
classes, till we arrive at last at the theory of the de-
velopment of all animated beings from Monads, as
advocated by Lamarck, and more recently by the au-
thor of the •' Vestiges of Creation," This is one mode
of explaining the diversity of Nature ; the other is by

230 TIU-: AVIIITE, CHINA GOOSE.

supposing that animals were originally created as we
now see them, and that any apparent gaps in the chain
or network are caused by the extinction of certain
races, not by the uprising of new forms into existence,
since the creation of man, at least. Besides, we have
records of modern exterminations successively going
on, from the Christian era to the present day. No
undisputed record, however, is to be found of the sud-
den emergency into life of a new tribe of creatures.
Foreign introductions there have been, but nothing
more, that there is any affirmative evidence to prove. I
am conscious that I may be contradicted by such in-
stances as the New-Leicester sheep, and the very re-
markable rabbits thut are now kept in a state of
domestication ; but Mr. Bake well is asserted to have
studiously concealed and destroyed every trace of the
means by which he established his breed," and the
secrets of the " rabbit fancy" are as likely to be made
available to the elucidation of natural history, as are
the Eleusinian Mysteries. But so long as our com-
mercial relations continue as widely extended as they
are at present, the sudden and unexplained appear-
ance of any living novelty in Europe or in this country,
is by no means of necessity its first appearance on any
stage. It may be as old as the hills — not a sudden
drop from the clouds in these latter days, nor recently
compounded, like Frankenstein's monster, from the
members of defunct creatures, not yet electrified into
life in a pickle jar, like Mr. Cross' mites. Milton's
noble lines, though true at the Creation, are no longer
applicable —

" Mcanwliilo, the tepid caves, nnil fonn, and shorei,

Iturntini with kindly rupture, fnrth diacloaed

Their callow yi.iiftn ; but feathered »ocin and fledge.

They nummed tlicir pons ; and. soaring the air sunlime, •

With i-UnK di'Kpised the fcrnund. > * And alraight the earth,

Opening h'-r fertile womb, teemed at a birth

Num'rnii8 living orenturos, iitirfuct forms

I.imbeil and fiill-(trown ; oat of the irround up roio,

As from liis lair, the wild beast where ho worn

In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den."

If such views be correct, it will follow that those
who are searching for the wild originals of many of

THE WHITE, CHINA GOOSE. 231

our domestic animals, are altogether pursuing a wrong
scent. They might just as well search for the wild
original of the Mammoth or the Dodo. It is an as-
sumption, unsupported by any proof, to fix upon the
wild creature that nearest resembles any given tame
one, and say, " Here is the wild original ; the dif-
ferences which we see, have been produced by time
and domestication ;" or, if there is nothing wild com-
ing within a moderate approach to it, to say, as of
the common goose, "it is a combination of three or
four other species." This is surely not philosophical
reasoning ; it is a begging of the question which would
not be admitted in the exact sciences. What a daring
leap at a conclusion it is, to get from the Asiatic ar-
gali-, the American argali, or the Corsican mouflon,
any or all of them, to the sheep, at a single vault !
Such ratiocination is like the knight's move on the
chess board, hither and thither, but never straight
forward. Nor has the wide gulf between cocks and
hens and the jungle fowls been as yet bridged over by
any isthmus to me visible. The principle here sought
to be indicated as a guide for future research is, that
existing varieties and species which cannot be exactly
identified in a wild state, are, in all probability, the
remains of extinct races, the fragments of a ruin, and
not newly-raised " seedlings," the modern sports and
freaks of Nature.

And now to the white, China goose, about whose
lineage, the reader, it is hoped, by this time, is inter-
ested. It was brought into notice, a few years since,
by Mr. Alfred Whitaker, of Beckington, in Somerset,
England, who speaks of it in the following words: —
" The white, China goose is of a spotless, pure white —
more swan-like than the brown variety, with a bright
orange-colored bill, and a large orange-colored knob at
its base. It is a particularly beautiful bird, either in
or out of the water, its neck being long, slender, and
gracefully arched when swimming. It breeds three
or four times in a season, but I was not successful

232 THE WHITE, CHINA GOOSE.

with them, owing, as I fancied, to my ha\'ing no wa-
ter for them, except af rapid running stream. A quiet
lake, I believe to be more to their taste, and more con-
ducive to the fecundity of the eggs. I believe my
birds are still in the neighborhood, as I lent them to a
farmer to try his luck with them. The egg is quite
small for the size of the bird, being not more than half
the size of that of the common goose. This bird de-
serves to rank in the first class of ornamental poultry,
and would be very prolific under favorable circumstan-
ces. You will see both varieties of brown and white,
China geese on the water in St. James's Park. My
geese were from imported parents, and wore hatched
on board ship from China."

These geese, it is stated, formerly existed in the
aviaries of the London Zoological Society, and were
there considered in the light of a variety of the Anser
cygnoides ; but the head keeper of that establishment
speaks most decidedly of his experience of the perma-
nence, not only of this variety, but also of that of the
dark-legged sorts of the brown kind, thus indicating
three races, which, I repeat, would be considered as
species were they now discovered for the first time.

Mr. Dixon, in speaking of these birds, says, " They
are larger than the brown, China geese, apparently
more terrestrial in their habits ; the knob on the head
is not only of greater proportions, but of a different
shape. If they were only what is commonly meant
by a variety of the dark sort, it is a question whether
the bill would not retain its original jetty black,
whatever change occurred to the feet and logs, instead
of assuming a brilliant orange hue. If the bird were
an albino, the bill would be flesh-colored, and the eye.s
would be pink, not blue."

Mr. Knight, of I'rome, England, in whose possession
they had been for three years, states that he has been
unable to obtain any young from the eggs of the goose,
but if ho supplies her with eggs of the common goose,
she invariably hatches and rears the goslings. Sopar-

TIIE WHITE, CHINA GOOSE. 233

ate trials of each of the pair with the common goose
and gander have been made by him unsuccessfully,
although the white, China goose lays four times in the
year. Another gentleman, who also had a pair of the
same lot, from China, says, "I had one good brood
from the young pair which I kept, but since that, they
have bred so badly that I have parted with the females
and kept a male bird, and now get very good broods.
My friends, to whom I have given young birds from
my pair, also complain. The geese sit remarkably
well, never showing themselves out of the nest by day,
but whether they may leave the nests too long in the
cold of the night, I cannot tell. The time of incuba-
tion I consider to be about four weeks and three days.
The young birds of the crossed breed, in appearance,
follow the mother, the common English goose, but
they do remarkably well."

THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE.

NATURAL HISTORT.

Every portion of it, (the young of tlie wild goose bred in the
inland districts, and procured in September.) is useful to Man ;
for besides the value of the flesh, as an article of food, the fea-
thers, the quills, and the fat, are held in request.

Audubon.

The history of the " Canada" or " wild goose," as it
is usually called, both in a state of nature and in cap-
tivity, has been so well and so fully delineated by the
ablest ornilholofrists of Europe, as well as of this country,
that for me to attempt giving complete details respecting
it, would be either to restate the same facts in less ap-
propriate language, perhaps, or to draw too liberally
from the stores of those who have written before me ;
yet, this bird is by far too imj)ortant, in every respect, to
be entirely omitted in the present series ; and there are a
few points respecting it which ought to be brought into
more prominent notice. Most writers on poultry call
it a variety of the common goose. But it is no more a
variety of goose than the swan is a variety of goose,
('uvier seems to doubt whether it is a goose at all, and
says that it cannot be properly separated from the true
swan.s. Audubon kept some three years, and though
the old birds refused to breed in confinement, their
young, which he had captured together with them, did.
lie states their period of incubation to be twenty-eight

i

THE AMERICAN WILI GOOSE. 235

days, which is a shorter time th^n one would have
imagined. That circumstance alone, if correct, marks
a wide distinction. At a future time, probably, our
scientific naturalists will deem it advisable to institute
several new genera, for the reception of various water
fowls, that are now huddled into one or two; particu-
larly if they allow the diet and habits of the birds, as
well as their external form, to influence the rules of
classification.

In a state of nature, the Canada goose eats worms
and soft insects, as well as grass and aquatic plants,
which the typical, or geese proper, never do. In a
domestic or confined state, they do not breed till they
are at least two years old, and so far approach the swan,
like which, also, the male appears to be fit for reproduc-
tion earlier than the female. But Audubon says, " That
this tardiness is not the case in the wild state, I feel
pretty confident; for I have observed, having broods of
their own, many individuals, which, by their size, the
dullness of their plumage, and such other marks as are
known to the practised ornithologist, I judged to be not
more than fifteen or sixteen months old. I have, there-
fore, thought that in this, as in many other species, a long
series of years is necessary for counteracting the original
wild and free nature which has been given them ; and
indeed, it seems probable that our attempts to domesti-
cate many species of wild fowls, which would prove
useful to mankind, have often been abandoned in despair,
when a few years more of constant care might have
produced the desired effect."

The Canada goose, in spite of its original migratory
habits, which it appears in almost every case to forget in
a reclaimed state, shows much more disposition for true
domestication than the swan, and may be maintained
in perfect health with very limited opportunities of
bathing.

The manner in which these birds are usually kept in
Europe and this countiy, is neither consistent with their
natural habits, nor calculated to develope their useful-
ness and merit. They are mostly retained as orna-
ments to large parks or inclosures, where there is an

236 THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE.

extensive range of grass and water; so far all is as it
should be. But they are there generally associated with
other species of geese and water fowls, all being of a
sociable disposition, and forming one heterogeneous
flock. In the breeding season, they neither can agree
among themselves to differ seriously, nor yet Jive
together in peace; the consequence is, that they inter-
rupt each other's love-making, keep up a constant
bickering, without coming to the decisive quarrels and
battles that would set all right; and in the end, we have
birds without mates, eggs unfertilised, and now and then
a few monstrous hybrids, which, however much some
curious persons may prize them, are as ugly as they are un-
natural, and by no means recompense by their rarity for
the absence of two or three broods of healthy legitimate
goslings. Many writers speak highly of the half-bred
Canada goose. They are very large, it is true, and may
merit approbation on the table; but with whatever other
species the cross is made, they are hideously dis-
pleasing.

The facility with which the Canada goose, captured
wild, is tamed, while yet it retains a "trick of the old
nature," is well exemplified in a story related by Wilson,
on the authority of a correspondent for whose veracity
he avouches; which story, he observes, is paralleled by
others of the same import. " Mr. Piatt, a respectable
farmer on Long Island, being out shooting in one of the
bays, which, in that part of the country, abound with
water fowl, wounded a wild goose. Being wing-tipi)ed
and unable to fly, he caught it and brought it home
alive. It proved to be a female, and turning it into his
yard with a flock of tame geese, it soon became quite
tame and familiar, and in a little time its wounded wing
entirely healed. In the following spring, nhen the wild
geese migrated to the northward, a flock ])assed over Mr,
Piatt's barn yard, and just at that moment, their leader
happening to sound his bugle note, our goose, in whom
its new habits and enjoyments had not quite extinguished
the love of liberty, remembering the well-known sound,
spread its wings, moved in the air, joined the travellers,
and soon disappeared. In the succeeding autumn, the

THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE.

237

wild geese, as was usual, returned from the northward
in great numbers to pass the winter in our bays and
rivers. Mr. Piatt happened to be standing in his yard
when a flock passed directly over his barn. At that
instant, he observed three geese detach themselves from
the rest, and, after wheeling round several times, alight
in the middle of the yard. Imagine his surprise and
pleasure, when, by certain well-remembered signs, he
recognised in one of the three his long-lost fugitive. It
was she indeed ! She had travelled many hundred miles
to the lakes, had there hatched and reared her offspring,
and had now returned with her little family to share
"vith them the sweets of civilized life !"

THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE.

Stnonymes. — Anser canadensis, of Naturalists ; Oie du Canada, of the
French ; Canadische Gans, of the Germans ; Ansa de Canada, Jlnsa sil-
vettre ameticana, of the Spaniards ; Wild Goose, Cangda Goose, of the
English and Anglo-Americans.

The Canada goose is a beautiful species. The head,
two thirds of the neck, the greater quills, the rump, and
tail, are pitch-black ; the back and wings broccoli-brown
edged with wood-brown ; the base of the neck anteriorly,
and the under plumage generally, brownish-grey; a few
white feathers are scattered about the eye, and a white
cravat, of a kidney shape, forms a conspicuous mark on
the throat ; upper and under tail coverts, pure white ; bill
and feet black.

238 THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE.

GEOaRAPHIC.U. DISTRIBUTION.

The American wild geese, in a state of nature, make
their semi-annual migrations from the north to the
south, and vice versa, which are sure signals of the
approach of winter, or a returning spring. The tracts
of their vast migratory journeys are not confined to the
sea coast nor its vicinity, for in their aerial voyages to
and from the north, these birds pass over the interior on
both sides of the mountains, as far west at least as the
Osage River. " I have never," says Wilson, " yet visited
any quarter of the country where the inhabitants are
not familiarly acquainted with the regular passing and
repassing of the wild geese." It is an opinion with
many that they visit the lakes to breed. Most, however,
it would appear, wing their way much farther north-
ward ; for, from the Canadian lakes, they migrate to still
higher latitudes on the setting in of spring. Hearne
saw them in large flocks within the arctic circle, push-
ing their way still northward. Captain Phipps observed
them on the coast of Spitzbergen in latitude 80'^27'N.
Audubon found them breeding on the coast of Labrador,
and states that the eggs, six or seven in number, of a
greenish white, are deposited in a roughly-made nest.
Bonaparte states that they breed everywhere through-
out the Hudson's Bay Territory, and have been observed
in the middle of July on the Coppermine River, not
far from its debouchure, accompanied by their newly-
hatched young.

The destruction of the Canada geese during their
migrations is enormous; the autumnal flight lasts from
the middle of August to the middle of November. Those
which are taken in this season, when the frosts begin,
are preserved in their feathers, and left to be frozen for
the fresh provisions of the winter stock. The feathers
constitute an article of commerce, and are sent to
England. The vernal flight of these geese lasts from
the middle of April until the middle of May. Their
arrival in the fur countries, from the south, is imj)atiently
expected; it is the harbinger of spring, and the month is
named by the Indians the " goose moon."

THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. 239

About three weeks after their first appearance, the
Canada geese disperse in pairs throughout the country,
between the 50th and 67th parallels, to breed, retirinfjj at
the same time from the shores of Hudson's Bay. They
are seldom or never seen on the coasts of the Arctic
Sea. In July, after the young birds are hatched, the
parents moult, and vast numbers are killed in the rivers
and lakes, when, (from the loss of their quill feathers,)
they are unable to fly. When chased by a canoe, and
obliged to dive frequently, they soon become fatigued,
and make for the shore with the intention of hiding
themselves, but as they are not fleet they fall an easy
prey to their pursuers. In the autumn, they again
assemble in flocks on the shores of Hudson's Bay, for
three weeks or a month previous to their departure
southwards.

The flight of this species is laborious and heavy, and
generally in single file, or in the form of two sides of a
triangle, the leader, some old gander, being the apical
bird. From time to time this leader utters his deep
"honk," which is responded to by the rest of the flock,
and which may be translated, " What cheer, ho!" "All's
well !" Very often, however, all is not well, for the line
is scattered by the withering fire of the gunner; often,
too, they meet with dense fogs in which they become
bewildered, and after wheeling about alight on the
ground, where the unerring rifleman gives them a
warm reception. In some districts, the sportsmen take
with them into the marshes one or two of the domes-
ticated race, which, by their call note, attract the
flocks passing over head, and allure them to des-
truction.

Wilson says, that, except in calm weather, the flocks
of Canada geese rarely sleep on the water, generally
preferring to roost all night in the marshes. When the
shallow bays are frozen, they seek the mouths of inlets
near the sea, occasionally visiting the air or breathing
holes in the ice; but these bays are seldom so com-
pletely frozen as to prevent their feeding on the bars
at the entrance

240 THE AMERICAN \VILD GOOSE.

PAIRING, BREEDING, AND MANAGEMENT.

In the month of November, it is recommended that
every flock of wild geese be reduced tp two pairs, (or at
least three pairs,) in order to guard against accidents to
one. Such birds should be retained, as diffisr as much,
in age, as maybe consistent with their breeding powers;
and also, if possible, those should be selected which have
been observed to entertain a mutual dislike, in order that
they may fix their nests at a distance from each other.
They should previously have become attached to their
keeper, though not to their co-mates, that they may
suffer him to approach and feed them and their goslings
liberally, and so bring them into thoroughly good con-
dition by killing time.

The stock bird ought to be well supplied with grain
or Indian corn during winter, when the grass grows little
or not at all, to promote early laying; but they usually
have a few kernels of barley or maize thrown down to
them now and then. No one can blame them, if they
occasionally stray out of bounds in search of food ; but
they are then accused of restlessness, shyness, and so on.
It is no migratory impulse that sets them on the move,
but over-crowding and under-feeding; in proof of which,
they will generally return of their own accord. I am
speaking of birds that have been bred in captivity for
several generations. Give them room and food enough,
and they will stay contentedly at home. Curtail their sup-
plies, and they become like "darkness," in Spoffoth's well-
known glee ; " flies away" is ever and again the burden
of their song. The Canada goose is a very large bird,
and cannot be expected to live and get fat upon air. If
a farmer's wife were to treat her turkeys as the Canada
goslings are usually served, they would at Christmas
be just as tough, stringy, and uneatable, if indeed they
survived the pinching regimen so long. The growing
goslings must sensibly miss the al)un(lance of their native
breeding places, vvhen confined to these short commons;
and it is not just in us, after such neglect and penurious-
ncss on our part, to complain that they neither fat well
nor reproduce at an early age.

THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. 241

From each pair of geese, properly looked after, be-
tween six and nine goslings may taiily be calculated
upon; which, killed in the autumn, when-really plump,
would be very acceptable at home, or as presents to
unprejudiced persons. Managed thus, they would be
little, or, according to Audubon, not at all inferior to a
fatted cygnet. And their picturesque effect, as acces-
saries in landscape gardening, would surely b? greater
in distinct uniformly-tinted groups, moving here and
there across the scene with a decided object, namely,
the conducting of their young, than as a motley crowd
of diversely-colored, variously-shaped creatures, huddled
together in unmeaning confusion. The woodland park
should be stocked on different principles to the aviary
and the menagerie. Thus it is, as a spot of pure white,
that the swan gives such a sparkling brilliancy to the
picture ; and the point of deepest shade, (an adjunct of
no less importance to the painter,) may be made more
intense and effective by the judicious employment of the
Canada goose.

When a pair are received from a distance, the best
way of settling them in their new abode is to confine
them with hurdles and netting, as near as possible to
the spot where it is wished they should eventually
make their nest. Those from the hands of dealers will
generally be cowed or timidly tame ; but young birds
fresh taken from their parents, or adult ones that have
been removed from their old home to a new one, will
sulk and be shy. For the first few hours, they need
have nothing to eat, only plenty of water to drink.
Their keeper should show himself to them, and speak to
them kindly, as often as his leisure will permit ; when he
guesses that they begin to feel the cravings of hunger, a
small handful of grain may be thrown down to them, a
cabbage or two, and half a dozen earth worms. It is, of
course, supposed that they have been located on the
grass. It is likely thai, at first, they will not eat in the
presence of a stranger ; they may be left for an hour or
so when, if they have availed themselves of his absence,
he may give them a little more liom time to time. Pro-
ceeding thus by kindness, familiarity, and very frequent
11

242 THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE.

visits, he will soon secure their confidence, and be able
to form his own judgment when they may be suffered
toj-ange at large.

The young are active, self-helping little things. Their
down is of a dirty-grey, a color very difficult to describe,
with darker patches here and there like the young of
the China goose. Their bill, eyes, and legs are black.
They give no trouble in rearing. The old ones lead
them to the places where suitable food is to be obtained.
The keeper, by a libera! supply of grain or Indian corn,
can bring them forward for the table better than by
shutting them up to fat ; and before Christmas, the pa-
rents should be again alone in their domain. They will
continue to increase in size and beauty for some years,
and should have been pinioned at the first joint of the
wing, reckoning from the tip, in the manner described
for the swan ; the young that are to be eaten had better
remain unmutilated. Old birds, killed in the autumn,
after they have recovered from moulting, and before
they have begun to think about the breeding time, would
make excellent meat if cut into small portions, stewed
slowly five or six hours with savory condiments, and
made into pies the next day. "'Tis the soup that makes
the soldier," say the French. By roasting or broiling
similar "joints," we lo.se the large quantity of nutriment
contained in the bones and cartilages, besides having to
swallow tough, what we might easily make lender. The
young, as well as the old, in some parts of this coun-
try, are salted and boiled ; they would probably please
most palates better, if cooked and served swan fashion.
The young male has a frequent disposition to neglect
his own mate, and give him.self up to unlicenced com-
panionship. iMr. Dixon had one that deserted his
partner, to her evident grief, and made most furious love
to one of a flock of tame geese, separating her from the
lest, not permitting any other water bird to swim near
her, stretching out his neck stillly on a level with the
water, o[)ening his red-lined throat to its utmost extent,
hissing, grunting, sighing, trumpeting, winking his bright,
black eyes, tossing his head madly, and all kinds of folly.
Mr. D. did not choose toner>^it such conduct; but as often

THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. . 243

as he killed and roasted the object of his affections, the
Canadian gander immediately selected another leman, in-
variably the ugliest of the surviving females. One short,
squat, rough-feathered, ill-marked goose, with a thick
bill and a great grey topknot, was his special favorite.
When the Michaelmas murders had extirpated the
whole race he so admired, he returned reluctantly and
coldly to his former love. The best remedy in such a
case is to divorce them at once, and exchange one out of
the pair for another bird.

A similar incident is related in the seventh volume of
the "American Agriculturist," by Col. Minot Thayer, of
Braintree, Massachusetts, in the following words: — " A
few years since, a neighbor of mine shot at a flock while
passing to the south, wounded one in the wing, took him
alive, and very soon domesticated him. He soon became
very tame, and went with "the other geese. I bought
him, and kept him three years, and then mated him with
an old native goose. They had several broods of young
ones, and the old goose became very feeble ; so much
so, that she could not sit long enough to hatch out her
eggs. I accordingly put them under another goose, where
they did very well. In the fall of the year, I gave her
away, and mated the wild gander with another. In the
spring following, about six months after, I heard that the
old goose had got better, and was in good health. She
was brought home and put into my poultry yard. The
wild gander and his new mate were at a distance of
about eighty rods, in another pasture. As soon as the
old goose was put into the yard, she made a loud noise,
which the wild gander heard. He immediately left his
new mate, and came down to the yard, recognised his
old mate, entered into close conversation, and appeared
extremely happy in seeing her again. His other mate
followed him, and wished to join the party, but he ap-
peared much offended, treated her with the greatest
indifference, and drove her from hia^

THE COMMON SWiN.

NATURAL HISTORY.

Emblem of modest grnre.

Of nnaffecteil dignity and case.

Of pure and elegant simplicity.

EuDOSIA,

The swan, beyond all question, is the bird to place,
as a finishing stroke of art, on the smooth lake which
expands before our mansions. It is perfectly needless,
however delightful, to quote Milton and others, lauding
the arched neck, the white wings, the oary feet, and
soon. Its superb beauty is undeniable and acknowl-
edged ; and, to borrow an apt, though homely meta-
phor, I do not wish, if it can conveniently be avoided,
in the present volume, "to thresh straw that has been
thrice threshed before," to reprat how lovely the swnn
is on the silver lake, " floating tloublo, swan and sh;i-
dow ;" for I might thus run, scissors in hand, through
the whole Corpus Poetarum ; my object being simply
to point out the chief features in their natural history,
ond the best mode of treating them.

J

THE COMMON SWAN.

245

THE COMMON SWAN.

Synonymes. — Cygnus olor, ofNaturalists ; Cygne commun, Cygne muet,
of the French; Gemeiner Schwan, Slummer Schwan,of the Germans;
Ci-ine comun, Cisne mudo, of the Spaniards ,• Swan, Common Swan,
Mute Swan, Cob, (adult male,) Ptn Bird, (adult female,) Cygnet,
(young.) of the English and Anglo-Americans.

Those who wish to make themselves acquainted
with the habits and dispositions, as well as the mere
figures and descriptions of animals, should know that
all living creatures cannot be divided into two distinct
ranks of wild and tame, but that there is a most per-
plexing intermediate multitude, neither wild nor yet
tameable, but usually spoken of as " familiar," or
"half-domesticated," a term without meaning, dodg-
ing, like " squatters," on the ofFskirts of human so-
ciety; but determined never to enlist in the drilled and
disciplined ranks, playing the game of " off and on,"
but always ending with the " off." Such, among many
others, are the partridge, rats and mice, and at a still
greater distance, it is believed, is the whole genus of
swans.

246 THE COMMON SWAN.

Swans, then, are fcrm naturcc to all intents and
purposes ; yet, although capricious birds, wild in their
very nature, like most living creatures, they have some
attachment to place, yet they are called " tame
sw^ns," " domestic swans, &;c. ; but never were epi-
thets more inappropriate, unless we agree to say
" tame hysena," '" tame wolf," " tame rat," " domestic
pheasant," " domestic swallow." They will come to
their keeper's call, and take food from his hand ; they
will keep at home, when they are completely prevented
from ranging out of bounds abroad ; so far are they
tamed and domesticated, but no further, and never will
be. To compare the relations which exist between
them and man, with those by which we retain the
goose and the common fowl, is about as correct as to
believe that the same temper and disposition influence
the faithful dog and the wildest jackal of the wilder-
ness. I put the case thus strongly, in order that it
may be understood clearly. The comparisons may be
a little exaggerated, but they will serve to raise the
real truth into higher relief. The period of incubation
is about forty days.

PAIRING.

Like most domesticated animals, as before observed,
swans have some attachment to place. The first,
therefore, is to settle them, agreeably to their destined
home. Old birds are less likely to be contented with
a new abode, unless very distant from their former
one. Cygnets may bo procured every autumn ; if they
have been put np to fat for some time so much the
better, as they will the sooner become manageable,
and content with a small range. The disadvantage of
having cygnets to begin swan keeping with, is, that
they are less ornamental till they have attained their
perfect plumage, and the projior orange color of the
bill, and that they do not breed till their third year.
It i.s not, however, genf^rally known that the male is
capable of increasing his kind a year earlier than the

THE COMMON SWAN. 247

female, so tkat a brood may be obtained from an old
hen, and a cock bird in his second year. In selecting
a pair, the great thing is to make sure of having two
birds of opposite sexes. Two cock birds will not live
together, and their mutual aversion would soon show
that all was not right ; but two hens will — which is
the case also with pigeons.

DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE MALE AND FEMALE.

In selecting any water birds whose plumage is alike
in both sexes, and which cannot, therefore, be distin-
guished with certainty, the best rule is to see them in
the water, and take that which swims deepest for the
female ; and that which floats with greatest buoyancy
for the male, remembering that, as a general rule, all
creatures of the masculine gender have the largest
lungs in proportion to their size. The neck of the
cock swan is usually thicker. An experienced eye
will, besides, detect a certain feminine gentleness and
rtiodesty in the one, and an alacrity and boldness in
in the other, which is a tolerably sa fe guide, as well as
an appropriate and becoming attribute to the creatures
themselves.

FEEDING, MANAGEMENT, ETC.

SupposiwG the reader to have obtained two cygnets
that are not mere friends, but actually husband and
wife, he will recollect that those reserved for fatting
are never pinioned, lest it should check their progress,
and he will request the operation to be performed be-
fore he has them home, in order that they may have
the fewest possible disagreeable reminisences, connect-
ed with the spot where they are to spend their lives.
The amputation of the part of the wing, which corre-
sponds to our hand, is quite sufficient to prevent the
flight of the short- winged species, so far as migration
is concerned, disfigures them less than the closer prun-
ing, and still leaves them the means of escape from a

248 THE COMMON SWAN.

dog, allows them now and then, in their gambols, to
fancy they are free, and to enjoy a sort of half-run,
half-fly, from the lawn into the water. Kindness,
comfort, and good feeding must be employed to keep
them at home as far as possible ; but the loss of the
last wing will not be enough to prevent their flight
It is recommended that the female be pinioned at the
wrist, the male at the elbow, trusting to their mutual
attachment to keep the less-maimed bird from desert-
ing her mate. But however it be done, let it be
set about in a workmanlike manner ; no chopping —
no hacking — no hewing — nor butchering. Many cyg-
nets are annually killed by the clumsy way in which
their wing is lopped off. They suffer from the shock
to their nervous system.

Askillful operator will feel for the joint, divide the
skin, and turn the bone neatly out of the socket. He
should be allowed to shed just one drop of blood — no
more. I would be as hard upon him as Portia was
upon the flesh-cutting Jew —

" This bond doth give thee here jio Jot of blood;
The words expressly are, n limb of swan ,
Take then thy bond, take thou thy limb of swan ;
lint, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed ;

t>nc drop uf cy?nine blood, thy clumsiness
Shall brand the name of ' Bungler' on thy back,
Thcroforc, prepare thee to cut off the limb,
Shed thun no blood : nor cut thou less, nor more
liut jnst the very limb ; if thou tak'st more
Or less, than just the limb, thou shalt bewail
The congoqnenco."

If any brook run into and from the pond where
they are to remain, their escape through that channel
must be prevented by netting, hurdles, pales, or other
fencing, which should be continued some distance in-
land, lest they should walk away, if they cannot swim
away. This precaution will be found particularly
necessary if there is any main stream in the immedi-
ate neighborhood. A feeding trough may be fixed for
them in the pond, in the part where it is most de-
sirable that they should be accustomed to display them-
selves. The trough must bo placed in the pond on two
firm posts, within arm's length of the shore, raised high

THE CCTMMON SWAN. 249

enough from the water to prevent ducks from stealing
the food contained therein, having a cover which lifts
up by hinges, and so forms a lid, to keep out rats, and
open only in front. Many persons, however, feed their
swans by simply throwing the corn, or grain, into
sJiallow water. They will skim the surface for the
light grains which float, and then submerge their heads
in search of that which has sunk. But it is cruel to
locate a pair of swans for the sake of their beauty in a
new-made piece of water whose banks and bottom are
as barren and bare as the inside of a hand basin. A
load or two of water weeds should have been thrown
in, the previous spring, to propagate themselves and
afford pasturage. Swan food exists in proportion to
the shallowness and foulness, not to the extent and
clearness of the water. " A yard of margin is worth a
mile of deep stream."

In confined waters, swans require a liberal supply
of food, in the autumn, when the weeds run short. It
should be remembered, that at this season, they have to
supply themselves with a new suit of clothes, as well
as to maintain their daily strength. If they have not
been taught to eat grain, and have not acquired a no-
tion of grazing, they will perish from starvation.
Young birds are apt to be fanciful or stupid, and have
not sense enough to come to the bank and eat grass,
nor pick up the threshed corn, or grain, which may be
thrown down to them. Sometimes they may be
tempted with a lock of unthreshed barley or oats,
thrown, straw and all, into the water, which they will
instinctively lay hold of and devour. Cygnets, which
have been previously put up to fatten, will give little
or no trouble in this respect, besides the advantage of
being accustomed to the near approach of their feeder.

The weight of the swan, in the feathers, varies from
25 to 28 lbs., and sometimes, though rarely, 30 lbs.
They are never better than in the month of October,
when the gastronomical inquirer, who is as yet unac-
quainted with their merits, is recommended to give
11*

250 THE COMMON SWAN.

them a fair and impartial trial. They may be had till
Chrii^tmas, after which they are good for nothing. A
bird weighing 28 lbs. before Christmas, has been known
to shrink to 17 or 18 pounds by the end of January, in
.spite of high feeding. Therefore, " make hay whilo
the sun shines," Mr. Epicure. As in the spring, the
snowdrop gives way to the primrose and the violet, so,
in autumn, the swan yields its place on the board to
the turkey and the Gruinea fowl. If to-day is lost, to-
morrow the opportunity will have flown, in higher con-
cerns than in mere eating and drinking. Now—or,
perhaps, never.

The " swan feasts," which sometimes have occurred
in England, that seem to have left the most pleasing
impressions on the palates of the partakers have been
solemnised in the course of the month of September.
As to the mode of dressing, those artists, who are
skilled in the treatment of venison, will easily cook
swan, namely, with a meal crust over it to keep the
gravy in. Instead of stuffing it with sage and onions,
like goo.'^e, (vulgar condiments to vulgar birds,) use
rump steak chopped fine, and seasoned with Cayenne
and salt. When browned, and served to an admiring
circle, let it have rich gravy and currant jelly, the
latter hot as well as cold, in respectful attendance.
And is that all ? No ; the best remains behind. The
hash, next day, is worth riding twenty miles to eat
Nay, more ; the giblets make soup before which ox
tail sinks into insignificance. The mere writing about
it has made me hungry.

CAPONISING FOWLS.

HISTORY.

To my own taste, their flesh is insipid, flavorless, and fulsome,
quite inferior to that of other Fowls, as we usually have them ;
those who are dissatisfied with a fat Pullet, or a plump Cockerel,
must surely want a little wholesome exercise of mind and body
toi^estore a healthy appetite. Fasting, or hard work even,
might do no harm in such cases.

Dl^cotf.

The art of making capons has been practised from
the earliest antiquity, in G-reece, India, and China, for
the purpose of improving the flesh of birds for the table,
in tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. But capons, in
point of fact, are getting out of date, and are taking
rank with oxen roasted whole, and other barbarisms of
the middle ages. They are now rarely to be found in
the London markets ; and when procurable, are very
expensive, but not unjustly so, when it is to be re-
membered that two or three chickens may have been
sacrificed, before ten capons have been nursed into con-
valescence. That they may be had in considerable abun-
dance, in China, the south of Europe, and in a few in-
stances in our own country, is not to be denied ; but
wherever they may be found, they cannot be classed
otherwise than in the list of uncalled-for luxuries, of
unnecessarily unnatural vi nds, such as diseased-goose
liver pies, fish crimped al ^e, or even those frightful
and portentous dishes recalled by Dr. Kitchener, in

252

CAPOMSING FOWLS.

the " Cook's Oracle." One thing, however, may be
harmlessly resuscitated. As —

the toad, tigly and venomnns.

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head

SO the capon, which, thovigh ugly, is not half veno-
mous enough, if we can be made to believe all we
read, carries a valuable gem in the part that is usually
antithetically opposed to the head.

E.XTKACTING A CRYSTAL FROM A CAPON'S LIVER.

P'rorii a very curious and ancient work on natural
iiistory, in my po.ssession, entitled " Ortns Sanitatis,"
(the gard<^n of htialth,) printed and published at Aus-
burg, in 148.'), by Joan. Cuba, a Dutch botanist,
who travelled through Greece and the East, I give
above, a fac-siinilo of a wood engraving, representing

CAPONISING FOWLS. 253

the act of extracting a precious stone from the liver of
a capon. "The AUectorius," says the author, "is a
stone like a crystal, or limpid water. It is found in
the liver of a capon at the age of three years. It is
never larger than a bean. After this stone is formed
in the capon, he never drinks." The Ortus Sanitatis
further informs us that ladies, who wear the jewel
AUectorius, are sure to be pleasing in the eyes of their
husbands.

Aldrovandi tells us that in capons, which were more
the fashion in his day than they are now, the hackle,
the tail feathers, and the spurs grew to a much greater
length than in cocks.

In England, the art of making capons, it seems, is
no new thing, as the business of which formerly de-
volved upon females ; for old Leonard Mascall, in his
minute directions for the operation, uses the femi-
nine gender throughout.

MODE OF MAKING CAPONS AND FOULARDBS.

If young cocks are emasculated, so as to deprive
them of their natural reproductive feelings, it has a
wonderful effect on their condition, rendering them
also more easy to fatten. They are never afterwards
subject to the natural process of moulting, and lose
their previous strong shrill voice. They become dull
and melancholy, are detested by the hens, buffeted
about by the other cocks, and would soon fall victims
to their enmity, were they not removed to perform the
remaining business of their lives, " to eat, drink,
sleep, and get fat," with all possible expedition. In
this state, they are called " capons."

In a similar manner, young pullets may be capon-
ised, so as to deprive them of their reproductive pow-
ers, and render them more easy to fatten. AVhen thus
operated upon, they are usually, though improperly,
termed "hen capons," but the French word, " pou-
larde," is much to be preferred.

^54

CAPONISING Ffn\T:.s.

In performing the operation, the first thing to be
considered is the purchase or procurement of the re-
quisite instruments. Those most approved of by skill-
ful operators, consist of two five or seven-pound weights
for confining the fowls ; a scalpel for cutting open the

thin skin which envelopes the testicles ; a silver retrac-
tor for stretching open the wound wide enough to ope-

3ta^

RKTRACTOR.

rate within ; a pair of spring- forceps, denoted by the
letter o, in the following page, having a sharp, cutting
edge, resembling that of a cliiscl, with a bevel half
an inch iu its greatest width, for making the incision,

CAPONISING FOWLS.

255

and securing the thin membrane covering 'he testicles;
a spoon-shaped instrument,
b, with a sharp hook at one
end, for pushing and remov-
ing the testicles, adjusting
the loop, and to' assist in
tearing open the tender cov-
ering of the testicles ; and a
double silver canula, c, for
containing the two ends of
horse hair or fibre, constitut-
ing the loop.

The cost of these instru-
ments in New York, is near-
ly as follows : —

Scalpel, $0.62r

Silver Retractor,
Spring Forceps,
Spoon, with hook,
Double Silver Canula,

1.50
0.87i
0.75
1.75

$5.50

Those who are not par-
ticularly nice about the mat-
ter, may use a cheap pen-
knife instead of the scalpel,
and may obtain the other
instruments of a cheaper coa-
struction, so that the whole
will not cost more than half
the sum indicated above.

The cockerels intended for
capons should be of the larg-
est breeds, as the Dorking,
the Bucks-County, Cochin-
China, or the crreat Malay.

„„ , X J FOnCiM'f;, SPOON, AND CANULA.

They may be operated upon

at any time after they are a mon th old, though at an

256

CAPOMSIMO FOAVLS.

age of from two to three months is considered prefer-
able. If possible, it should be done before July, as it
has been remarked that capons made later than this,
r.«!ver prove so fine.

COCKEREL CONFINED FOR CAPONISING.

xVll things being in readiness, the first step to be
taken is to confine the fowl to a table or board by lay-
ing him with the left side downward, the wings
drawn behind the rump, the legs extended backward
with the upper one furthest drawn out, and the head
and neck left perfectly free, as denoted in the above
cut. The feathers are next to be plucked from the
right side, near the hip joint, on a line with, and be-
tween, the joint of the shoulder, as at a. The space
uncovered, may bo from an inch to an inch and a half
in diameter, according to ^ho size of the bird.

After drawing the .^kin off th(! j)art, backward, so
that, when left to itself when the operation is coin-
l)lcted, it will cover the wound in the fle.sh, make an
incision with the bevel-edged knife, at the end of the
forceps, between the last two ribs, commencing about
an inch from the backbone, and ext(;ndiiig it obliquely
downward, from an inch to an inch and a half, just
cutting d«H'p enough to separate the ribs, taking duo
care not to wound the intestines.

CAPONrSING FOWLS. 257

Then, adjust and apply the retractor by means of
the small thumb screw, and stretch apart the wound
sufficiently wide to afford room to examine the parts
to be removed.

Then, with the scalpel or a sharp penknife, care-
fully cut open the skin, or membrane, covering the in-
testines, which, if not sufficiently drawn up, in con-
sequence of the previous confinement, may be pushed
forward towards the breast bone, by means of the bowl
of the spoon-shaped instrument, or, what would an-
swer equally Vv'ell, with the handle of a teaspoon.

As the testicles are exposed to view, they will be
found to be connected with the back and sides by
means of a thin membrane, or skin, which passes over
them. This tender covering must then be seized with
the forceps, and torn open with the sharp-pointed hook,
at the small end of the spoon-shaped instrument, after
which, with the left hand, introduce the bowl of the
spoon under the lower, or left testicle, which is gen-
erally a little nearer to the rump than the right one.

TJien take the double canula, adjust the hair loop,
and, with the right hand, pass the loop over the small
hooked end of the spoon, running it down under the
bowl of the spoon containing the testicle, so as to bring
the loop to act upon the part which connects the tes-
ticle to the back. Then, by drawing the ends of the
hair loop backward and forward, and at the same time
pushing the lower end of the tube, or canula, towards
the rump of the fowl, the cord, or fastening of the tes-
ticle, is severed.

A similar process is then to be repeated with the
uppermost, or right testicle, after which, any remains
of the testicles, together with the blood at, or around,
the bottom of the wound, must be scooped out with
the bowl of the spoon. The reason for cutting out the
left testicle first, is to prevent the blood, which may
issue, from covering the one remaining, and rendering
it more difficult to be seen.

After the preced''.ng operation is performed, which.

258 CAPONISING FOWLS.

if skillfully done, occupies only a few minutes, the
retractor is taken out, the skin of the fowl drawn
over the wound, which may be covered with the feath-
ers that were plucked off at the commencement, and
the chicken may he released. As soon as it is liber-
ated, it will eagerly partake of grain or other food, and
in a few days be restored to health.

In some fowls, the fore part of the thigh covers the
two hindmost ribs, in which case, care must be ob-
served to draw the fleshy part of the thigh well back,
to prevent it from being cut ; as otherwise, the opera-
tion to be performed might be liable to lame the fowl,
or even cause its death.

For loops, nothing answers better than the fibre of a
coco-nut husk, which is rough, and readily separates
the testicles by saveing. The next best substance for
the purpose, is the hair of a horse's mane or tail.

The usual method of Tna.king po7dardes, in France,
IS, to extirpate the egg cluster, or ovaria, in a similar
manner as the testicles are extracted from the young
cocJvS ; but it has been shown by Mr. Yarrell, in the
" Transactions of the Royal Society," that it is quite
sufficient merely to cut across the egg tube, or ovi-
duct, with a sharp knife. Poulardes may otherwise be
treated in the same manner as the capons.

Capons are fattened precisely in the same manner
as other fowls, by keeping them cooped up in a quiet,
dark place, and Dramming, or otherwise feeding them,
abundantly.

DISEASES OF POULTRY.

GENERAL REMARE.S.

«

Although poultry are no less liable to disorders than
cattle, or other domestic animals, but very little at-
tention has been paid to them, owing, no doubt, to the
small value of individual fowls, compared with sheep
or horses ; and frequently it is most economical to kill
them at once. These disorders, however, are far from
being devoid of interest, not only as sometimes leading
to correct views of the diseases of other animals, in-
cluding man himself; but so far as the saving of even
a few dimes, by curing them when that is possible, or
of rendering their eggs, or flesh, more wholesome and
palatable, as well as the humane motive of adding to
the comfort of the creatures, some attention to the
subject, more than it usually attracts, is surely de-
sirable.

The following notices, though far from complete,
and, not improbably, requiring correction, in several
respects, will be found, it is presumed, as full and as
perfect as anything hitherto published in treatises
on poultry. But let me at once confess my ignorance
relative to the treatment of fowls laboring under their
various maladies. Their ailments have hitherto failed,
with, perhaps, few exceptions, to attract scientific ob-

2G0 DISEASES OF POULTRY.

servation, and no wonder. Who attends them ? What
complaint do they make ? And when they die, who,
acquainted with the symptoms before death, makes
post-mortem examinations, and then refers those
symptoms to the morbid appearances which his scal-
pel has revealed ? To speak the truth, neither are
their diseases well understood, nor is the treatment of
them anything but empyrical.

From reading, observation, and conversation, howev-
er, with those who profess to he practical/?/ acquaint-
ed with the diseases of poultry, my attention has only
been directed to what may be considered as the prox-
imate causes of their dissolution under the following
active forms, namely : — Apoplexy^ evinced by inflam-
mation of the membranes of the brain, or by eff'usion
of blood within or upon it ; peritoneal injlammation of
the mucous membrane of the intestines, or intumes-
cence of the rump ^land, symptomatic of a febrile
condition. N. B. Do not give salt in any case whatever.

APOPLEXY.

This is a very frequent disorder among fowls, which
makes its attack in mo.><t instances withovit tiie slight-
est warning. Mr. Flourens, a very distinguished
physiologist, of Paris, and an author, says there are
two degrees of apoplexy among fowls, one deep-seated,
and the other superficial, each having different symp-
toms. Deep-.seatcd apoplexy is characterised by com-
plete disorder of movement, while superficial ajioplcxy
is manifested only by deficient muscular energy and
instability in walking. Deep-seated apoplexy is ac-
companied by superficial apoplexy ; but, as the latter
is the precursor of the former, it ought to be carefully
attended to, in order to prevent its passing to what
may be termed the second stage, though both stages
are capable of being cured by a natural process, as an
individual case proves.

M. Flourens had brought to him, on the 12th of

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 261

April, 1823, a young fowl, whose gait indicated that
of a tipsy animal, so much, that the peasants called it
the "tipsy hen." Whether standing, walking, or run-
ning, it reeled and staggered, advancing always in a
zigzag manner, frequently turning to the right, when
it wished to turn to the left, and to the left when it
wished to turn to the right ; and instead of going for-
ward, it went backwards, and backwards instead of
forwards. Its legs also often bent under it, so that it
fell down ; above all, when it flew high up to perch,
it could not govern nor regulate its movements, but
fell and rolled about on the grounJ a long while, with-
out being able to get upon its legs or recover its bal-
ance. These movements so nearly resembled those
which had been produced by experiment, that M.
Flourens was impatient to examine the brain. He
found the bone of the skull to be covered with black
carious points. On penetrating the dura mater, a
quantity of clear water ran out, while the cerebellum
was yellowish, with rust-colored streaks on the surface,
and in the centre was a mass of purulent coagulated
matter, as large as a horse bean, contained in a cavity
perfectly isolated, and having its sides very thin and
smooth.

Dr. de Sala brought to M. Flourens, from Madame
Rousseau, of Pecq, near Paris, a young cock, which
had died of a disorder that appeared singular. This
cock could not stand upright for any time without
reeling on its legs, and it staggered when it attempted
to walk or run ; its neck always trembled or oscillated,
particularly when it stretched it or its body ; but when
its head or beak were supported, the oscillation ceased.

This is evidently the same disorder which Dr. Bech-
stein terms epilepsy, and Mr. Clater, the mei^rims or
giddiness. The latter says that "Many promising
chickens are lost in this'complaint. Without any kind
of warning, they fall, roll on their backs, and struggle
for a minute or two, when they rise stupid and giddy,
and slowly return to their food. One fit having oc

262 DISEASES OF POULTRY.

curred, is soon followed by others, each more violent
than the preceding, until at length, the little animal
staggers about half nnconscious, refusing to eat, rap-
idly wasting, and soon dies convulsed. In some cases,
the megrims occur when the fowl is poor and half-
starved ; but then the food has been improper ; it has
been watery or disposed to fermentation ; diarrhoea
has followed, and the fits are the consequence of in-
testinal irritation. Other young fowls will have oc-
casional fits, from which they will rapidly recover, and
appear to be little or nothing the worse. The me-
grims," he adds, " must be .stopped as soon as possible.
Castor oil and syrup of ginger will be a very good med-
icine, and be much improved by syrup of white pop-
pies added to it. The fowl that has once had the
megrims should be confined for some days, but in a
tolerably large place, where it may obtain some de-
gree of exercise."

This treatment, it may be observed, proceeds upon
a total ignorance of the seat of the disease, as so well
proved by M. Flourens. Dr. de Sala adopted the best
possible method of cure, by applying leeches to the
nape of the neck. The food should be light and scan-
ty, and the.:alfected fowl should be confined in a rathei
dark coop.

FIP, OR THRUSH.

This may be regarded as a token of derangement of
the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal gener-
ally, and not as a local disease. It is considered va-
riously by different writers. Dr. Bechstein d<^scribes
it as a catarrhal inflammation producing a thickenod
state of the membrane lining the nostrils and mouth,
particularly the tongue. M. Buc'hoz, on the other
hand, thinks it caused by want of water, or by bad
water, such as the drainings of dunghills, sinks, &;o.,
which fowls will drink when they can get no other.

The symptoms of the " pip," consist in a thickening

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 263

of the membrane lining the tongue and palate, which
causes an obstruction to free inspiration, and makes
the poor sufferer gasp for breath ; the beak becomes
yellow at the base ; the tongue dry ; the plumage be-
comes ruffled, the bird mopes and pines, the appetite
gradually declines to extinction, and at last it dies,
completely worn out by fever and starvation.

A cure may be effected by a low diet ; that is, in
the case of common fowls, by an allowance of fresh
vegetable food, as lettuce or parsley chopped and
mixed with potatoes and a little Indian or oat meal,
granting at the same time a plentiful supply of pure
water. Grive, also, of castor oil, a tea-spoonful, or
thereabouts, according to the age and strength of the
fowl. Do not scrape the tongue, nor use rough modes
of cleaning it ; but apply a little borax, (sub-borate
of soda,) dissolved in pure water and tincture of myrrh,
by means of a camel-hair pencil, two or three times a-
day.

When chickens are ill with the pip. Dr. Bechstein
recommends keeping the fowl in a warm place, and a
mixture of butter, pepper, garlic, and scraped horse
radish, to be given to it, without stripping the tongue ;
and, when the nostrils are obstructed, to pass a small
feather, dipped in oil, up them. M. Buc'hoz recom-
mends clean water.

GAPES, OR uttlammation of the windpipe.

This is a disease to which all our domestic gallina-
ceous birds are subject, and which often occasions
great mortality among them. "Wet, ill-feeding, and,
ill- ventilated fowl house confinement, or a spot or
plot of ground tenanted year after year by fowls, with-
out attention to cleanliness, to renovation of the soil,
and a proper allowance of gravel, ashes, fresh vegeta-
bles, &c., are the proximate or remote causes of this,
as well as many other complaints of our domestic
fowls. At the same time, let it be borne in mind,
that the "gapes" is an epidemic disease.

264 DISEASES OF POULTRY.

In the first instance, it appears to arise from a
croupy or catarrhal affection, which is indicated by
running at the nostrils, watery eyes, alteration of
voice, and loss of appetite and spirits. If the trachea,
or windpipe, be examined, it will be found replete with
narrow worms, about half an inch in length, imbedded
in slimy mucus. This singular worm consists of a
long and short body united together ; the long one is
the female, the short one the male, each, were it not
that they are permanently united together, being an
animal distinct and perfect in itself.

Whether these parasitic worms are the cause or
consequence of the disease, it is not easy to say, nor
do we know how they become introduced into the tra-
chea ; this, however, seems certain, that their removal
is requisite to give the feathered patient a chance ot
recovery. This can be done by means of a feather,
neatly trimmed, which is to be introduced into the
windpipe and turned round once or twice and then
drawn out ; it will dislodge the worms and bring back
many of them adhering to it with the slime. This
plan requires great dexterity and some knowledge of
the anatomy of the parts ; a slow unskillful operator
may kill the already half-suffocated bird, instead of
curing it. Another mode of destroying these worms,
is, by putting the birds into a box, and making them
inhale the fumes of tobacco, thrown into it through
the stalk of a tobacco pipe. Some recommend the
forcing of tobacco smoke down the bird's throat, and
others that the mouth be crammed with snufF.

Martin, in his " Farmer's Library," recommends
the application of a grain of calomel, made up with
bread into a pill, or two or three grains of Plummer's
l)ill, (pil. hydr. submur. co., London Pharmjicopoeia,)
after which let flower of sulphur be administered,
with a little ginger, in pultaceous food composed of
barley meal. Indian meal will do as well. In the
meantime lot the bird be kept in a dry, warm shed or
room, apart from the rest of the fowls, as it is believed

DISEASES OF POULTRY.

that the disease is infectious. Let the mouth and
beak be washed with a weak solution of chloride of
lime.

INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS.

FowiiS, in a state of health, rarely breathe through
the mouth as we do, but almost always through the
nostrils, which are comparatively large, and communi-
cate backward with the top of the windpipe. The
windpipe itself is composed of stiff rings of cartilage,
united by strong membranes ; and such is the elasticity
of these, that the tube is enabled to preserve its cylin-
drical focm, even when it receives considerable pres-
sure, and thereby affords free ingress and egress to the
air in breathing.

When the windpipe descends into the chest, it di-
vides into numerous branches called the " bronchial
tubes," which gradually becoming smaller, at length
terminate in perforations, but neither these branches
nor the cells are so small in fowls as in other animals.
It is these branchings of the windpipe, however, which,
together with numerous blood vessels, make up the
substance of the lungs, the interstices being filled with
a fine membrane that serves not only to unite them,
but likewise to give a uniform appearance to the whole
mass. The perforations in which the branches of the
windpipe terminate, lead into large air sacks com-
municating with all parts of the body, and forming an
accessary lung.

With reference to a not uncommon disorder among
fowls, it is important to mention that the lungs are
covered with a fine delicate membrane called the
pleura, on every part of which a watery fluid is secre-
ted, for the purpose of preventing a cohesion of the
parts.

Inflammation of the lungs, including the bronchial
tubes, is not uncommon in fowls. Its symptoms are
quick breathing, often with a rattle, or rale, very
12

266 DISEASES OF POULTRY.

audible, dullness, disorder of plumage, vacancy in the
eye, and indisposition to stir. Death is not to be pre-
vented by any remedy we can point out. Human
patients can explain their feelings, cattle to a certain
degree indicate them ; but birds give little indications
by voice or manner leading to what the medical man
calls a diagnosis. Besides, how are we to bleed a
bird ? The skin of most birds is very thin, it is un-
supported by a thick mass of cellular tissue, and
the vessels which ramify upon it are minute, none
presenting a fair chance for successful venesection.
To cut and wound a bird at random for the purpose ol
obtaining a flow of blood is barbarous.

OBSTRUCTION OF THE NOSTRILS.

Fowls, as already remarked, do not in general breathe
through the mouth, but through the nostrils, and conse-
quently, when these through any cause becotne obstruct-
ed, the bird may be observed to gape and pant for breath.
This is the case in the " pip," as before mentioned and
it is also a very common consequence of the wounds
received in skirmishing and fighting, the blood from the
lacerated comb trickUng over, and plugging up the nos-
tril with a hard adherent crust. Vvhen this is observed,
the parts ought to be washed with warm water till the
crust can be loosened.

If the obstruction arise from canker or ulceration ot
the nostril itself, it may, if recent, be rubbed with a little
honey to defend it from the air; but if of long standing,
and not seeming likely to heal, it may be touched with
a red-hot wire, which will produce a scab, ami in most
cases be followed by a speedy cure. This may be con-
sidered by some a very barbarous remedy ; but the pain
it i)roduces can only be momentary, and in reality is
not so severe an operation as cupping.

In the case of obstructed nostrils from pip or catarrh,
bathe them with warm milk and water, or anoint with
sweet oil or fresh butter.

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 267

ROUP, OR INFLUENZA.

The term "roup," is in common speaking very indefi-
nite, being applied to the quite dissimilar disorders of poul-
try, such as to obstruction in the rump gland, the " pip"
already described, and to almost every sort of catarrh.
The word is supposed to be a corruption of " croup,"
which appears to be applicable to the " gapes," or in-
flammation of the windpipe. It will be most advisable, I
think, to confine the term to a highly dangerous disorder,
caused partly, if not altogether, by cold and moisture,
but usually ascribed to improper feeding, uncleanliness,
and confinement.

The symptoms most prominent in the roup, is difficult
and noisy breathing, beginning with what is termed the
gapes, as in the pip. The eyes afterwards become
much swollen, and the eyelids livid, with decay of sight,
and even total blindness. There is a considerable dis-
charge from the nostrils, and even from the mouth, at
commencement, thin and limpid but afterwards becom-
ing thick, purulent, and fetid very similar to the glanders
in horses. As secondary symptoms, the appetite is all
but lost except for drink, the crop feels hard to the touch,
and the feathers are staring, ruffled, and without a healthy
gloss. The fowl sits moping and wasting in corners
always apparently in great pain. Moubray says, thai,
in a hen, which died of roup, the eggs were black.

The roup affects fowls of all ages, and is either acute
or chonic, beginning sometimes suddenly, and some-
times gradually, as the result of neglected colds, or rainy
weather and damp lodging. Chronic roup has been
known to aflfect a fowl for two years.

When any fowls or other poultry are observed to be
infected with roup, they ought to be kept warm, and
have plenty of water and scalded bran, Indian-meal
dough, or other light food. The most eflTectual remedy
is said to be antimonial powder or calomel, in grain
doses, made into a pill with bread. When it becomes
chronic, change of food and of air, if convenient, will
be advisable ; such as confining the diet to earth worms

268 DISEASES OF POULTRY.

for a week, and then keeping wholly to grain for another
week, and again to hot mashed potatoes for a third week.
Cleanliness is no less indispensalile than warmth, and
it will be convenient to bathe the eyes with warm milk
and water, or with Labarraque's disinfecting liquid,
which is a solution of chlorinated lime.

COLDS, CATARRHS, AND PULMONARY CONSUMPTION, OR
PHTHISIS.

Hoarseness, sneezing, and other symptoms of cold,
are very common among fowls, which are more suscep-
tible of cold than might be imagined, when we consider
their warm clothing of feathers. When it is considered,
however, that the air taken into their lungs is not, as in
ourselves, stopped there, but by means of the air cells
reaches every part of their body, penetrating even into
the interior of their bones, we may wonder the less at
their great susceptibility of being affected by changes of
temperature. It must be considered, also, that fowls
were originally, natives of a warm climate ; and though
long residents of higher latitudes they still retain so
much of their original habits as to inffuence them in
this respect. It is besides, a very common thing for in-
dividuals to be rendered more susceptible of changes of
temperature than they otherwise would be, by being
closely confined in coops by dealers in the markets ;
and hence, when purchased and turned out into the fresh
air of an open field or of a farm yard, they frequently,
to use a common phrase, " catch their death's cold"
within a few days.

M. Flourens, has investigated the nature of the disor-
ders produced in fowls, by cold, with great care, and as
his observations are not only apposite, I shall give them
pretty fully. M. Flourens difl not confine his researches
to the common domestic fowl, but experimented like-
wise on ducks, which he found, conformably to general
experience, no less suscc|)tible of catarrhal disorders
than fowls, proving that it is not altogether a change of
climate which causes such susceptibility.

M. Flourens being in the country in the month of

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 269

May, his attention was called to a duckling of a brood
newly hatched, which was reported to have swallowed
something that stack in its tliroat, appearing to be on
the point of sufTocation, continually opening its broad
bill, and breathing wi!;h extreme difficulty. He exam-
ined the fauces, the windpipe, and the gullet, and found
nothing ; but the struggles of the little creature contin-
ued to increase, and it finally died in an hour or two.
On opening it, no foreign substance was found, neither
in the gullet nor windpipe ; but the lungs were of a
deep-red, and gorged with blood, showing that its death
had been caused by acute inflammation of the lungs.

Another duckling of the same hatch was pointed out
to M. Flourens, which had been suddenly seized with
symptoms similar to the preceding ; and while he was
examining this, a third was struck so suddenly with op-
pression of the chest, that it stood motionless, gasped for
breath, had violent palpitation of the heart, left off eat-
ing and drinking, and died in two or three hours, as did
the second one. He opened both, and found the same
inflammatory engorgement of the lungs which he had
observed in the first. The disorder indeed was evi-
dently acute inflammation of the lungs.

The terrace where he found the ducklings thus seized,
and which was badly situated for rearing poultry, had
a northern aspect, and the sun scarcely reached it. It
was consequently cold, and cold alone seemed to be the
cause of the pulmonary inflammation in the ducklings.
To try the effect of a warmer exposure, M. Flourens
caused the remaining ducklings of the hatch, seven in
number, to be removed to a poultry yard, having a
southern aspect, and perfectly exposed to the sun. Upon
carefully warming the little creatures, the inflammation
disappeared from the chest, and did not return. All
the seven ducklings lived and grew up to adult age.

In the beginning of October, 1826, M. Flourens pro-
cured a brood of twenty-three chickens, about a month
old. As soon as the cold weather appeared, he placed
six of these in a suitable place, where he kept up a mild
temperature during the day, and at night made them
sleep in baskets warmly covered. None of these six

270 DISEJSES OF POULTRY.

chickens, amoncj which were four fen>ales and two
males, were affected with consumption of the lungs ;
but one died of a disorder of the eyes, and another lost
an eye.

Of eleven chickens which he kept constantly in the
poultry yard with a southernly aspect, all, except two,
a hen and a cock, died before the end of December, of
consumption of the lungs, having first passed through
all the stages of this disease.

Those chickens, which, at the end of October, were
still lively and gay, lost by little and little their strength
and vivacity ; they trailed their wings, ruffled up their
feathers, their flanks fell in, they chirped almost inces-
santly, their voice changed progressively, becoming first
hoarse and at length aphonous ; they scarcely ate, they
grew extremely emaciated, with the skin dry, and as if
it were glued to the bones ; they endeavored to get in
doors for shelter, and when they did get in, they were
observed to approach as near as they could to the fire,
to sit down even on the cinders and even upon the dogs
and cats around the hearth.

On the death of these creatures, M. Flourens found
their lungs in different stages of inflammation and of sup-
puration. For the most part, the larynx, all the wind-
pipe, and its ramifications through the lungs, were filled
with purulent matter of a greyish color like mud, and of
a fetid smell. This matter was sprinkled all over, (par-
semee,) with a multitude of very minute black points,
and these when thrown into water, fell to the bottom.
The lungs at certain points were gorged with blood, and
their tissue, softened as if putrefied, was of the color of
wine lees. At other points, particularly the external
posterior margin, the pulmonary vesicles presented black
points like those in the purulent matter, and in many
of these black points he found a very minute substance,
hard, crepitating, white, and of a bony or horny appear-
ance. In fine, upon other points, he observed the ves-
icles corroded, and forming small sacs filled with the
pus found in the bronchia, the windpipe, and larynx.

As to the two surviving chickens, they no doubt
withstood the cold from being covered with feathers

I

DISEASES OF PDULTRY. 271

than the others, but they remained dwarfea and feeble.
There remained six chickens more out of the twenty-
three on which he had begun his experiments. The
following is what he did with these : — He left them at
first with the eleven in the poultry yard till they exhib-
ited symptoms, not to be mistaken, of pulmonary con-
sumption more or less advanced. He then took them
to the place kept at a mild temperature, where, after
marking them with bits of stuff tied to their legs. He
united them with the six already there.

Two of these chickens, which would certainly have
died the same day or the next, if he had left them in the
poultry yard, after having appeared at first to regain a
little strength, died, one in about five" and t-he other in
about nine days. He found their lungs in a complete
state of suppuration or of inflammation.

The four other chickens regained by degrees their
vivacity and vigor, recommenced feeding with a good
appetite, and appeared completely re-established in
health, and in April, 1827, when he released them all
from confinement, they appeared as healthy as those
which had never been exposed to the cold.

Among these four cured chickens were three cocks
which he sacrificed to ascertain both what might be the
actual state of their lungs and what could have been
the state through which thesis organs had passed during
the evident symptoms of phthisis, which he had previ-
ously observed them to present — symptoms of which
the most immediate and direct is the purulent mat-
ter observed to come from the glottis, on drawing
the tongue out from the mouth and pressing upon the
larynx or the windpipe.

M. Flourens opened accordingly the chest of the three
cocks, and he found in all the three, traces of an old
change in the lungs, more or less deep, and now healed.
He preserved the hen, which he intended to lay eggs,
by means of which he purposed to study the effects
which reproduction might have on a pulmonary con-
sumption when cured ; but his return to Paris prevent-
ed him from putting his design in execution.

272 DISEASES OF POULTRY.

From these observation, M. Flourens concludes, with
respect to the effects of cold upon fowls, it follows,

1. That in these creatures, cold exercises a constant
and determined action upon the lungs.

2. That this action is more sudden and more serious
in proportion as the creature is of tender age.

3. That when cold does not produce a^ pulmonary
inflammation, acute and speedily fatal, it produces chronic
intlamination, which is in fact pulmonary phthisis.

4. That warmth uniformly prevents the access of pul-
monary phthisis, and as uniformly suspends its progress
when this has commenced; and sometimes even stops
it entirely, and effects a complete cure.

5. That this disease, at whatever stage it may have
arrived, is never contagious. The chickens affected
with phthisis were not only the whole day with the
healthy chickens, but roosted at night in the same bas-
kets, without ever having experienced the slightest in-
fluence from a communication so intimate and pro-
longed.

A long series of observations made upon man has
unquestionably proved that cold is the most terrible
scourge in producing chronic inflammations of the lungs ;
while heat, on the contrary, is the most efficacious rem-
edy. The experiments above detailed confirm, in a di-
rect and decisive manner, both the pernicious effects of
cold and the salutary effects of heat. In showing this
last evidence, accordingly, both where the source of the
the evil lies and where is the source of the benefit, the
results may not be entirely useless to humanity.
, Again, sudden very hot weather produced bad efVects
on all his chickens, and it being impossible to doctor all,
the most advantageous plan, he judged, and the least
troublesome, was, to destroy all the sick ones and calcu-
late only on the strong, exercising judgment in the se-
lection ; for even when they are cured, they frequently
remain not only lean but voracious, destroying a great
(juantity of food, and showing no signs of thrift till late
in autumn. When extensively-spreading disorders at-
tack the chickens of a yard, in this way unless shelter

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 273

and housing prove effectual, little else can be recom-
mended.

In the cure of these disorders in fowls, as well as in
man, the most inert and unphilosophical remedies have
been recommended. Dr. Handel, of Mentz, for ex-
ample, recommends, for the pulmonary consumption of
fowls, the juice of the white turnip to be given for drink,
instead of water, which, of course could have no more
effect in curing the corroded lungs, gorged with pus
and studded with black points, in chickens, than balsam
of hoarhound, pectoral elixir, and all the farrago of stuff
lauded for consumption in man. M. Flourens was too
sound a reasoner to dream of trying nostrums on his
chickens, since temperature alone seems to be the dom-
inant principle to which all attention ought to be paid.
After perusing the preceding observations, poultry keep-
ers need not be recommended to take care that their
poultry be well sheltered during the colder seasons of
the year, and if any appearance of cold or inflammation
be observed, to remove them, at least, for a time to some
well-sheltered place, or even into some artificial tem-
perature.

ASTHMA.

This is a very common disease among fowls, charac-
terised by their breathing short, opening their beaks of-
ten and long, as if to gasp for air, with heaving and
panting at the chest, more particularly when agitated or
frightened,

There seems to be two species of the disorder. In
the first, it'frequently happens that, when the action of
the blood vessels of the lungs has been increased to a
great degree, and the inflammation produced terminates
without suppuration or gangrene, phlegm is frequently
thrown into and plugs up a part of the air cells, which
prevents them from performing their proper functions ;
and the fowl, not being able to take in the usual quan-
tity of air, is obliged to inspire twice in the time which
before only took up one inspiration, causing a double
heaving of the chest. The capacity of the lungs being.

274 DISEASES OF POULTRY.

of course, diminished, the membrane which lines tlie
windpipe is much thickened, and many of the finer
branches are probably obstructed in a greater or less
degree.

In the second variety, by fright, from chasing the
fowls to catch them, or by seizing them suddenly, or by
their fighting with each other, a blood vessel is not un-
frequently ruptured, as is proved by a drop of blood ap-
pearing at the beak, speedy death being the usual con-
sequence. If this does not hap))en, the breathing
continues difficult and apparently painful, and a com-
plete cure is rarely effected. The rupture, not of a
blood vessel, but of one or more of the air cells, occa-
sions considerable vacuities, which are never completely
emptied of air on expiration. When this is the case,
the fowl not being able to expel the air at one expira-
tion, another immediately takes place, with a short in-
spiration between, causing the panting and gasping
already mentioned.

Confirmed asthma, caused by the bursting of air cells
or blood vessels, is of course incurable, though it is not
always fatal — fowls so aflected often living for several
years, otherwise in tolerable health. It certainly, how-
ever, injures the utility of cocks, which are the most
subject to it from its being brought on by fighting.

FEVER. •

The chief symptom in fever in fowls, is increased rap-
idity of the current of the blood, and this, of course, may
be occasioned by various causes. One of the most
common is skirmishing and fighting, by which the crea-
tures are often greatly agitated, and not unfrcquently
killed outright. This fever is sometimes increased, by
bulling the combatants about with a handkerchiel, to
induce them to leave off. A more cfl'ectual remedy,
which at the same time will often stop the fever, is to
plunge them over head in cold water, or throw cold wa-
ter over them from a garden pot, or even from a bucket.
If this is done, care must be taken to have them dried
as soon as possil)le, by removing them within doors,
bhuuld the weulhcr be danij) or cold.

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 275

In a case of highly inflammatory fever in a chicken,
noticed by Mr. Dickson, supposed to have been caused
by sudden hot weather, in May, so that it burned the
hand like hot water, a dose of nitre, in milk and water,
at night, produced so great a change, that the chicken
was cool and brisk in the morning. The dose was re-
peated, and brought on a cold fever fit, like ague, which,
however, changed to an intermittent, and the chicken
completely recovered.

THIRST.

Immoderate thirst is a symptom of fever, though it
may also occur when there is no fever, from a long con-
tinuance of dry food, and particularly when the crop
and gizzard have been distended by over-eating. When
fowls are much persecuted by their companions, which
is an every-day occurrence in the poultry yard, they
may accordingly be observed to drink almost insatiably,
for a day or more at a time, eating very sparingly, and
sometimes not at all. This appears to operate as a cure
for the fever into which they have been thrown.

When immoderate thirst is observed to affect a num-
ber of fowls at the same time, they ought to have a good
supply of green or moist food, such as cabbage or let-
tuce leaves, soaked bread, or boiled potatoes, mashed
with skimmed milk ; taking particular care that this
milk be perfectly sweet.

When the thirst arises from fever caused by fighting,
the fowl may be soused into a pail of water, in summer ;
but in winter, this must only be done if there be con-
venience to let it dry itself near a fire or a stove.

PAIRING- AND HATCHING FEVER.

The most decidedly feverish symptoms, very frequently
observed in fowls, occur at the period of hatching, when
the animal heat becomes so much increased, as to be re-
markable to the touch when the hen is caught.

Many methods are adopted to stop this fever, when
It is not desirable that the hen should incubate, but con-
tinue to lay. It is common, for instance, to turn the
hen rapidly round about, to render her giddy, which
will of course, fov a short time, diminish the velocity of

276 DISEASES OF POULTRY.

the blood, and consequently abate the fever. Others,
very improperly plunge the hen several times into cold
water, or, let water fall on her from a pump, or other-
wise. But what is found to be the most effectual, is
cooping the hen up for a few days and nights, on the
cold ground, or shutting her out from the nest at night,
and compelling her to roost in the yard.

A feverish state also takes place about the time hens be-
gin to lay, but is of little consequence to fowls otherwise
healthy, though it will be certain to increase any other
disorder which may have previously affected them. If
they appear very hot and restless, they may have plenty
of green food, Indian-meal dough, scalded bran, or soak-
ed bread, or in tnore extreme cases, they may be plunged
into, or sprinkled with, water to allay the heat.

VORACIOUS APPETITE,

Fowls which are much emaciated, or affected with
loss of feathers, (not moulting,) often exhibit the most
voracious and insatiable appetite, while at the same time
they are very ill-tempered and pugnacious. This most
probably arises from acidity in the bowels, or some ob-
struction in the orifices of the veins that open on the
inner surface of the intestines, preventing the due pas-
sage of the digested aliment into the blood.

Before any proper remedy can be prescribed, the
cause ought to be ascertained ; but as this is not always
possible, it may be well to try various things at a ven-
ture. For instance, as acidity may be presumed to be
the cause in a great number of instances, chalk may be
mixed up with bread crumbs or mashed potatoes, to
neutralise the acid. Again, if costiveness is observed,
which n)ay cause obstruction, mashed carrots or boiled
cabb:ig('s may be given two or three times, till the
effect i)roduce(l be ascertained.

OROPSIOK, mDIOBSTION, OR WANT OF APPETITE.

When the food of fowls is suddenly changed, such as
from dry to boiled barley, or Indian meal, or to
mashed potatoes, they may often be observed to feed
badly, and to lose flesh in a surprisingly short space of

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 277

time. It will tend much to prevent this, if care be tak-
en never to give them the boiled barley or potatoes in a
cold state, the difference of effect of warm, instead of
cold food being quite wonderful ; fowls enjoy a hot
dinner, and dislike a cold one, (dry grain or meat ex-
cepted,) as much as an alderman would enjoy hot, and
dislike cold turtle.

But, although change of diet may often produce such
temporary fits of indigestion, these are seldom of serious
consequence, and usually disappear in a day or two. It
is very different, when an individual fowl is affected
with indigestion or want of appetite, of some continu-
ance. In that case, the causes ought to be investigated,
and remedies given accordingly. A hen of the Spanish
breed, about five years old, noticed by Mr. Dickson, was
the particular favorite of a cock, which had been con-
fined in consequence of his savage behavior to another
hen. From this time, the favorite pined, kept constantly
beside the coop of the prisoner, and at length, left off
feeding almost entirely. When the cock was liberated,
it was supposed the favorite would recover her spirits
and appetite ; but though the cock was as gallant to her
as before, she continued to mope, keep away from the
rest, and never took to feeding with any appetite, but
only gathered up a few grains of corn, now and then, in
a listless manner, as if she cared little about it, and
finally in a week or two died. It is not improbable,
however, that if she had had active medicine given her,
such as pepper or iron rust, mixed with mashed potatoes,
or had been well purged with mashed carrots or boiled
cabbage, she might have recovered.

Moubray mentions a hen which sat about in corners,
and did not eat, drink, nor evacuate, and yet looked full,
and not diseased. Her crop being totally obstructed,
on an incision being made from the bottom upwards, a
quantity of beans was found, which had vegetated there.
On the wound being stitched up, it immediately healed,
and little inconvenience remained.

Iron rust, (peroxide of iron,) either given in substance
mixed with soft food, or diffused in water, is one of the
best tonics for fowls, and ought never to be neglected.

278 DISEASES OF POULTRY.

when there is any atrophy or loss of flesh observed. It
ought of course to be combined with good barley, oats,
Indian meal, or ground malt, and occasionally some good
ale, milk warm, to drink. The ale has a very graat ef-
fect in improving what may be termed the " condition" of
fowls.

COSTrVENESS.

It is easy to discover the presence of this disease, by
the frequent unsuccessful endeavors of the fowl affected
with it to relieve itself. It may be caused by a contin-
uance of feeding on dry grain without access to green
vegetables, without which, or the occasional substitut«
of warm boiled potatoes, this disorder is certain to make
its appearance. The want of a plentiful supply of good
water may also occasion costiveness.

Soaked bread with skimmed milk, if it can be easily
had and given warm, is one of the best remedies for the
costiveness of fowls, as it does not purge so much as
boiled carrots or cabbage, which may be given if the
soaked bread fail. A good meal of earth worms, or some
chopped suet, may also be useful. Hot potatoes, mashed
with dripping or bacon fat, are likewise an excellent
remed}'.

But should any individoal fowl continue costive, not-
withstanding these means, a little sweet oil may be in-
troduced into the anus, by way of clyster, a thing that
will rarely fail to effect, at least, temporary relief; and
a permanent cure must be sought for by discovering the
cause

SCOURING, LOOSENESS, OR DIARRHCEA.

When fowls are observed to dung more loose than
iiiiturai, in consequence of feeding on green vegetables,
bati potatoes, or other soft food, it can scarcely be reck-
oned a disease, and no treatment will be required, un-
less it continue or increase, rather than go ofl\ But
when it does amount to a confirmed Jooseuess, it ought
to be attended to, lest, in the end, it prove fatal, as not
unfre(|uently happens when it is neglected. The worst

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 279

symptom is the voiding of a white calcareous matter,
(urate of ammonia,) sometimes streaked with yellow,
like the yolk of a stale egg, which sticks to the feathers
round the anus, and being very acrid from the ammo-
nia it contains, sooji causes inflammation, which extends
rapidly upwards into the bowels. When the disorder
continues violent for a short time, it rapidly emaciates
the fowl, as the same disorder does other animals.

As it is in most, if not all cases, caused by a super-
abundant acidity, or other irritating matter in the bow-
els, chalk may be given, mixed with boiled rice and
milk, either to neutralise any acid that may be present
or to soften any acrid matter. Some people pull out
the vent and tail feathers, and then rub the parts with
fresh butter ; though this is not only a very cruel opera-
tion, but one very little likely to prove effectual. Dr.
Handel, of Mentz, in France, in cases of chronic, or
long-continued looseness, prescribes water in which the
rust of iron is diffused, mixed with milk, for drink, and
says, it seldom fails to effect a cure. Great care must
be taken, however, to have the milk perfectly sweet.
The sulphate of iron, or what appears still better, alum,
might perhaps be tried with success, dissolved in water,
in such proportions as to make it taste a little rough to
the tongue.

As looseness may be caused in fowls by an excessive
discharge of urine from the kidneys, which, if discovered,
must be attacked by giving dry food, such as whole
wheat, -oats, bran, Indian corn, or buckwheat, and by
supplying water sparingly. Boiled rice and milk, which
is strongly diuretic, as well as the rust water, will
then be improper.

BLOODY FLUX.

Fowls are but rarely affected with this complaint,
which not unfrequently proves fatal to parrots. Boiled
rice and milk, and mild ale, warm, with a little chalk or
magnesia, should be given. Fat broth or sweet milk,
warm, should be their only drink.

280 DISEASES OF POULTRY.

INFLAMMATION AND ULCERATION OF THE EYES.

One of six of the twenty-three chickens which M.
Flourens shut up, so as to guard them against cold, was
stated in a preceeding page to have died of a disorder of
the eyes, and another to have lost an eye. The disor-
der consisted of small abscesses which were formed on
the cornea, containing a whitish sort of pus. Some-
times the inflammation extended to the whole globe of
the eye, the eyelids swelling to an enormous size, and
then accumulating under them a coagulable albuminous
matter, similar to the white of an egg. The cornea subse-
quently sloughed off, and the eye was consequently emp-
tied of its humors, and vision was destroyed forever,
causing in one blindness, and in another death, while in
a third, the abscess healed spontaneously.

This disorder of the eyes was no doubt owing to the
concentrated vapors of the place where the fowls had
been shut up ; but it is also often produced in a manner
not less distressing, by cold, and particularly moist cold.

"During the rains in the winter of 1826 and 1827,"
says M. Flourens, "the poultry yard which furnished my
observations was much below the level of the soil, and
constantly flooded with water. The greater part of
the hens, and particularly the young ones, were affected
with abscesses of the cornea, and inflammation of the
globe of the eye, to the degree that many of them lost
iheir eyes. The effect of the humidity and cold did not
stop here. Along with the abscesses of the cornea, enor-
mous tumors frequently appeared on the head; these
tumors broke, and discharged most copiously a sort of
sanious pus ; and almost uniformly the fowl fell a victim
to the disorder. Many fowls were, at the same lime,
seized with acute rheumatism and sciatica.*"

RHEUMATISM.

This affection is often caused by plunging the fowls
into cold water, for the hatching fever or for weaning
them from silting. The treatment is the same as that

* Annales (k'H Science^ Scptembre, HJ29.

DISEASRS OF POULTRY. 281

for "consumption," such us warmth and cooling, open-
infr food.

GOUT.

This disorder is less common among fowls than it
would be, were it not that they are seldom allowed to
live long enough for it to make its appearance, since it
rarely attacks any except those which are rather old.
It manifests itself by swelling of the joints, but it is, in
most cases, not worth while to attempt a remedy. Sul-
phur, mixed with scalded bran, or soaked bread, may be
given with advantage.

OBSTRUCTION OF THE RUMP GLAND.

It has already been mentioned, under the head of
"roup," that this term is sometimes applied improperly
to obstruction of the rump gland. Even Moubray sa3^s,
"imposthume upon the rump is called roup." Before
giving the correct view of this gland, it may be as well
to state the common and very erroneous notion of it
from C later.

" It is well known," says he, " that there is a little
tubercle, or projection, on the rump of every bird, and
which is filled with oily matter. Its use is to smooth
and give a glossy appearance to the feathers, and more
particularly to make them water-tight. When rain is
coming, every bird is diligently employed in squeezing
out the greasy fluid, and rubbing it over the whole
surface of his feathery coat, and then the drops of rain
trickle off without penetrating through, or in the slightest
degree inconveniencing him."

In order to prove the inaccuracy of this popular and
plausible notion, it will scarcely be requisite, as M.
Reaumur justly remarks, to show how little the quan-
tity of oil that may be daily supplied by the rump gland
is, in proportion to the extent of surfaces resulting from
the assemblage of the numberless feathers with which a
hen or a duck is covered; nor how long a time would
be necessary to enable the gland to supply a quantity of
the oil sufficiently to besmear the surface of only one of
these feathers. In order to explode a notion so uni-

282 DISEASES OF POULTRY:

versally believed, it is enough to state, that the feathers
of the variety of fowls called " rumkins," which have
no rump gland at all, are as much proof against rain as
those of other fowls. The fact, notwithstanding, is
correct, that fowls are observed pecking about their
rumps, and this imposed upon careless observers, who
did not consider that the point of the beak could never
press out a quantity of oil sufficient to render itself
greasy. " So long," says M. Reaumur, " as we shall be
ignorant why a secretion is made in our ears of a
certain waxy matter, though in a very small quantity,
we shall not think ourselves obliged to give an account
why a secretion of a certain matter is in a particular
manner effected in a very small quantity on the rump of
fowls."

The rump gland frequently becomes obstructed, and
in consequence inflames, swells, and of course occasions
pain and uneasiness, extending, in bad cases, to the
whole rump. Clater says the remedy is simple ; it is all
loss of time to foment or apply cooling washes ; the
tumor must be opened at once, and the collected oil,
now become purulent and diseased, squeezed out. If
the wound does not readily heal, a little tincture of aloes
may be applied.

I)r. Bechstein, on the other hand, says that when the
rump gland is thus destroyed, the fowls are certain to
die the very next moult.

M. Reaumur thinks it will be most rational treatment
to clear, if possible, the obstructed outlet or duct of the
gland, by means of a tent, or roll of lint, introduced into
the orifice.

WOUNDS AND ULCERS.

FuoM fighting with each other, from having their feet
cut with glass or gravel, and not unlVequently from the
bitesof animals, such as minks, rats, and the like, attack-
ing them at night, serious wounds are sometimes pro-
duced, which, if neglected, may canker and produce foul
ulcers not easily healed.

In all cases of such injuries, the first requisite is clean-
liness. The wound ought to be cleared of all sand or

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 283

dirt, bathed with warm water and milk, and the fowl
shut up so as to prevent ihe others abusing it ; for they
are always ready to peck at any wound and increase the
injury. If it do not readily heal, but go on to ulcera-
tion, it maybe bathed with alum water or with ointment
of creosote, which will be almost certain to heal it, even
should it show fungous or "proud flesh."

FRACTURES AND DISLOCATIONS.

When fowls chance to have their legs broken or dis-
located, unless they are of a very peculiar or valuable
sort, and wanted for breeding, the best thing is to kill
them at once. But in such a case as that recorded in
the old song —

I have a hen with a happity leg.

Lass gin ye lo'e me tell me noo.
That every day lays me an egg,

An' I canna' come ilka-day to woo,

it may be worth while to preserve a fowl after an acci-
dent of this kind. The case must be treated according
to what has already been stated under wounds, and
more particularly under inflammation, which will be
certain to ensue, more or less severely, both locally and
constitutionally.

PARASITIC VERMIN.

Birds of all kinds, both wild and tame, are liable, from
some unknown causes, to be attacked, as Herod the
Jewish tetrarch is said to have been, with a particular
sort of lice which are generated on them in myriads. In
some instances, their feathers are so completely covered
as to hide their natural color, and in many places the
point of a pin cannot be put down without touching
some of the vermin.

In the new edition of Clater, it is said, that " vermin
are often exceedingly annoying to the poultry, and ma-
terially prevent their growing and fattening. They are
usually to be traced to evident neglect in the manage-
ment of the poultry yard. The fowls are half starved,
or the place is all over filth, or there is no dry corner

284 DISEASES OF POULTRY.

with plenty of dust or ashes in which the birds may roll
themselves." All this is in direct opposition to expe-
rience and observation; for the individual fowl infested
with vermin rarely communicates these to the rest of
the flock in the same yard, though they be fed and
lodged alike — unless there be a constitutional disposition
in some of the others to become infected, or chickens
receiving them from their mothers as soon as they are
hatched. As well might it be maintained, because indi-
vidual humble bees and dung beetles are often found
infested with lice, that it is owing to starvation or con-
finement, though all the other bees in the same nest,
and consequently under similar circumstances, as to
lodging, shall be free. Is it want of cleanliness, or
confinement, which causes so many swallows and other
wild birds to be infested with vermin?

In trilling cases, when the infection is not very
obvious to casual inspection, no particular attention wil4
be required. In bad cases, the sooner the fowls are
killed the better, as there is no certain known remedy ;
for even were every one of the vermin killed, the
evil state of the constitution would soon attract others
to breed.

Mascall says, '-they get them in scraping abroad
among foule slrawe, or on dunghills, or when they sit
in nests not made cleane, or in the hen house by their
dung lying long there, which corruptes their bodyes
and breedes lice and fieas." The corrupting of their
bodies, seems a much more probable cause than any of
the others. " The remedy," adds he, " ye sliall take the
powder of pepper, mixed with warme water, and there-
with bathe them ; or take fine powder of stavesacre,
(staphisagria,) and mixe it with lye, (urine,) and so washo
them therewith, or to bathe them in soap water, which
is good to kill lyce, or the fine powder of pryvet mixta
with vinegar, and so washe them therewith." These
directions are as good as any in the more modern
books.

A correspondent of the London " Agricultural Ga-
zette," in sj)eaking of this disgusting affliction, says: —
' Some time ago 1 had a beautiful brood of black

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 285

Spanish chickens, and the day after they were hatched,
I happened to take one in my hand, and was much
struck by observing on the top of its poll five or six
large full-grown lice, evidently caught irom the mother.
I then examined the whole brood, and found them all
similarly affected. Knowing that they would not thrive
until I had dislodged or destroyed the enemy, the next
day I attempted to pick ihem out; but I found that,
having only been left one night, the whole poll was
covered with nits, and I could not git rid of them from
their hanging so tenaciously to the down. I procured
some white precipitate powder, and, with a small camel-
hair pencil, powdered them over. On examining them
the next day, I found the parasites had all disappeared,
nor could I detect one in their after growth. They
grew and thrived so remarkably afterwards, that I was
convinced this was a valuable discovery, and have ever
since treated all my broods the same, and have never
lost one from sickness. All hens are affected with these
parasites, and as they do not dust themselves so fre-
quently during the time of incubation, they are more
liable to them. I have ascertained from observation,
that as soon as the chickens are hatched, these pests
leave the parent for the young, and if they are not
destroyed, they weaken the chicken so much, that if any
complaint comes on, the poor little thing has not
strength to contend with it. The best time to apply the
precipitate is when they are two or three days old, and
at night after they are gone to roost; but the hen must
not be touched with it; as, in pluming her feathers she
draws them through her beak, and the precipitate being
a strong poison, would no doubt prove fatal to her. In
fact, there is no occasion for it ; as I could never detect
them in her; they had no doubt left her for the young.
A very small quantity should be used ; as one penny-
worth, purchased at a chemist's, is sufficient for several
broods."

A slight application of spirit of turpentine and water,
in trifling cases, answers the same purpose, and is pre-
ferred by many persons who have a natural dislike to
the use of poison.

286 DISEASES OF POULTRY.

There are some startling facts on the subject of para-
sitic insects, to be found in the " Monographia Anoplu-
rorum Brittannia3," by the late Henry Denny, a work
which, although with a dog-latin title, that has doubtless
limited its circulation, is written in such plain and truth-
ful English, as to make the flesh creep on one's bones.
It is not eas)' to enjoy uninterrupted slumber the night
after reading Mr. Denny's monograph.

" The author has had to contend with repeated re-
bukes from his iriends for entering upon the illustration
of a tribe of insects whose very name was sufficient to
create feelings of disgust. ' Why not take up some 7nore
interesting or popular department of entomology V has
been the irequent remark made to him. He considered,
however, that if he wished to render any service to
science, he must not consult popular taste or ephemeral
fashion, but must take a page from that part of the great
' Book of Nature,' less generally read, and consequently
less understood and appreciated by the world at large.'

The number and variety of species given is frightful ;
some of those which infest poultry are,

" Goniocotes hologaster (Louse of the Domestic Fowl).

" Goniodes falcicornis (Louse of the Peacock). — This
beautiful (!) parasite is common upon the peacock, and
may be found, after the death of the bird, congregated
in numbers about the base of the beak and crown of the
head. During the year 1827, three or four specimens ol
Pave cristatus having passed through my hands, upon
each of which I observed, for the first time, several ex-
amj)les of the large and well-marked parasite of this bird,
the Goniodes falcicornis, I was induced to examine
whatever other species of birds, &c. might come in n)y
way, to ascertain whether great diversity in size or ap-
pearance existed between the parasites of diflerent
species or genera. This I soon found to be so consider-
able, that 1 resolved uj)on forming a collection, and
ascertaining what was written upon the parasitic
tribes.

" Goniodes stylifer (Louse of the Turkey). — Common
upon the turkey, frecjuenting the head, neck, and breast ;
a very beautiful species. The males of this and all the

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 287

Other species of goniodes use the first and third joints of
the antennae with great facility, acting the part of a
finger and thumb.

" Goniodes dissimilis (Louse of the Domestic Fowl).
— I suspect this species is of rare occurrence.

" Lipeurus variabilis (Louse of the Domestic Fowl).
— Common on the domestic fowl, preferring the pri-
mary and secondary feathers of the wings, among the
webs of which they move with great celerity.

" Lipeurus poly trapezius (Louse of the Turkey). —
A common parasite upon the turkey. Their mode of
progression is rather singular, as well as rapid. They
slide as it were sideways extremely quick from one side
of the fibre of a feather to the. other, and move equally
well in a forward or retrograde direction, which,
together with their flat polished bodies, renders them
extremely difficult to catch or hold. I have observed
that where two or more genera infest one bird, they
have each their favorite localities ; for while the
Goniodes stylifer will be found on the breast and neck
of the bird, the Lipeurus polytrapezius will be congre-
gated in numbers on the webs and shafts of the primary
wing feathers.

" Menop on pallidum (Louse of the Domestic Fowl).
— Found in great abundance on poultry, running over
the hands of those who are plucking fowls, and difficult
to brush off, from the smoothness of their bodies."

Those who are desirous of fuller information should
consult the work itself.

LOSS OF FEATHERS.

It has been observed, that all birds kept in a state of
confinement, are particularly subject to an extensive
loss of feathers, rendering them naked and deplorable.
This is altogether different from moulting, inasmuch
as the fall of the feathers in the latter is occasioned
by the new ones, shooting out from the skin, and
pushing the old ones off, as is the case when young
animals shed their teeth. In the disordered state in
question, on the other hand, where the feathers fall, no
new ones appear, or if they do, they seldom push far

288 DISEASES OF POULRY.

above the surface of the skin, but remain as mere stumps
arrested in tlieir growth. It is a disorder apparently
similar to that which, in horses, is termed " out of con-
dition," when the hair becomes shaggy, rough, and star-
ing, and is constantly coming off.

As the disorder, termed " loss of feathers," is evidently
a constitutional, and not a local affection, it would be
in vain to seek for remedies in external applications,
though stimulants might perhaps aid the operation of
internal medicines. Amongst the latter, such as are
known to act on the skin, particularly sulphur and
antimony may be tried. Good keep and cleanliness,
plenty of fresh water, and an open range, will do more
than any other treatment to restore the loss of feathers.
Forge water, or water from the gas works, might prob-
ably be of advantage, given as drink.

MOULTING.

Although moulting is a natural and annual occur-
rence, it rarely passes without more or less disorder, and
not unfrequently proves fatal, so that fowls require to be
carefully attended to at the time of their moult. It is
most dangerous and most frequently fatal to young
chickens, particularly those of late broods, during the
occasional cold and rainy weather at the close of au-
tumn, their being late hatched throwing the time of
moulting late ; whereas, those that are hatched early in
spring, moult in the warm days of July and August, and
on that account are not so apt to suffer. The summer
moult is for the most part gradual, a few feathers falling
at a time, and being renewed till the whole plumage
undergoes a change. In the autumnal moult, on the
contrary, more of the feathers fall off at once, and as
the fresh ones do not grow so readily, on account of the
weather being colder, the fowls are rendered naked, and
exposed to any accidental bad weather which may occur.

Dr. iiechstein judiciously remarks, with respect to
wild birds, that their moulting time always happens
when their food is most abundant ; and as the loss of
feathers is likewise attended by a loss of flesh, nature

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 289

points out that they ought to have an additional supply
of food till all danger is over.

Warmth is no less necessary than abundant and
nourishing food ; and when the later broods of chickens
fall off, in their appetite, appear moping and inactive,
their feathers staring and falling off till their rumps,
sides, and thighs show the naked skin, they must be
prevented from getting out in cold mornings too early,
and not permitted to be abroad after four o'clock in the
afternoon. M. Chomel, of France, advises, further, to
put some sugar in their water, and to give them millet
and hemp seed.

After the third year, it has been observed, that fowls
begin to moult later every succeeding year, so that it is
frequently as late as January before the older fowls come
into full feather, and the weather being then cold, they
are not in a laying state till the end of March, or later.
The time of moulting continues, according to the age
and health of the fowls, and also with reference to mild
or cold weather, from six weeks to three months.

CHAN&E OF COLOR.

A REMARKABLE peculiarity in the colors of fowls, is,
that they frequently change in a very surprising man-
ner, from the time when the chicks cast their down to
the annual moult of the full-grown birds. This change,
although it may be regarded as a species of disease, in
some cases, is, no doubt, the regular process, at least
after the second and third moults, as the colors, then,
generally continue much the same.

In the physiology of birds, there is, perhaps, nothing
more curious than the laws which influence the colors of
their feathers. It is asserted, for instance, that, " it is
by no means a rare occurrence among game fowls,
'blacks,' 'blues,' and 'reds,' to change their plumage,
and become spangles and whites." In the "American
Turf Register and Sporting Magazine," it is stated that,
in 1807. a case occurred of a milk-white cock, raised by
Mr. Phillips, of South Hampton. Virginia, the colors of
which cnanged the next spring to a red spangle. An-
other instance occurred with JM^ Allen J. Daw, well
13

290 DISEASES OF POULTRY.

known among the agriculturists and sportsmen of the
south, who bred a game cock, in Madison county, Vir-
ginia, which, in 1821, was a bluish-grey, in 1822, he
was still grey. In 1823, he was milk-white, or
" smock," as the English term it. In 1824, he had
changed to sky-blue.

We are told by M. Reaumur, that one of his hens
"which his poultry woman distinguished from the rest
by a crooked claw, when her coat began to be taken
notice of, had feathers of a ruddy color mixed with the
brown so common among dunghill fowls. A year after-
wards, this hen was observed to become almost black,
with here and there some large white spots. After the
second moulting, black was the predominant color on
every part of the body ; but strange to tell, upon the
succeeding moult, white was the predominant color, and
only a few black patches about the size of a dollar
could be observed. Upon the succeeding moult, all the
black spots disappeared, and the hen became uniformly
of a pure white like that of a swan. As she was at this
lime old for a fowl, that is, not less than ten years, it
might be thought that old age, which whitens the human
hair, likewise whitens the feathers of certain birds ; but,
in that case, M. Reaumur says, the transition from the
ruddy to the white ought not to have been made, as it
really was, through the black ; and he was of opinion, as
the hen was still vigorous and healthy, that she might
again change her color, if she lived, to brown or black.

The same author makes some interesting remarks on a
cock which he observed with more attention than the
hen, so as to establish proofs, that the white colors of
the feathers were not. at least in that instance, caused by
age. The owner of the cock was struck, the first time
he moulted, with the singular change in his color ; and
for five successive moults, there was always a consider-
able change of color. In his first year, he had some
ruddy-brown, mixed with white, so common in dunghill
cocks; in the second, he was all over ruddy-brown, or
rather red, without any white; in the third, he became
uniformly black; in the fourth, uniformly white; and in
the fifth, when he was presented by the prior of Bury to

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 291

M. Reaumur as a curiosity, he had white feathers mixed
with a good deal of ruddy color and brown, bordering
upon chestnut, his neck, back, wings, and belly, being
ruddy ; and even where there were white leathers, they
were mingled with ruddy ones. During the summer
vacation, at Paris, M. Reaumur was two months with-
out seeing the cock ; but in this period, he became so
changed as not to be recognisable, his feathers having
become all over of the finest white. The following
year, he had partly white feathers, but the greater por-
tion was ruddy, or rather of a fair red. Here, then, was
a transition from white to a light-brown, indicating that
the whiteness of his feathers was not owing to the
number of his years.

It has been remarked by several scientific observers,
that hen birds of various species, but more particularly
hen pheasants, put on, under certain circumstances, the
plumage of the male. Hunter, in his work on " Animal
Economy," is of opinion that " this change of character
takes place at an advanced age of the animal's life, and
does not grow up with it from the beginning." Mr.
Butler, another English physiologist, expresses a similar
opinion still more strongly, namely, that " all hen phea-
sants, as well as common fowls, would assume the
plumage of the cock, to a certain degree, if they were
kept to a certain age." Though this, however, to som.e'
extent may be true, the reasons, or rather the accom-
panying circumstances and changes of constitution,
were first pointed out, it is believed, by Mr. Yarrell,
who seems to have determined that the change of color
depends on disease, or removal of the ovarium of the
fowl. Among seven hen pheasants, whose plumage
more or less resembled that of the male, he found the
organ in question diseased, with some variation as to
extent, and the progress of change observable in the
plumage bore a corresponding analogy. At the com-
mencement of this internal disease, the plumage does
not seem to be affected, for " hen pheasants in confine-
ment, and females of the common fowl in the poultry
yard, had been known to have ceased producing eggs
two years before any change was observed in their

292 DISEASES OF POULTRY.

plumage. When our domestic hens are castrated, or
rather, have part of the egg tube cut out, for the purpose
of fattening, the plumage undersjoes a similar alteration,
so as to render it difficult to distinguish the birds fromi
capons.

This change in the color of the plumage of birds, as
well as the hair of other animals, is attributed to the
influence of some peculiar coloring matter of the system.
That singular description of mammalia and birds,
usually known under the name of " albinos," I think,
with propriety, may be classed among the diseases, as
their characteristics appear to arise from a deficiency oi
the coloring principle common to the skin, hair or fea-
thers, and eyes. Thus, the skin generally has the hue
which its cellular and vascular contexture produces ; the
hair or feathers is produced to its simple organic ground
work; and in the eyes, which are entirely destitute of
pigmentum, the color of the iris depends on the fine
vessels which are so numerous in its composition, and
that of the pupil, or the still greater number of capilli-
aries which almost entirely form the choroid membrane.

The albino or leucopthiopic constitution occurs both in
wild and domestic animals as well as in the human sub-
ject. It is not only well known in the ferret, mouse,
rat, monkey, squirrel, hamster, Guinea pig, mole, opos-
sum, martin, weasel, fox, roe, rhinoceros, elephant,
badger, beaver, bear, camel, buffalo, blackbird, crow
and partridge, but in the horse, ass, sheep, pig, cow, dog,
cat, rabbit, Canary bird, peacock, and the common fowl.
In the mammalia and birds just enumerated, the nature
and characters of the deviation seem to be perfectly ana-
logous to those in the human albino. The pure white-
ness of their skin and other integuments, and the redness
of the irides and jm )ils mark the same deficiency of
coloring matter.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

COMPARATIVE MERITS OF DIFFERENT BREEDS
OF FOWLS.

Having hastily examined the proot sheets of "The
American Poultry Yard," written by Mr. D. J. Browne,
which you put into my hands, with a request that I
should add something from my own experience, I am
I'eminded of an anecdote that took place in this city
some years ago. A gentleman being called upon to
make the closing speech, at a public meeting, rose and
said, he was an unfortunate man ; that, since he came
into the house, he had been robbed of everything he had
intended to say on the subject under discussion, by the
speakers who had gone before him ; and that nothing
was left for him to say which had not already been said.
The application is obvious in the case before me.

The breeding of fowls, with many, is more a matter of
fancy than of the intrinsic value of the different kinds ;
and the safest way of giving advice on this subject is to
say, let each individual select that variety which he
likes best, breed and compare the merits or demerits of
each until his judgment is well founded upon actual ex-
perience, holding rigidly to the principle of not crossing
different breeds for permanent use, but keeping them, if

296 APPENDIX.

possible, entirely distinct ; for, in no other way, will the
test be a fair one.

But, in respect to the comparative merits of the exist-
ing varieties of fowls in this country, I have but little to
say. The Cochin-China, Shanghae, great Malay, jago,
and other monstrous breeds produced by crossing with
one another, in my humble opinion, are not the most de-
sirable kinds for general use ; as their legs are very long
and large, which are bad points in a fowl ; their flesh
coarse ; and they are great eaters ; besides, they lay
comparatively but few eggs, which are very liable to be
trodden upon and broken at the time of sitting. I have
bred most of them in their so-called purity, -as well as
many of their crosses, and I am free to say, there is no
way to make them profitable except, perhaps, by capon-
ising, and afterwards fattening them for market.

The Dorking is a fowl, all things considered, much to
be preferred to all others for profit ; but as their good
qualities have been so minutely described in the able
treatise before me, as well as in the back volumes of the
American Agriculturist, it is needless to recapitulate
them here. Their scarcity, as well as the high prices at
which they are held by those who breed them in their
purity, will, for some years, prevent them from co/ning
into general use.

That there is a difference in the number and quality
of eggs laid by different hens, I believe is conceded by
all. Of these, the Polands stand first in public estima-
tion ; but to say or believe, that even these are " ever-
lasting layers," is a great mistake. They are less in-
clined to sit, to be sure, and it is on this account that
they have obtained the reputation of great layers ; and
for this reason, if I wanted eggs, only, and not chickens,
1 would keep this variety.

With most people, an egg is an egg, in the market, as
in the old adage, " a pint is a pouml, feathers or shot ;"
and the buyer seldom stops to think of the weight, al-
though there may be three times the difference in the
bulk of those in the same basket or cask. 'Tis not the
largest eggs, however, that are the most profitable to the
buyer, as the flavor differs not only in the different

APPENIIX. 297

breeds, but with the kind of food on which the hens are
fed and the season of the year in which they are -laid.
Next to the Polands, in point of profit, the eggs of the
Dorkings may be considered the best, although those of
the Bantams and other small fowls are richer, better-
flavored, and larger-yolked in proportion their size.

The Game Fowl, crossed with the Dorking, for
the first or second cross, is an excellent bird both in the
flavor of the flesh and eggs; but they ai^e objectionable
on account of their turbulent dispositions when kept
with other fowls.

The little Bantams, however, can only be kept with
any advantage as pets within doors, where the climate
is severe. If their apartment be kept warm, they will
lay abundanly during the winter and spring, producing
delicious eggs, though small In size, at a time when other
hen's eggs are scarce.

The Dominique Fowl is another breed becoming
more and more in favor, as they are universally pro-
nounced as being hardy, good layers, careful nurses, and
affording excellent eggs and flesh. Besides, their beauti-
ful appearance, when in full plumage, is quite an acqui-
sition to the farm yard or the lawn.

As to the common Turkey, I have but little to say.
I prefer the black or dark-colored varieties to all others,
as they are generally the largest birds, are more hardy,
and equal to the other kinds as to laying, rearing their ""<i-
young, as well as in the flavor of their flesh. Next to
the black varieties, I prefer the buff'-colored, which are
quite as large, and perhaps as good in most of their other
qualities; but last of all, I would select the white, which
are decidedly less hardy, smaller in size, if they are not
even inferior in other respects.

But of all domestic fowls, if not interfered with, the
Guinea Hen is the greatest layer, the most faithful nurse,
and the best adapted to get its own living when left to
herself. These birds are not profitable to keep, how-
ever, where there are gardens or cultivated fields, as
they will often devour or destroy, in a few hours, more
than their eggs and carcasses are worth.

The most showy and magnificent bird of the farm

298 APPENDIX.

yard is the Peacock, which is of no use, except for admir-
ing eyes to look upon. I need not describe the brilliancy
of its plumage, the color of its various dyes, nor the un-
surpassing elegance of its form. These are familiar to
all. To use the words of a writer in the second volume
of the " American Agriculturist," it is " idle and vagrant
in its habits, mischievious in its propensities, and of little
utility either in its carcass or its eggs ; it is tolerant
alone for its gorgeous display of plumage, and the showy
splendor of its attitudes. I have kept them many years,
and every year of my observation, only confirms in my
mind the truth of the ancient proverb applied to the
bird. ' It has the plumage of an angel, the voice of a
devil, and the maw of a thief They are destructive in
the garden, vindictive and quarrelsome among other
poultry, without either merit of bravery, or energy of
defence. Yet, after all, I like them ; they make a beau-
tiful show among the poultry, and add to the infinite and
delightful variety of animated creatures, with which a
kind Providence has blessed our vision;"

Of the kind of Geese, I think the Bremen, crossed
with the common China variety, the most profitable.
They make a splendid bird ; but I would never breed
their hybrid progeny, if I could avoid it, beyond the first
cross, except for the table.

Geese may be kept to advantage where there is a
pond, or plenty of running water; but without these, the
rearing of goslings never ought to be attempted, although
they have been successfully raised without these — it
cost more than it came to.

I have a few Wliite, China Geese, which, with care-
ful feeding and protection, lay nearly the whole year
round. They can only be kept to advantage in a warm
climate where the eggs could be hatched under a com-
mon hen.

The observation on geese will apply with equal force
to Duchs — without a pond or running stream, it is not
worth while to keep them ; and unless they get some
portion <>f their living out of the water, as cockles,
musHols, weeds, &c., it is doubtful whether they afford
much if any profit. Besides the common varieties, I

APPENDIX. 299

think the Muscovy or Musk Duck may be kept with
some advantage to cross with them. Their offspring
grow to a larger size, and when properly fattened, they
are good for the table. Moreover, these birds, from
their singular habits and unique appearance, are quite an
acquisition to the poultry yard or farm.

It has been said that the Co7nmon Sivan will not breed
in this country, in consequence of the variableness of
our climate. But this is an error, probably founded on
ignorance of their habits, and the mode of propagation ;
for they have been successfully bred for a f^w years
past by Mr. Roswell L. Colt, of Paterson, New Jersey,
who has, by the by, a fine pond and every other ac-
commodation necessary for rearing them.

Having written to Mr. Colt, a few days since for
information on this subject, I have just received at this
moment, the following reply : —

Paterson, December 31st, 1849.
Dear Sir,

You ask me what success I have had with my swans.
I got them from France four years ago last spring. The
first year, they did not lay. I suppose they were young
ones. The second year, I had two eggs which did not
hatch. The third year, I had five eggs, four of them hatch-
ing out in thirty-nine days. The fourth year, (that is the
last summer,) I had six eggs, all of which hatched out
on the third of June, also in thirty-nine days. The
swan lays an egg every other day, and begins to lay
here towards the last of April. I have lost two young
ones; but on examination could not discover any cause
for death.

Swans must have an abundance of clean water to
swim in. I feed mine with Indian corn, rye, oats, and
buckwheat, put at the edge of the pond, close to the
water, as they like to wash down their food as they
partake of it. When the cygnets are young, I give
them Indian meal, mixed with water and boiled potatoes,
broken up. I throw into the water some clover, green
leaves of Indian corn, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, besides

300 APPENDIX.

the corn, oats, &c. They also come out and eat grass
Hke geese. In fact, they may be fed as you would a
favorite goose, and with afresh, clear pond of water, you
will succeed.

Truly yours,

R. L COLT.
To Samuel Allen, Esq.,

There is one feature in the work before me, although
converse to popular opinion, which I think demands the
particular attention of those engaged in the breeding and
rearing of poultry ; that is, the antiquity and perma-
nence of species and varieties in our domestic fowls.
We all know of the many attempts that have been made
to bring the grouse or partridge, the quail, and the
prairie hen into a permanent state of domesticity with-
out success. For instance, the beautiful little Prairie
Hens, exhibited at the Fair of the New- York State
Agricultural Society, in the autumn of 1848, were pur-
chased by Mr. Lewis G. Morris, of Mount Fordham, near
New- York City, with the view of breeding from them,
but before the return of the next spring they all died. I
would not discourage others from trying to domesticate
them ; for even this, like the turkey, may prove another
•' exception of the rule."

PROFITS OF POULTRY RAISING.

As regards the money profits derived from poultry
raising, I have but a lew words to say. One principle,
in fowl-keeping, I think may be laid down as an estab-
lished truth, which is this: "The more densely poultry
are congregated, the less profitable will they be ; the
more thickly they are crowded, the less will they
thrive."

Were it in my power to show by figures, a statement
of great profits, derived from keeping a large number of
fowls together that would satisfy my own mind, and that
I could conscientiously recommend as a guide for others
to follow, I would most gladly avail myself of so agree-
able a task. Rut, unfortunately, most of the Debit and
Credit accounts of poultry profits, we so often see pub-

APPENDIX. 301

lished, will not bear the close scrutiny of those who
have attempted the business on a large scale. I do not
wish to be understood to say, that such accounts are
heralded to the world with any improper motive, or in-
tention to deceive ; but, in general, to use the apt com-
parison of another, " they are no more to be relied on,
for practical purposes, than would the ship owner's ac-
count of the whale fishery, if it made no allowance for
bad luck — the loss of time of the crew, the cost of pro-
visions, and other outfits — worth $30,000 ; to say
nothing of wear and tear, and the widows of drowned
whalemen to assist." Nothing is more likely to mis-
lead the novice whose experience is insufficient to judge
of their incompleteness, leaving error out of the question.

Thus, one writer in the London " Agricultural Ga-
zette," of Sept. 23, 1848, tells us that, by adopting the
regimen advised by one good Mrs. Doyley, hens may be
made to sit four times in the season. Each lime they
sit, they are to hatch two broods, (that is, eight broods
of three weeks each per annum,) by the withdrawal of
the first clutch of chickens, and replacing them with
fresh eggs ! The kidnapped chicks are to be reared by
an artificial mother. Now, if the hen hatches only ten
chickens from each set of eggs, which is considered a
low estimate, this gives eighty chickens per annum from
each hen ! ! or four hundred in the course of the year,
for the expense of maintaining five hens, and, it is sup-
posed, one cock, (though the poor fellow is not men-
tioned,) or more than one chicken per day!!! But,
alas ! for such extravagance. Hens are made of flesh,
blood, bones and feathers — not of wood, hot water,
India rubber, sheepskins, nor iron ; and if their incu-
bating powers are overtasked, they will invariably suffer
for it afterwards, which will often take them the whole
autumn and winter to recover, if they ever recover at
all. Accounts like the above, which we often see going
the " rounds" in agricultural papers, it is almost needless
to say, deserve only to be treated with ridicule and dis-
respect.

I clip the following egg-laying story, from the fourth
v^olume of the " American Agriculturist," as having oc-

302

APPENDIX.

curred on the farm of Mr. Gerard Carpenter, of Pough-
keepsie, New York. He commenced on the first of
January, 1844, with sixty-seven hens and three cocks.
Out of the flock, were sold and lost, by the 1st of May,
seven hens ; from that time up to the 10th of September,
he lost two more. The average number of hens re-

maining, during the year, was est
laid each month as follows

January, .
February, .
March, .
April, .
May,
June, .
July,
August,
September,
October,
November,
December, .

Total,

mated at sixty, which

Eggs-

191

400

892

1,037

1,086

700

838

740

540

113

21

none.

6,558

In addition to this number, it was supposed that full
300 eggs were used for sitting, got lost, broken, or
spoiled, which are not reckoned in the account above.
The food of the hens consisted of as much Indian corn,
mixed with a few oats, as they could eat ; the grain
being placed where they could get at it whenever they
felt inclined. In the winter, they had a little meat.
They were not confined at all, and had access to lime
and gravel, while the ground was covered with snow.

A corresj)ondent, of Rahway, New Jersey, states in
the fifth volume of the journal last named above, that
he connnenced the year 1845 with a stock of poultry,
the expenses and profits of which were as follows : —

1845

Jan. 1. To 41 bens, 6 cocks,

" " G turkeys,

" " 4 geeue.

Dr.

at 2.5ots. . $12.50
at62icta . 3.75
at62iot4i. . 3.50

APPENDIX.

303

Jan 30. "
Feb. 25. "
Aug. 14. "
Nov. 14. "

Dec. 31. "

22 geese, . . . .
cash for 15 hens, .
6 young ducks, .
5 common ditto,
1 pair Muscovy do.
61 5 bushels corn,

Carried up,
at 50cts.
at 25cts.

at 62*cts.

Labor in picking geese,

$18.75
11.00
3.75
1.00
1.25
1.13
38.44
0.83

Total cost, ....

$76.20

1845.

Cr.

Dec. 31.

Bj

3,660 eggs used or sold, .

$40.15

a

((

26 chickens, "

. 6.25

a

li

3 turkeys, "

. 2.25

li

i(

6 ducks, "

. 2.25

23 geese, "
35 lbs geese feathers.

. 15.67
. 17,50

u

ii

16 bushels of hen manure, .

2.00

11

ii

103 fowls on hand, valued at

25.75

n

ii

7 ducks, "

2.63

it

a
ii

4 turkeys, "
4 geese, "

Total proceeds.
Deduct cost, .

3.00
3.00

$120.45
76.20

Net profits,

$44.25

The geese, it is stated, were not the least profitable
part of the stock. They were the large, white Bremen
variety, weighing, when dressed, from 10 to 15 lbs.
each. They were confined in a lane, which afforded
them access to the different fields, and in which there is
a large artificial pond.

Dr. H. S. Chase, of Woodstock, Vermont, makes the
following statement on the management and profits of
poultry ; — On the 27th of March, 1848, I purchased
four hens and one cock, and kept them until the 15th of
November, when I killed them. During that time, I
received three hundred and eighty-six eggs as the re-
sult of their laying. I fed them on grain, 1 purchased —
seven pecks of corn, and one peck of oats. The ac
count stands as follows : —

304 APPENDIX.

386 eggs, average price 1 cent each, . . $3.86

7 pecks corn, at 181 cents per peck, . $1.31

1 peck oats, . . . 0.12 — 1.43

Net profit of four hens for less than eight

months, $2.43

Average number of eggs laid by each

hen, ninety-six.

In the "Boston Cultivator," of Dec. 22, 1849, the
followincT account of poultry raising is given by Mr.
Edwin Howard, of Easton, Massachusetts : — I com-
menced the first day of December, 1848, with nineteen
hens and one rooster, [cock,] which stock I valued at
twenty dollars, and in the spring I added one more hen.
They laid, in one year, with what a few of my pullets
have laid in the fall, eighteen hundred and eighty-one
eggs, and have raised eighty-two chickens. The amount
of eggs sold, was twenty-seven dollars, and ninety-seven
cents ; fowls sold, forty-six dollars and forty-eight cents.
I have now thirty-two fowls, which I call worth thirty
dollars. I have reckoned no eggs higher than fifty
cents a dozen ; those that 1 sent off at one dollar a dozen,
1 deducted fifty cents a dozen for the trouble of packing
and delivering, on sending off.

Eggs sold— 1 ,300 $27.97

Eggs not sold — 581 at 15 cents per dozen, . 7.27

Fowls sold, 46.48

Value of fowls on hand over last year at this

time, 10.00

91.72

32i bushels of corn and meal, at 75 cents, . 24.37

Balance in favor of fowls, .... $67.35

Thus, I might go on with similar accounts almost
without end, which show clearly that there is profit at-
tending poultry raising, when undertaken on a moderate
scale ; but when the business is attempted with a large
nuinber of barnyard fowls, obtained at a heavy cost, in-
cluding the purcha.se of food, accommodations, &c., 1
am free to venture the opinion that, speculations of

APPENDIX. 305

the kind will prove profitless in the end. When geese
can be kept in situations where they have proper for-
age and water accommodation, undoubtedly money could
be made on a more extensive scale from the sale of their
feathers and flesh. An instance is said to have occurred
within two op three years past, in the western part ot
Pennsylvania or Virginia, in which a farmer raised
2,000 geese in a year, from which he obtained a ton of
feathers, valued at $1,000. Besides their natural pas-
turage and range of water, they were allowed to feed
until late in autumn or early winter in a large fiekt of
standing corn. When sufficiently matured, they were
slaughtered solely for their feathers, their carcasses being
burned or thrown away.

THE EGG TRADE.

Under the article " Egg Trade," in the " Supplement "
to the English " Penny Cyclopaedia," we have the fol-
lowing estimate given, which will, perhaps, excite some
little surprise : — "In 1835, the value of eggs exported
from Ireland to Great Britain was £68,687, and at the
present time may exceed £100,000.*" At Ad. per dozen,
the number of eggs which this sum would purchase
would be 72,000,000. From France and Belgium, we
imported 96,000,000 eggs in 1840, on which the duty of
Id. per dozen produced £34,000. Nine tenths of the
foreign eggs are from France. The departments nearest
to England, from the Pas de Calais to La Manche, are
visited by the dealers, and their purchases often produce
a scarcity in the country markets. At most of the ports
of these departments, from Calais to Cherbourg, some
vessels are employed in the egg trade. The weight of
80,000,000 eggs, is not far short of 2,500 tons. In the last
three years, the importation of foreign eggs were as
follow : —

In 1842, 89,548,747

„ 1843, 70,415,931

„ 1844, 67,487,920

• Mr. M'CuUoch says, the price paid hy England to Ireland for eggs and
poultry may be estimated at from £iOO,000 to £300,000 a year.

306 APPENDIX.

" The consumption of eggs, at Paris, is estimated a
100,000,000 of eggs a-year."

Everywhere in Fi-ance, it is stated, poultry is abund-
ant and cheap, and eggs form an important article of
diet. M. Legrand, a member of the French Statistical
Society, says " The consumption of eggs in Paris is cal-
culated at 115^ eggs per head, or 101,052,400. The
consumption in other parts of France may be reckoned
at double this rate, as in many parts of the country
dishes composed of eggs and milk are the principal
items in all the meals. The consumption of eggs for
the whole kingdom, including the capital, is estimated at
7,231,160,000; add to this number those exported, and
those necessaiy for reproduction, and it will result that
7,380,925,000 eggs were laid in France during the year
1835."

" The exportations from France, in 1835, were as
follows : —

To England, .
" Belgium, . . . .
" United States,

. 76,190,120
60,800
49,696

" Switzerland,

49,260

" Spain, .

" Other parts of the world, .

34,800
306,304

The total amount of the exportation of that year was
3,829,284 francs (-S76,800). France is essentially a
fowl-keeping country. The farms, owing to the system
of subdivision of landed properly among the sons of a
proprietor at his decease are small, and poultry consti-
tutes a profitable slock upon them, especially as they
will feed but few cattle. Around every farm house,
troops of poultry are to be seen. They swarm every-
where, and the markets of every town are abundantly
supplied. Much breed does not exist in any of them,
but in some parts considerable attention is paid to their
rearing. There is a peculiar variety in the peninsula
of Caux in great esteem. The fowls of this district are
fattened, in the envions of Barbezieux, La F16che, and
especially Mons, for the tables of the luxurious.

The following interesting statistical remarks are taken

APPENDIX. 307

from a paper in the English "Penny Magazine for
March, 1837. After premising that, in the year 1837,
the number of eggs imported from France into England
amounted to 69,000,000, the writer says, " These eggs
cannot be obtained from much fewer than 575,000 fowls,
each producing 120 eggs on an average, all beyond
this number being required for domestic consumption.
Assuming the grounds of this calculation to be correct,
the 55,000,000 eggs which a writer in a newspaper
printed at Arras states to be the amount supplied to
England from the Pas de Calais, are the production of
458,333 fowls, each of which furnishes ten dozen eggs,
imported at a duty of 10c?., being a tax to that amount
on each fowl. Allowing twelve fowls to each family
engaged in supplying the demand for eggs, the number
of families thus interested will be 39,861, representing a
population of 19.8,000. In the Pas de Calais, there can
scarcely be a larger population than two families out of
every five who are connected with the egg trade ; and
if this were ascertained to be the real proportion, the
population, not directly engaged, would be 457,000,
which, with the 198,000 above mentioned, would com-
prise a total population of 665,000, which is the popu-
lation of the department, the superfices of which being
2,624 square miles. Over this extent of country must
those who are engaged in the egg trade keep a vigilant
eye, penetrating into every hamlet, and visiting the lone
houses which are scattered in this part of France, per-
haps more numerously than in any other departments.
Some arrangements of a peculiar nature are obviously
required to facilitate the transactions of the wholesale
dealer, who probably resides at the port whence the eggs
are shipped. The services of a subordinate class of
dealers are, doubtless, called into activity; and as it
would be a waste of time for each of these to visit every
week, or at a stated period, every one of the 39,861
houses whence they draw the quantity required, other
arrangements of a still more detailed character are
necessary in order to bring the article within grasp."

The British census returns for 1841 present us with
an ad-valorem estimate of the poultry, (of all sorts,) kept
in Ireland, the pecuniary value of each fowl being

308

APPENDIX,

reckoned at the small sum of 6d. This census, however,
is only an approximation to the truth ; for it is stated, on
jTood authority, that the country people were not unna-
turally suspicious of the intentions of the parties em-
ployed to ascertain the point in question, and apprehend-
ing that the inquiry was only llie prelude to some new tax,
they gave such statements as seemed most advantageous
to their interests ; hence their returns were below the
mark numerically, and, consequently, also in a pecuniary
point of view. The returns were as follows: —

Carlow,
Dublin,
Kilclare,
Kilkenny, .
King's County,
Longford, .
Louth, .
Mcath,

Queen's County,
VVcstmcatb,
Wexford,
Wicklow, .

LEINSTER.

MUNSTER.

Clare,

Cork, .

Kerry,

Limerick,

Tippcrary,

Watcrford,

£2,550
2,859
3,986
6,962
5,077
3,943
3,385
7,566
5,138
5,343
6,389
3,045

£56,243

CONNAUGHT.

Galway,

. £10,753

Lcitrim,

4,083

Mayo, .

8,457

Roscommon;

7,814

Sligo, .

. ' 4,109

£35,216

£1,031
23,547

7,864
10,687

4,794
14,907

£62,830

Antrim,

Armagh, .

Cavan,

Donegal, .

Down,

Fermanagh,

Londonderry,

Monaghan,

Tyrone,

APPENDIX.

ULSTER.

. • •

. £3,998

.

3,829

•

6,609

• .

5,744

,

6,992

. . •

4,113

, . ,

4,027

. . .

5,314

.

7,257

309

£47,883

The total sum, according to this estimate, is £202,172.

Hence the number of poultry returned, amounted to
8,088,680, reckoning them at Gd. per head ; but, as stated
above, this number is far below the mark.

Mr. Richardson, in a little work on " Domestic
Fowls," published in Dublin, in 1847, says, " I have had
a statement furnished me, by Mr. P. Howell, secretary
to the City of Dublin Steam-Packet Company to the
following effect: — The number of boxes of eggs shipped
by that companj^'s vessels for London, during the year
1844-5, was 8,874; about the same number was shipped
by the British and Irish Company, making a total of
17,148 boxes. Each contained 13,000 eggs, but occa-
stonally large boxes are used, containing more than four
times that number. This gives the result of 23,072,400
eggs as annually shipped for London. To Liverpool,
were shipped 5,135 boxes, containing 25,566,500 eggs,
making a total of the shipments from Dublin alone,
during the years 1844-5, to the two ports of London and
Liverpool, of 48,639,900, the value of which, at the
average rate of 5s. 6c?. per every 124 eggs, (the return
made,) gives a sum amounting to about £122,500 as the
annual value of the eggs shipped from Dublin alone ;
and, since this return, the export of eggs has enormously
increased. Assuming the export of Dublin to be equal
to one fourth of the exports of all Ireland, (a calculation
reaching much above the mark,) we have very close on
£500,000, or half a million, as the value of this branch
of commerce to Ireland, showing also an increase of

310 APPENDIX.

fourfold since 1835." The same writer adds, in a note,
" By the same returns, I have ascertained that the ex-
port of eggs is now nearly doubled, bordering on a
million sterling."

From the small rocky islands off the coast of La-
brador, considerable traffic is carried on by a class of
persons called " eggers," who follow principally, or ex-
clusively, the avocation of procuring the eggs of wild
birds, with the view of disposing them at some distant
port. Their great object is to plunder every nest when-
ever they can find it, no matter where, and at whatever
risk. They not only gather all the eider down they can
find ; yet so cruel and inconsiderate are they, that they
kill every bird that comes in their way. The eggs of
gulls, guillemots, and ducks are searched for with care ;
and the puffins, and several other birds, they massacre
in vast numbers merely for the sake of their feathers.

The business is generally carried on with small dirty,
cabinless shallops, of a few tons hurthen, manned with
eight hands, who lie and sleep in the hold at the foot of
a tottering mast. " Much had been said to me," says
Mr. Audubon, from whose work the following graphic
sketch is taken, " respecting these destructive pirates
before I visited the coast of Labrador, but I could not
entirely credit all their cruelties until I had actually wit-
nessed their proceedings, which were such as to inspire
no small degree of horror. But you shall judge for
yourself

" There rides the filthy thing! The afternoon is half
over. Her crew have thrown their boat overboard ; they
enter and seat themselves, each with a rusty gun. One
of them sculls the skiff towards an island for a century
past the breeding place of myriads of guillemots, which
are now to be laid under contribution. At the approach
of the vile thieves, clouds of birds rise from the rock
and fill the air around, wheeling and screaming over
their enemies. Yet thousands remain in an erect
posture, each covering its single egg, the hope of both

Earents. The reports of several muskets loaded with
eavy shot are now heard, while several dead and
wounded birds fell heavily on the rock or into the water.

APPENDIX. 311

Instantly all the sitting birds rise and fly off affrighted to
their companions above, and hover in dismay over their
assassins, who walk forward exultingly, and with their
shouts mingling oaths and execrations. Look at them !
See how they crush the chick within its shell, how they
trample on every egg in the way, with their huge and
clumsy boots. Onward they go, and when they leave
the isle not an egg that they can find is left entire. The
dead birds they collect and carry to the boat. Now they
have regained their filthy shallop ; they strip the birds
by a single jerk of their feathery apparel, while the flesh
is yet warm, and throw them on some coals, where, in
a short time, they are broiled. The rum is produced
when the guillemots are fit for eating, and after stuffing
themselves with this oily fare, and enjoying the plea-
sures of beastly intoxication, over they tumble on the
deck of their crazed craft, where they pass the short
hours of night in turbid slumber.

" The sun now rises above the snow-clad summit of
the eastern mount —

' Sweet is the breath of mom,'

even in this desolate land. The gay bunting erects his
white crest, and gives utterance to the joy he feels in
the presence of his brooding mate. The willow
grouse on the rock crows his challenge aloud. Each
floweret, chilled by the night air, expands its pure
petals ; the gentle breeze shakes from the blades of grass
the heavy dew drops. On the Guillemot Isles, the birds
have again settled, and now renew their loves. Startled
by the light of day, one of the eggers springs on his feet
and rouses his companions, who stare around them for
awhile, endeavoring to recollect their senses. Mark
them, as with clumsy fingers they clear away their
drowsy eyes! Slowly they rise on their feet. See how
the filthy lubbers stretch out their arms and yawn ; you
shrink back, for verily, ' that throat might frighten a
shark.'

" But the master, soon recollecting that so many eggs
are worth a dollar or a crown, casts his eye towards the

312 APPENDIX.

rock, marks the day in his memory, and gives orders to
depart. The light breeze enables them to reach another
harbor a few miles distant, one which, like the last, lies
concealed from the ocean by some other rocky isle.
Arrived there, they re-act the scene of yesterday, crush-
ing every egg they can find. For a week, each night
is passed in drunkenness and brawls, until, having reached
the last breeding place on the coast, they return, touch
at every isle in succession, shoot as many birds as they
need, collect the fresh eggs, and lay in a cargo. At
every step, each ruffin picks up an egg, so beautiful that
any man with a feeling heart would pause to consider
the motive which, could induce him to carry it off. But
nothing of this sort occurs to the egger, who gathers
and gathers, until he has swept the rock bare. The
dollars alone chink in his sordid mind, and he assidu-
ously plies the trade which no man would ply who had
the talents and industry to procure subsistence by hon-
orable means.

" With a bark nearly half-filled with fresh eggs, they
proceed to the principal rock, that on which they first
landed. But what is their surprise when they find
others there helping themselves as industriously as they
can ! In boiling rage, they charge their guns, and ply
their oars. Landing on the rock, they run up to the
eggers, who, like themselves, are desperadoes. The first
question is the viischarge of musketry, the answer an-
other. Now man to man, they fight like tigers. One
is carried to his boat with a fractured skull; another
limps' with a shot in his leg; and a third feels how many
of his teeth have been driven through the hole in his
cheek. At last, however, the quarrel is settled ; the
booty is to be equally divided ; and now see them all
drinking together. Oaths and curses, and filthy jokes,
are all that you hear; but see, stuffed with food and
reeling with drink, down they drop one by one; groans
and execrations from the wounded mingle with the
snorings of the heavy sleepers. There let the brutes
lie."

A similar traffic, though less extensive and more peace-
able, is carried on among the Keys of Florida, in pro-

APPENDIX. 313

curing wild birds' eggs, and selling them at the adjacent
ports.

POULTRY STATISTICS.

To the Report of the " Committee of Supervision" of
the New-England Convention of Domestic Fowl Breed-
ers, held in Boston on the 15th of November last, I am
indebted for the following extract : —

" Until quite recently, the breeding and rearing of
poultry, in this section of the country, has been con-
sidered too insignificant an article of stock to require
any, or very little notice.

" The rearing of poultry, as will be shown, is certainly
not the least important article of stock to the farmer ;
and the subject is now beginning to assume an import-
ance which the committee hope may produce an honor-
able competition at our fairs — for the best stock, that
stock whichever it may be, that shall give the best fowl
— those giving the greatest amount of meat with the
least offal — and which shall at the same time give the
largest number of eggs, or return in profit, for the
amount invested.

" That the rearing of poultry for market can be made
profitable, the committee could produce facts from well-
authenticated sources, which should convince the most
incredulous ; but they will omit doing so in this report,
and confine themselves to a ^ew statistical remarks.

" The article of poultry is readily converted into
money, and is probably, quite as readily prepared for
market as any other article of stock produced on the
farm. The expense of feeding the best stock is no more
than would be the expense of feeding and rearing the
poorest dunghill fowl, while the return shows a heavy
balance in favor of the large-bodied and fine-meated
fowl, with little oflfal.

" Our convenience to the London markets, by the aid
of steamers weekly, enables the farmer through the egg
merchant, to make sale of his surplus eggs in that
quarter.

" The amount of sales of poultry at the Quincy
Market, Boston, for the year 1848, was six hundred and
14

314 APPENDIX.

seventy-four thousand four hundred and twenty three
dollars; the average sales of one dealer alone amounting
to twelve hundred dollars per week for the whole year.
The amount of sales for the whole city of Boston, for
the same year, (so far as ohtained,) was over one mil-
lion of dollars.

" The amount of sales of eggs, in and around, the
Quincy Market, for 1848, was one million one hundred
and twenty-nine thousand, seven hundred and thirty-five
dozen, which, at 18 cents per dozen, (the lowest price
paid lU cents, and the highest 30 cents per dozen, as
proved by the average -purchases of one of the largest
dealer's books,) makes the amount paid for eggs to be
two hundred and three thousand, three hundred and
fifty- two dollars and thirty cents. And from informa-
tion already obtained from other egg merchants, in the
same city, the whole amount of sales will not fall much,
if any, short of a million of dollars for 1848.

" The average consumption of eggs, at three of the
hotels, was more than two hundred dozen each day, for
the year 1848.

" The value of eggs brought from the Penobscot and
Kennebec Rivers, during the running season of the
steamboats, plying between Boston and those two
rivers, was more than three hundred and fifty thousand
dollars for that season.

" In one day, from Cincinnati, Ohio, it is stated in one
of the public journals, there were shipped 500 barrels,
containing 47,000 dozen of eggs. One dealer in the egg
trade, at Philadelphia, sends to the New- York Market,
daily, nearly one hundred barrels of eggs. It is esti-
mated, from satisfiictory returns, that the city of New
York alone expend.s nearly a million and a half of
dollars per annum, in the purchase of eggs.

*' By reference to the agricultural statistics of the
United Stat&s, published in 1840, it will be seen that the
value of poultry in the State of New York, was two
million, three hundred and seventy-three thousand and
twenty-nine dollars ; which was more than the value ol
its sheep, the entire value of its neat cattle, and nearly
five times the value of its horses and mules.

APPENDIX.

315

" The same authority exhibits the total valuation
of poultry, in various states and territories of the
Union : —

Maine,

. $123,171

New Hampshire,

97,862

Vermont,

176,437

Massachusetts,

540,295

Rhode Island,

61,492

Connecticut, .

176,659

New York,

. 2,373,029

New Jersey, .

412,487

Pennsylvania,

#*. . 1,033,172

Delaware,

47,465

Maryland, .

. 219,159

Vii'ginia,

752,467

North Carolina, .

. 544,125

South Carolina,

590,594

Georgia,

. 473,158

Ohio, .

734,93 1

Kentucky, .

. 536,439

Tennesee,

581,531

Louisiana, .

. 273,314

Mississippi,

369,481

Alabama, .

829,220

Missouri,

* 230,283

Indiana,

. 393,228

Illinois, .

335,968

Michigan, .

82,730

Arkansas,

93,549

Florida,

61,007

Wisconsin,

16,167

Iowa, . . . .

17,101

District of Columbia,

3,092

Total, .

$12,176,170

" It is probable that, since 1840, the value of poultry
has doubled."

WEIGHT OF POULTRY.

As the size and weight ascribed to various breeds of
fowls is often greatly exaggerated, I insert for the benefit

SIG

APPENDIX.

of the curious the following lists from Mr. Dixon's work,
which will serve as a guide for about an average
weight of poultry in the United States: —

" Wishing to know what truth there was in the
unauthentic statement that there were such things
as cocks weighing 15lhs., and hens lOlbs., I applied to
Mr. Nolan for further information, and not having re-
ceived any reply, conclude that he is not in a position
to supply such birds to his customers — a supposition
which has been confirmed by a private letter from a
gentleman then staying in the neighborhood of Dublin.

" But the reader will be better able to judge what
weights fowls may be reasonably expected to attain,
after the inspection of the following lists of the live
weights of various poultry, with which I have been
obligingly favored. But as the birds are generally out
of condition, in consequence of their being mostly now
on the moult, and also from the late wet season, the
weights are less than they would be under more favor-
able circumstances. One list gives —

Black Polish cock, three years old,

Ditto hen, ditto.

Ditto pullet, .....

Golden Polish cock, ....

Ditto hen, .....

Another hen, .....

Golden Polish pullet,

Malay hen, .....

Creole, (silver Hamburgh,) hen.

Black nondescript hen,

Glohc-crc.stod I^lish hen,

Silver Polish hen, ....

Game cock, .....

Ditto hen, .....

Youn<T blue-dun cock, .

Blue-dun lien, . . . .

Large dun hybrid hen, .

" Among these, the Malay hen was moulting, and not
up to her usual weight by nearly a pound. It will be
ol)served that there is <i great relative difl'erence between
the pullets and the grown hens of the Polish breed. All

LBS.

. 5

oz.

3

. . 3

4

. 2

6

. . 5

0

. 3

8

. . 3

10

. 2

8

. . 4

12

. 3

1

. . 3

10

. 3

9

. . 3

4

. 4

10

. . 3

0

. 3

6

. . 3

0

. 3

S

APPENDIX.

317

the Polish increase much in size and beauty the second
moult."

Another list kindly furnished by Mr. Alfred Whitaker,
gives —

Pheasant-Malay cocks, two years old, (average,)

Ditto cockerel, five months old,

Ditto hen, .....

Ditto pullet, seventeen months old, .

Ditto, (crossed with Dorking hen,) four years old.

Speckled Surrey hen, two years old,

Spanish hen, .....

Two Dorking cocks, each, .

Ditto hens, .....

Ditto, ditto, ....

Cock turkey, two years and a half old,

Hen ditto, one year and a half old.

Ditto, ditto, .....

Musk drake (moulting )

Mr. Dixon's own poultry yard gave the f
weights : —

Turkey cock, sixteen months old,
Ditto hen, three or four year old.
White, China gander, six years old, .
White, China goose, .....

Common China goose, (cynoides,) six years old,
Cochin-China cock, about sixteen months old,
moulting, .......

ditto, ditto,

ditto, ditto,

ditto, ditto,

Ditto hen,

Malay cock,

Ditto hen,

Pheasant-Malay cock, . ....

Ditto Malay hen, moulting, ....

Game cockerel, about five months old, .

Golden Hamburgh cockerel, just arrived from a

long journey, about five months old.
Ditto pullet, ditto, ditto,

Cochin-China cockerel, six months old,
Another, ditto.

Silver Hamburgh cockerel, after travelUng, about

five months old, . . . . . .

Ditto pullet, ditto, ditto, .

LBS

7

oz,

0

7

0

5

1

5

3

5

8

5

12

5

0

7

0

6

8

6

12

17

12

10

0

9

9

9
3llo

12
wins

LBS.

oz.

16

0

S

6

12

13

11

13

10

10

6

5

4

6

6

14

4

8

5

7

3

8

4

2

3

8

2

4

4

14

4

13j

3

1

2

8

3

0

2

3

3

8

2

e\

2

11

2

n

2

14^

2

8

2

3

318 APPENDIX.

Black Polish hen, moulting,

Golden Hamburgh, ditto . . ...

Andalusian cockerel, four months old

Ditto pullet, ditto, . , . •

Black Spanish cockerel, ditto.

Ditto pullet, ditto, . . . .

Silver Polish cockerel, four months and a half old,

Golden Poland pullet, about five months old,

White-crested golden Poland pullet, ditto, .

It will appear from the foregoing, that for a cock, of
any breed, to reach 72 lbs., even live weight, he must be
an unusually fine bird ; but this has to be doubled before
we can rival those Cochin-China specimens, in whose
existence some persons appear to believe.

SAMUEL ALLEN.
To C. M. SAXTON.

New York, January 2, 1850.

INDEX,

A

PAGES*

Albinos 65,292

(VUectorius 252

Animals influenced by Food and Climate 73

White , 292

« Inferiority of 32, 92, 297

B

Bankiva Fowl 19

" Jungle Fowl 19

Breeding, Remarks on 72, 103, 295

C

Oaponising Fowls 166, 251

Capons trained to hatch Eggs 119

" employed to nurse Chickens 119

Cob (Male Sw'ar.) 245

Cock, Dunghill, Selection of 89

" Character of 90

Javan 19

Jungle IS, 21

L>

Diseases of Poultry 259

Apoplexy 260

Appetite, Loss of 276

" Voracious 276

Asthma 273

Bloody Flux 279

Catarrh 268

Change of Color of Featliors. ... 289

Colds 268

Consumption, Pulmonary 208

Costiveness 278

Cropsick 276

Diarrhrea 278

Dislocations 283

Feathers, I..oss of 287

Fever 274

" Hatching and Pairing. . 275

Fractures 283

Diseases of Poultry paoks.

Gapes 263

Gout 281

Indigestion 276

Inflammation of the Eyes 280

" Lungs 265

" Windpipe . . 263

Influenza 267

Lice 283

Loseness 278

Moulting 288

Nostrils, Obstruction of 266

Parasitic Vermin 283

Pip, or Thrush 202

Phthisis 268

Rheumatism 280

Roup 267, 281

Rump Gland, Obstruction of . . 281

Scorning 278

Tlinish, or Pip 262

Thirst 275

Ulcers 282

Wounds 282

Duck, Aylesbury 197

ftiar.-'h 197

Mii«k, or Muscovy 198, 298

Rouen, or Rhone 197

Tame 190,298

" Choice of vaiieties of 197

" Fattening of 206

" Incubation of 204

" Origin and History of 190

" Range and Domestic Acco-
modation of 201

« Reai-ing and Feeding of .. . 205
Wild lUl

E

Eccaleobion described 112

EggCluster : 100

Eggers, Ijibrador, described 310

Egg-Hatching Machine, American 116

Egg Trade 305

Eggs, necoss;ii-y Temperature for Hatch-
ing 112, 114

3S0

PXOBS.

Eggs, Quatities of .94, 296

" Preserration of for Cooking 97

" " " Hatching 98

" Recipes for Preserving 97, 98

« Sexes of 95

« Structure of 99

" Weight of 41, 224

Everlasting Layers 54

F

Fowl, DoBtestic, Anomalou? Varieties of 81
Antiquity of Varieties

of 5, 14,73

Artificial Incubation of 112
" Mothers in

Rearing of 120

Bantam 67,297

" Black 70

" Creeper 71

•' Jumper 71

« Nankin 67

" Sebright 68

« White 71

« YeUow 67

Bam-Door 55, 72

Bast Food for 125

Black Polish 62

" Topped White

Polish 63

" Spanish 26

Blue Dun 80

Bolton Bay 51

« Grey 51

Boobv 78

Breeding and Crossing

of 103

Buck's-County 78

Caponising 251

ChiltiisonK 37

ChiHeprats 51

Chitliprats 51

Classitication of 25

Cochin-Chiiia 33

Comparative Merits of . 295

Cuckoo 55

Coops for 121, 122

Copplecrowns 56, 60

(Viral Grey 51

Creole 51

Diseiisps of 259

Dominica, or Domini-
que HO, 297

Dorking 29,296

" known to

Columella 32

Duke of Leeds 13,75

Experiments in Feed-
inn of with boiled

Orain 128

Fattening of 125

Food of, comnartnl 128

found on tno Pacific

Isles 16, 17

Fri/zled 81

Came 41,207

PAGES.

Fowl, Domestic, Geographical Distribu-
tion of 15

Golden Hamburgh 51

" Poland 60, 63

" Spangled 58

Great Malay 37

Immutability of Species

of 73, 105

Incubation of 106

Influenced I>y Food and

Climate 73

Jago, or St. Jago ... 39, 74

Jersey-Blue 77

Jungle 19,21

Knlm 37

Killing and Preparing

for Market 132

Lark-Crested 50

Lime, Soot, Charcoal,

&c., for 83,87

Lost Varieties of 13

Malay 37

Minorca 26

Mongrel ; 72

Negro 81

Nest Boxes for 85

Nests of. Materials for

making 87

not foimd in the Atlantic
Isles, when discover-
ed by the Moderns . . 8
not mentioned in the

Old Testament G

Old Sussex, or Kent . . 31
Origen and History of . 5

Ostrich 33, 78

Paduan 60

Paring of 92

Pencilletl Dutch 51

Pheasant 40

" Brt^d 40

" Malay 40

Plymouth-Rork 76

Poland, Polander, or

Polish 60

Portugal 26

Banco and Domestic

Accommotlation of.. 81
Rumkin, or Kumpless . 81
Shark-Back, or Shag-
Bag 63, 75

Shanghac Cochln-China 75

Silky 81

Silver Hamburgh 51

" Poland 60

" Spangled Ham-

bunjh 58

SpanRlixl Polish 60

Spanish 26, 75

Topknolted, not men-
tioned by the An-
cients 12

Weight of . . . 30, X-i, 76, 78,
79, :wi.-.

White Polish 60, 03

Turkliih 01

INDEX.

321

PAGES.

Fowl, Domestic, Young^ oA Gi^wth in

" "^ liow to feed

previous to Weaning 121

Young of, how to nurse^ 117

Fowl Houseg • ■ • ■ • • - • jg .,{ ^4

Fowl, Wild ,■■■■. 19

' Bankiva Jungle ti^

Classification of |?

Geogi-apbyof ^„

Javanese Jungle ^°

Jungle, Sonneiat s ~\

i'- Stanleys -^

South American

Guinea Fowl, Laying of

PAGES
... 172

167

Origin and History of ... • 167
Pairing of ^"^

H

Hen, Domestic, Character of ^ J

' " Choice of ••. •• ^I

« Laving Propensities of . J*
Hens Kelative Numbei to a Cocli . .... J-
Sybrid between the PUeas^int and Do- ^^
mestic Fowl. . .. ■■ ■■■■ • — \^^-^Jy^ 298
Hybrid Geese .... 212, 21», ^-o, ^-', ~ ' ^^^
Hydro-Incubator

Game Cock, English ^A lucubation, Period of—

GameFowl •; • 48

u Breeding of ^g

Geese, Sandwich-Island • ^.jo

' 234

American Wild Goose ~«

China Goose ^n

Goose, African

American Wild. ••

ii Breedmg ol

Common Goose ■;-_ ^6,2-29

" swan ^. ,

240 1 Domestic Hen i""' J^.^

Guinea Hen niv.

Musk Duck ^gg

Pea Hen 205

Tame Duck . ^

Tuikey Hen ^

Wliite, China Goose ■'^•>

Geographical Distri-

butionof ~^°

Management of ^

Migration of ......... ^°

Natiu-al Hisloi-y oi ■■■ -^ ^^

P^ii'^'S °'' 211 Incubation, Periods of, vai-y according to

298 Circiunstances ■'^

Bean . . .

Bremen . . . . • • • • • 237

Canadm described gjjg

China ,
Domestic

226

Breeding of -q^, ^^

:,•••••:;;••; ;;■. 219 Javanese Jungle Cock ^i

Fattening ot. 217 Jungle Cock • 2I

Incubation of ' 01 fi Fowl, Sonnerat's '\

^ —'■ *■ 2081 " Stanley's

215

« Laying of - -

u Origin and History of

« Pairing of ••

Range and Domestic
Accomodation of ... . ^j^

« Young of, how to treat. ^^^\^^^ p^^j

Embden oH

Grey-legged ^jo

Guinea

Hong-Kong 2II

Laughing..

37

Longevity of Poultry

. . 90, 141, 290

sp'^'^si^ : : : : : : : : : : ". 5-^^l LosTvarietTes ofrowis 13

WhTte,- China ;■.■...... 228, 231>^?,lLaying Propensities of Fowls

White-Fronted 237

Wild --{JQ^ 297] M

Guinea Fowl — r^" Vrom' America to

Europe

Distinction between the
Cock and Hen

Feeding and Managetient ^^^

of

!rniSS"of theAnci^nt^rwikiV.: -ioi, iS

Geographical DisU-ibution ^^_ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^. ^^^^^^^^^ powls p

of . • •. • ; ; ; ■ 173 1 Nests, Materials for making

Incubation of

Z2i

INDEX.

v\az

Ostrich Fowl 33, 7H

Ovarium, or Egg Clmter of Fowls 100

Pea Fjwl 277

Feeding nnd Management of. 188
Geograpliical Distribution of . 181

Japan 182

Laving and Brooding of 187

Origin and History of 178

Queen Victoria's 179

Rjinge and Domestic Accom-
modation of. 18G

Pen Birds (Female Swans) 245

Phe.-isiint-Malay Fowl 40

Fowl 40

Breed 40

Polotokian 113

Ponlardes, how to make 2.>3

Poultry Raising, Prolils of 300

Statistics 313

Weight of.30 35 76 78, 79, 142, 152,
221, 249, 315

Q

Queen Victoria's Pea Fowl 179

R

Rumkin, or Rumpless Fowl 81

Sonneral'a Jungle Fowl 21

Stanley's " " 21

Swan, Chinese 222

Common 245, 291)

" Distinction between Sexes 247

PARTES.

Swan, Common, Feeding of 247, 299

" Management of . . . 247, 299

" Mute 245

" Natural History of 244

" Pairing of 246

Turkey, Domestic 151, 297

Caponising of 166

Choice of the Cock .. 153

Eggs of 157

Fattening of 164

Incubation of 158

Lajing of 155

Long-Island Dwarf.... 151
Number of Hens to a

Cock 155

Origin and History of 133
Range and Dtimestic

Accommofhition of. 1.52
Selection of the Hen . 154
Should not roost with

other Fowls 152

Topknotled Variety

of 152

Story of, in Persia . . . 137

Young of, how to treat 160

'' injured by

Wet 148

^Veight of 152, 164

Turkey, Wild, described 139

Crossed with Domestic

Breed 142

Eggs of 146

Geographical Distribu-
tion of 149

Habits of 143

Honduras 138

Weight of 142

When introduced into
Europe 136

SF'^«

'^

\}

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGES.

American Eug-Hatching Machine H5

" Wild Goose 237

Bankiva Jungle Cock ". On Frontispiece, and 19

Bantam C!ock 67

" Sebright Cock and Hen (i8

Canula. for Caponising 255

Chicken Coops 1^!

Chick in Ihe Egg 109

Caiina Goose 223

C!ochin-China Cock 33

« Hen 35

Cockerel, confined for Caponising 256

Coops 122

Domestic Goose 2 13

Dorking Cock and Hen 29

Dnck, Musk, or Muscovy 198

« Pond and Houses 203

" WUd 101

Egg Cluster, or Ovarium loa

English Game Cock ^ . . 4r}

Extracting Crystal from Capon 252

Forceps for Caponising ; 2.55

Game Cocks 44, 4.5

Goose, Canada 237

« China 223

« Domestic 213

« Wild 237

Great Malay Cock and Hen 37

Guinea Hen 170

Hen Houses 84, 85, 86

Jago Cock and Hen On Frontispiece

Javanese Cock On Frontispiece, and 19

" Jimgle Cock On Frontispiece, and 19

Kulm, or Great Malay Cock and Hen 37

Malay Cock and Hen 37

Peacock ifi3

Poland, or Polish Topnotted Cock and Hen 60

Poultry HoiLses 84, 85, 86, 122, 203

Retractor, for Caponising , 254

Scalpel 2.54

Sebright Bantam Cock and Hen 68

Sonnerat's Jungle Cock 21

Spanish Cock and Hen On Frontispiece^ and 2S

Spangled Hambui-gh Cock 58

« " Hen 59

Spoon, for Caponising 255

Swan, Common, or Mute 245

Turkey, Domestic 151

" Wild 13'J

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It does not propose to dispense with physicians in severe cases. But it does
propose to save thousands and tens of thousands annually, by putting the means
of cure into every man's hands, and of saving many valuable lives (which is of
far more importance) by instructing individuals how to check disease in its begin-
nings, before it has acquired too much strength to resist and overcome.

Opinions of the Press.

'• We seldom take up a book of this class with any favorable impressions ; U,t
we fear quackery and pretension have been at work for the ' poor man ;' but m
this work all our prejudices were conquered. Professional men as well as others,
we see cheerfully recommend this book ; which has, in its ample pages, much o'
the necessary instruction to ward off or to cure disease." — New York Express.

" It is written in an easy, plain, and familiar style, and points out the diseases
of men, women, and children, and the latest and mo.st approved means used in
their cure. The language and arrangement are so simplihed as to bnng it withm
the capacity of those who possess a very limited education. The object and de-
sign of the author seems to be to remove all that technical phraseology which is
■jsed in medical works generally, and thus simplify the practice of that science
which the head of every family should be acquainted with. It is generally recom-
mended to our professional readers as a guide m cases where it is not deemed
necessary te have the services of regularly educated practitioners. Tliis book
should find a place in every family." — Boston Mail.

" This is a work of Family Medicine on the plan of Dr. Ewell. II is the most
olain-written, untechnical book of the kind we have met with ; a decided improve
ment on both Buchan and Ewell. It is printed in a very superior sty>le, revised
from the first edition, and containing a variety of u.^eful information not hitherto
laid before the vulgar eye. It treats of the passions. It has also a catalogue ol
medicines, with their properties and doses, and the diseases and manner in which
they are treated ; comprising a synoptical Materia Mediea, exceedingly useful in
fairulici, and m irc particularly to caplaii.s of vessels and planters, wno cannot
convsniently procure medical advice. It is an excellent book." — New OrUant
True American.

" If we judge of the merits of the book V the immense number of copies already
■old, and the very flattering testimony of medical men of the first standing, (and
among the number, several of the most distinguished members of the faculty in
our city,) it is a valuable compendium of the modern practice of physic, luid must
prove a valuable assistant to families, particularly in sudden emergencies, and in
nil situations where regular profcssionaJ altendaiice cannot be commanded." —
Louittnlle Journal.

" The great advantage it pos.ses8es over all other books of the kind is, that the
author has avoided all Latin terms; this is what has brought Dr. Gunn's work
ink su'^h extensive family use." — New (hUans Picayune.

" As a medical Vade Mrcum, it has for years stood high ; and now, since its re-
vi.iion, (KayinDud's coi)y,) will take the lead of all similar works."— ilobiU Datlf
Advertiser.

" Its extensive sale has established Is worth, and stamped it as a standard and
Meful book."— Kentucky Cazettr.

KT" On the receipt of Three Dollabb, Dr. Ouiui's book will be sent, frtt oj
fottage, to any part of the United .States.

All lelleis must be adikessed, (post-paiC.) to C. M. S.\XT0N,12) Fiaron St
N*w Voik.

■■ ka^mond't Cvpy " M '.he only complete ediuvn utd la »o muked on tb<i back

THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST;

A MONTHL"S PERIODICAL

SesfgneTi to fmproie ti)e jfsvmtv, tijc Panter, tt)z Stocfc»3SreeU«»
^ anti tt)z y^oxtknUnxlst

A. B. ALLEN, Editor.

" Agriculture is the most healthy, the most useful, and the most noble empJot/ment
of man." — Washington.

TERMS.

FOR 8INGLE COPIES ONE DOLLAR PER ANNUM.

THREE COPIES TWO DOLLARS.

EIGHT COPIES FIVE DOLLARS.

TWENTY COPIES TWELVE DOLLARS.

The American Agriculturist is now in the seventh year of its publication.
From its commencement it took a high stand ; and has ever since been considered
by the press and all unbiased judges, as the LEADING PERIODICAL of its class
in America. It has a large and rapidly increasing circulation throughout the
(Jnited States, the Canadas, and other British possessions, the West Indies, and
South America ; and we may fearlessly assert, that it has given more reliable in •
formation on rural subjects, and been perused with greater general satisfaction,
than any paper of the kind yet published.

The American Agriculturist treats of every description of domestic animals
and poultry ; their characteristics, breeds, the best and the worst ; their advanta-
ges and disadvantages ; their mode of breeding, feeding, rearing, and treatment ;
their uses, profits, maaagement, &c. It also treats of all cultivated crops, inclu-
ding fruits, shrubbery, &c. ; the best seeds, mode of planting, cultivating, gather-
ing, and preparing for markets ; the general principles of vegetation and the laws
of vegetable life. It describes the principles of mechanics as applied to machine-
ry used by farmers and planters ; the best machinery and implements for agri-
culture, their uses and the particular superiority of some over others, and their
adaptedness for particular purposes, &c.

Address all subscriptions to C. M. SAXTON, ISSTuLTON St., New York.

It also gives the latest improvements in those implements which may have been
made, and suggests others ; tells wWere they are to be found, and the benefits that
will follow from their use. It also specifies new objects of cultivation, and how
they may be better prepared for a profitable market and more general use. These
are a part only of the objects of this paper ; yet they, with the other subjects
treated, are of universal interest and general application. Nineteen-twentieths of all
that is to be found in it is of the same use to one part as to any other part of
America. Yet we find people constantly objecting that it is not printed in their
particular section of coimtry. and that it is not suited to their wants. Does it
meike any difierence where a boy acquires his education, provided it be a good
pne and he be correctly taught ? Where he studies his profession of divinity,
liedicine, or even law 1 Cannot he take the principles he has acquired, and apply
them equally well in any part of America 1 Are not the blessed sunlight ol
heaven, the rain, the dew, the heat, and the frost, though sometimes differing in
degree, of equal relative effect wherever they are felt, whether within the tropics
or the polar circles, the eastern or western hemisphere ?

If the question were as to a choice between a good paper printed here or there,
It were anotlier matter. But througli<^ut extensive regions this is not the case,
and it is either a good paper or none -i' all ; and even if there were one for every
particular section of country, wo ip'giit sliH urge a geheral circulaion for our
own ; for no one will embrace ah that is imporlaiil to be known.

THE MERICAN BEE-KEEPER'S MANUAL.

BY T. B. MINER.

350 pp. 12mo. 35 Eaoratimos. Price $1.

PUBLISHED BY C. M. SAXTON, 123 FULTCN ST., N. Y.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

" The most complete work on the Bee and Bee-keeping we have yet seen."—
tr. Y. Tribune.
" Mr. Miner has handled this subject in a masterly manner."— JV. y. True Stm.

" He has written a work of the most fascinating interest."— .AT. Y. Sunday l)i»-
palcL

" It will interest the general reader. It is indeed a charming volume. — Com
nercial ^idvertiser.

" This is a truly valuable work, and very interesting." — Morning Star.

"It is decidedly the best work wc have ever seen." — Boston Daily Mail.

" Mr. Miner has performed Kis task with signal ability."— Scieti/i/ic American.

'• It does high credit to the observation and intelligence of the author." — CArt«-
tian Intelligencer.

'• This is the most comprehensive and valuable work on the Honey-bee that
bns ever come under our notice." — Journal of Commerce.

" To appreciate the value of the honey-bee one must get this book and read it

•ttentively."- .yoa/i'» Messenger.

" "We like it for its independent tone, and the amount of practical information
that it contains." — Literary World.

" We have been greatly edified and entertained by this bqrk. from which tk*
reader will collect a great deal of excellent information. — The Independent.

" This is probably the most complete manual of the kind cverpublished, ItwiU
richly repay the general reader, too, by the variety of interesting facts it cob-
tains." — Boston Traveller.

" It is a most excellent and useful treatise, and happily supplies a vacnum
that had long existed. '—Boston Times.

"This volume has all the charm of a romance and admirably displays tba
babits of this insect." — O'-gati.

" This volume is what it nrctends to be. (more than can bo said of many works)
and all who want a full and thorough history of the nature and manngemont ol
^tho bee should have it in their possession." — Scientific .'Imtrican.

'• It is neatly printed, well illustrated and clearly written and contains a great
ileal of practical information." — Mirror.

'' This work probably contains better instructions in regard to bees than any
which have ever appeared." — Sun.

" The practical directions are the result of evident experience, and beio((
plainly end rouoisoly stated, arc excellent. It is so isurh bettor than can b«
thtainod nlp'uvb'^ro that wo commend it to favor." — iV. V. B*<ingeti$l.

'■ It is an oyri'llent book and the best published on tl e subject. "--Bosloii Otiv*

BrSHM*.

EVERY FARMER S BGOK 2 !

Ten Thousand Copies printed in six Months ?

ILWSTRITED TmTMmisTIC INIMILS,

Being a history and description of the Horse, Alule, Cattle, Sbeep, S\vliie, Poul-
try, and Farm Oogs ; with Directions for their Management, Breeding, Croasing, Rear
ing, Feeding, and preparation for a profitable market. Also, tbelr Diseases aiio'
Kemedles ; together with Full Directions for the Management of the Dairy, and the Com-
parative Eeonomy and Advantages of Working Animals, the Horse, Mule, Oxen, &c., by R. It,
AXlUEIV, Author of" Compend of American Agriculture" ^-c.

The above work contains more than 40 Engravings and Portraits of Improved Animals
Ulustrative of the different breeds and various subjects treated in it.

The most minute as well as general principles for Breeding, Crossing, Rearing, Feeding, and
Management of all Domestic Animals, are herein given, to produce the utmost marketable
value for the food and attention bestowed on them ; as well as to prevent disease, and save the
immense losses which annually occur from this source. U can be sent by Mail, in Cloth Bincf-
Ing, for 75 Cents— Paper, 50 Cents. Published by C. BI. SAXTOIV, 123 Fulton st. W
York. For sale by all the Booksellers throughout the country.

Agents wanted for every county in every state. Address, post paid, the Publisher.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS,

The Compactness yet •ompleteness will make it a favorite vrith agrioultnrists. — Chronicle,
Philadelphia.

Its greatest worth is, as a complete farrier, showing the diseases of animals, their treatment,
and cure. — Far. ij- Mec.

The portion which relates to the dairy alone, is worth the cost of the book. — Worcester
Transcript-
It is every way adapted to be serviceable in every household which has domestio animals. —
D. Adv., Newark.

We believe it a complete guide for the farmer and dairyman in the purchase, oare, and use of
animals. — Jeffersonian.

Here is a work which should be in the hands of every farmer. — Highland Courier.

We can confidently recommend this work as a very instructive one to those en^^ged in farm
tng, raising stock, or husbandry. — Northampton Courier.

The author is a practical farmer and stockbreeder, and is able to vonch for the correctness of
the remedies for diseases of Domestic Animals, as well as the best mode of managing them. —
Huron, O. Reflector.

It costs but seventy-five cents, and.cannot fail to be worth ten time* that amonst to anj far
nier. — Summit S. C. Beacon.

It is the best of that character we have yet seen ; no farmer should be without it. — Democrat,
Carlisle, Pa.

This is just such a book as every owner of stock should be possessed of. — Easton Md Star.

Here is a book which all — those who follow the plow, and those who direct it — can read to
jrofit. It is a library of knowledge, presenting the latest improvements and discoveries, on all
the topics treated of; and illustrated by a great variety of cuts. The " Aliens," one of whom is
the author of the work before us, are quite famous in their especial role, so that what proceeds
from them may be confidently «edited at all events. The present book is a most interesting and
instructive one, and must meet with a great sale. — Sciota Gazette.

This work, to the farmer and stock raiser, will be useful, instructive, and profitable, enabling
them to improve the breed of their stock, preserve them from sickness, and cure them when
infected with disease. — Herald, MorrisviUe, Pa.

The time has gone by when farmers can expect to succeed without giving some attention to
Book Farming, and we trust they begin to see it for themselves. We should like to hear that
this work was in the hands of every farmer in the county. — Mercury, Potsdam, N. Y.

The title page of this work gives a good idea of its scope and intent. It is a comprehensive
summary of farm operations, and will prove very acceptable to the great mass of our farming
population. We are informed that 3,000 copies of this work have been sold since the first of
January. It is well printed and profusely illustrated. — N. Y. TVibune.

It is furnished with numerous illustrating cuts, and will form a complete " vade mecnm" for
the agriculturist, convenient for reference, and to be relied on when consulted. — Baltimore
American.

This is a practical book by a practical man, and will serve extensive practical ends. It i*
a companion which every farmer will feeJ that he cannot weU be without. — N. V. Observer

We cheerfully recommend this work to farmers. — Signal, Juliett, HI.

We anticipate an extensive sale for this work. — Ohio Cultivator.

This work ought to be in the hands of every planter.— iV. O. Delta.

The author is a gentleman of fine attainments, and who ranks as ono of the moat aeoom-
plished writers on agricultural subjects in the country. — Ala. Planter. _

Many a valuable animal is lost, every year, for want of the knowledge hereoonveyed.— 17qg<*
Brattleboro, Vt.

The author (Mr. Allen), is a practical man, .^nd everything from bis pen, on subjects eon
Bected with agKculture and cattle breedina, is valuable to those who prefer matter of fact t«
«er« theory - Ham'. iAi.-rKT

A PRACTICAL TREATISE

ON THE

CULTIVATION OF THE GRAPE VINE

ON OPEN WALLS.

WITH A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF AN

IMPROVED METHOD OF PLANTING AND MANAGING

THE

ROOTS OF &RAPE VINES.

BY CLEMENT HOARE.

TO WHICH IS ADDED,

AN APPENDIX,

CONTAINING

REMARKS ON THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE VINE IN
THE UNITED STATES.

NEW YORK:
0. M. SAXTON, 123 FULTON STREET.

1851.

AN

ESSAY ON MANURES,

SUBMITTED TO THE TRUSTEES OF

THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY

PROIMOTING AGRICULTURE,

FOB, THEIE PREMIUM.

BY SAMUEL L. DANA.

Prom the New York Observer:

Essay on Manures. By Samuel L. Dan.i

This Essay contains much useful information for the practical farmer, in a
small compass, in reference to the nature and management of maiRires imme-
diately under his control ; the knowledge and practice of which will amply com-
pensate for the expense of ascertaining its value.

NEW YORK:
C. M. SAXTON, 123 FULTON STREET.

ALSO, STRINGER <iE TOWNSEND, H. LONG A BROTHER, W. F. BUE-

QESS, DEWITT & DAVENPORT, WILSON d. CO., DEXTER dr

BROTHER. BOSTON : REDDING & CO. PHILADELPHIA :

W. B. ZIEBEE, LINDSAY <& BLAKISTON.

1850.

LECTUEES

ON THK

GENERAL RELATIONS WHICH SCIENCE

BEARS TO

PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE,

DELIVERED BEFORE THE

NEW-YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

BY

JAMES F. W. JOHNSTON, F.R.SS. L.&E.

■WITH NOTES AND ADDITIONa

NEW YORK

C. M. SyvXTON, AGRITTLTURAL BOOKSELLER,
123 FULTON STREET.

THE

FAMILY KITCHEI GARDEIER;

CONTAINING

PLAIN AND ACCURATE DESCRIPTIONS

OF ALL THE

DIFFERENT SPECIES AND VARIETIES

OF

CUIilHSAB.1^ VEGSTABZiES:

BY ROBERT BUIST,

AUTHOR OF THE AMERICAN FLOWER-OAaDEN DIRECTORY, ROSR MANUAL, ETC.

NEW YORK:
C. M. SAXTON, I'Jo FULTON STREET,

AliSO, STRINOER A TOWNSEND, H. I^ONO & BROTHER, W. F. BUR-
OESS, DEWITT <t DAVENPORT, WILSON 4 CO., DEXTER A
BROTHER. BOSTON : REDDINS A CO. PHILADELPHIA :
W. B. ZIEBER, LINDSAY A BLAKISTON.

18%

THE

AMERICAN BIRD FANCIER;

CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO THE

BREEDING, REARING, FEEDING, MANAGEMENT, AND PECULIARITIES

OF

CAGE AND HOUSE BIRDS.

Illustrated -with Engravings

BROWNE,

ADTBOB or THE BTLTA All miCANA, THE AMERICAN POVLTRT TARD, BTO.

NEW YORK:

C. M. SAXTON, 123 FULTON STREET.

kLBO, 6TRINGER & T0WN6END, H. LONG ib nROTHER, W. F. BUROKM,

DKWITT 4 DAVRNPORT, 'WILSON ii CO., DEXTER A BROTHBR.

PHILADELPHIA : W. B. ZIEDER, LINDSAY A BLAKISTON.

boston: redding * co.
18 5 0.

GARDEN IMPLEMENTS

Sav C a ir X £ s .

A. B. ALLEN & CO., .

189 AND 191 WATER STREET, NEW YORK.

The subscribers keep constantly on hand and offer for sale, at their Agricultural Warehouse
and Seed Store, the lai'gest assortment of Agricultural and Horticultiu'al Implements, Field
and Garden Seeds to be found in the United States, among which ai'e included the following : —

Ladies' Pruning Shears.

Fig. 1. denotes a small pair of shears which ai'e very useful for trimming box trees and
bushes, as well as for many other pui-poses.

Fig. 2. shows another pair of priming shears with wooden handles, which ai'e handsomely
and finely made ; they are very con-
venient for trimming shrubbery, &c.,
that is too large to be cut by the scis-
sors or hand sheai's.

Fig 3. represents a pair of iron-handled
shears, designed for pruning raspber-
ries, rose bushes, &c. They have a
sliding centre and spring, and malio a
pert'ectly smooth cut.

i ig. 5. represents a Tiian^'ular Hoe ; Fi?. 6, a Garden Rake ; Pi?. 7, n I'mnlne Saw and Chis-
ei ; rig. 8, a Garden Syringe ; F\s. 9, a Fork-baclicd Hog ; Fig. 10, a Fruit Gatherer ; Fi". 11,
R Garden Trowel; Fig. It', iili-'lit G.Trden Si>ade. "'

Fio. 7. Fio. 8. Fiif.O. Fiu. 10. Fio. U

vBesidis the foregoing, onr EsUiblishment embraces more than ONE Hl'NDRF.T) different
fclnds of Plows, a great varifly of Harrows, Cultivators, Roller", f'e^Hl Sower*, Horse Power*,
TJireshini; Marliinos, MIIK ( "^irn-Stjilk, Straw, and Hay Cutters, <-'<>rn Shelters, ShovcK Spades,
Hoes, Si-vllii f. Unkes, KiiIvc.h, Slc.

.■l/sii. Srnl.^ Fur tke Fir/il anil (Van/z-n.— Such us Improved Winter and Snrinc Wheat, Ryo,
Pi'iLu, Kiilalia:;a, Turnip, Cabiia'^e, Heel, Carrot, Par .-nip. Clover, and<ira».M S-eds. tc, &c.

/•'/•r<i7«.'irr.«.— Peruvian and Putagonian tiuiuio, I.irne, Pla-ster of Piu-is, &.C., &.c.

Fruit and Ornamental Trees and Shrutn. — Orders taken for thi-se, and executed from B
choice of the t>«j8t Nurseries, Gardens, and Ctmservntories in the I'niled States.

A. n. AI.l.F.N b. CO., Inland 191 Water st. New York.

Tlio AMI'.RIC \N AGRICI'I,TIfI!I.<T. a nioiUhly iiublication ofM pages, octavo ; with nu-
niiTMus tiiuiil.toinii l''.inl>elliHhment.<<. It is desiniuvi lor t\w liii|)roveinent of the Fanner, tlie
Planter, llie Slork-lirceiler, and the Hortirullurisl. W)U->\ by A. U. k R. U Ai.i.km. Published
by C. M. Saxton. New Yor>!. Price SI u yriir. Vohnne Ninth conunenced January Ist.,
1AV». Hack volunienfor HaUs-luuuUoniely and uniformly bound. Price SLS.'!.

n >' Any one procurinK Vnnh Orders for Koodsin the Warehouse, or Subscriptionii for'Ui*
Aniericiiu .Agriculturist, will be allowed a liberal comini-osion.

^^M^iversity of British Columbia Library

^.♦Its DUE DATE

JAN 8 i^ECO

FORM 3IO

AGRICULTURE

FORESTRY

LIBRARY

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