®1|? S. B. Bill ICtbrara Nortli (Earoltna g'tat? Imnerflttg SF487 B88 1853 '^fi^^^^^'Jni^^*' NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES S00950054 N THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE DATE INDICATED BELOW AND IS SUB- JECT TO AN OVERDUE FINE AS POSTED AT THE CIRCULATION DESK. 1978 FEB 2TT986 JUN2 4 1987 30M- 10/73 Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2009 with funding from NCSU Libraries littp://www.arcliive.org/details/americanpoultryyOObrow THE AMERICAN POULTRY YARD; COMPRISING THE ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT BREEDS OF DOMESTIC POULTRY; WITH CXDMPLETE DIRECTIONS FOR THEIR BREEDIXG, CROSSING, REARINC FATTENING, AND PREPARATION FOR MARKET; INCLUDING SPE- CIFIC DIRECTIONS FOR CAPONISING FOWLS, ASD FOR THE TREATMENT OF THE PRINCrPAL DISEASES TO WHICH THEY ARE SUBJECT; DRAU'N FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES AND PER- SONAL OBSERVATION; ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS. BY D. J. BROWNE, AUTHOR or THE SYLVA. AMERICANA. AN APPEND[I, EMBRACING THE COMPARATIVE MERITS OF DIFFERENT BREEDS OF FOWLS, BY SAJNIUEL ALLEN. NEW YORK : PUBLISHED BY C. "SI. S A XT ON 18 5 3. ~ Entered according to Act of Cor.gress. in tlie year lb- , by KPHRAIM BLANCHARD, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United Stnt.s for the Southoru District of New "i ork. ADVERTISEMEMT. 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 which it has been got up. Actuated by the most liberal motives, he has, in the first place, endeavored to keep pace with the improvements of the age, 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 purposes of practice and economy. Mr. Browne, the ostensible author of this work, was bred and brought up a practical fanner, 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 the writer of a treatise on American trees. He is an enthu- Biastic devotee to the natural and exact sciences, particularly to agriculture and rural economy, having travelled and resided for a considerable time in vai'ious parts of North and South America, the West Indies, Eoi-ope, and Western Africa, with the express object of practically investigating the agricultui'e and natural features of those countries. From his intimate knowledge of the history and habits of our 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 him. 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 .^gi'iculturist," and as an experienced and successful breeder of stock, as well as of the choicer varieties of domestic fowls. The publisher, therefore confidently presents the " American Poultry Yard " to the public with the full belief that it combines the utmost economy and utility, united, at the same time, with elegance and the facility of obtaining the desired end. C. M. SAXTON. New York, January 2, 185U. PREFACE. The scop; and intention of the present treatise, perhaps, is sufficiently declared is the title page. Therefore, to waste the reader's time by further details would be aa impertinent as unnecessary. The hasty manner in which these pages have been com- piled, the want of a more intimate knowledge of the history and pedigree of the vari- ous breeds of our domestic liirds, 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 he doubtless may be charged. With- out great aid from those who have written before him, the volume, though not large, never could have appeai-ed ; yet, most of the current books on poultry ai'e but compilations of matter, valuable only to those practically acquainted with the sub- ject, and many of them unsuited to our economy as well as to oiu- climate, and full of errors and confusion, that would be obvious to the attentive reader, even though lie never had seen a fowl in his life. In order to write a perfect work on poultiy, two important desiderata would bo required for its attainment ; one or the otner of them would be indispensable — the first, a complete set of full-sized colored figures of every variety, giving both the 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 specimens of the representatives of every breed for comparison and reference. Tlie first of these might be accomplished by a person, or an association of persons of fortune, by procuring a complete collection of all the varieties whose characters are decidedly distinct, both of this couuti-y and from abroad, and breeding them i'n-a/irf-iH for a series of yeai-s, as well as by judicious crossing with one an- other. An enterprise of this kind, conducted with proper intelligence and experi- ence, however trivial it may appear in the eyes of many, would be worth millions to the country, and jwove a boon lo mankind. In order that he may not be acoised of the reproach of "strutting in borrowed plumes," the author has the candor to confess that he has made a free use of the labors of Pliny, Columella, Cuba, Aldrovandi, Mascall, Ktaumur, Moubmy, Par- mentier, Flourens, W. 1?. Dickson, J. J. Nolan, W. C. L. Martin, and the Rev. Edmund S. Dixon, particularly of those of the four gentlemen last named, without giving them, in numerous instances, such credit as the punctilious critic would seem to demand. Be this as it may, the author has endeavored not to deviate ftom estab- lished custom, except in cases where he deemed it expedient to change the language, in part, for the sake of brevity, elucidation, or Americanising the subjec!, or adapting it to our climate, economy, and social condition. Much of the matter, however, and several of the illustrations, he claims to be original. With this avowal, he will de- clare no more than his full trust in a candid consideration of whatever merit hia book may deserve. U. J. B. JViic York, Vecemlir 2C«A, 1540. THE DOMESTIC FOWL ORIGIN AND HISTORY. fowls were prepared for me, and also onco in ten days, store of all sorts of wine." Holt AVrit. Th£ Common Foavl, 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 Gomer, 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 arsjuments. that the descendants of G-omer settled in the northern parts of Asia Minor, and then spread into the Cimmerian Bosphorns 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 b 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 1 nx, 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 less 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 does not seem clear whether it was possessed by the Israelites before the consolidation of the nation under Solomon, when commerce began to tiourish, and the arts of life to be strenuously cultivated. xVfter 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 prepared for me daily was one ox, and six choice sheep, a.Uo fuiv/s were prepared for me, and also once in ton days, store of all sorts of wine" (v. 18). Antecedently to this period, the fowl was abundant in Persia. Thus Peisthetaerus relates why the cock is called the "Persian bird," and how it reigned over that country before Darius and Megabazus (b.c. 521). Not only do the classic poets and historians speak of *he high antiquity of the fowl^ but. medals and coins THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 7 proclaim the same, and bear its figure stamped upon them. 'Not 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 Grr-eeks and Romans the fowl figured in the public shows. It was dedicated to Apollo, to Mercury, 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 g-allinaria, 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 iipado,) 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 tho b THE DOMKil'IC lOWL. con. /nen cement 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 different native stations, or assume that the differences 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 Csesar, 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 the ancients, were inhabited by a half-civil- ized people, who held in subjugation sheep, goats, hogs, and dogs. ' Dr, Kidd, in his "Bridge-water 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 case of fowls, but still believe that those, who, at this epoch, hunt for cocks and hens of the same species as our tame ones, either on the continent of Asia, or throughout the wh'ole inhabited vast Indian Archipelago, will have undertaken but a fruitless search. For certain writers have been at great pains, for some years past, with but little suc- cess, except in their own conceit, to pitch upon the wild origin of our domestic fowls. The first decided THE POME 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." Buftbn, 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 cocks 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 by man, is now extinct, for excr 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 henci^, will have as much difficulty 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 least, 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 threw them in contact with the Caucasian 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. But the common hen has one peculiar habit, which THK 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 'i"."">- DO.MEST/C 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, (fuligulse,) and also properly adopted by Aldrovandi to express the top- knot of Polish fowls. The earliest notice of crested fowls that I am aware of, occurs in Aldrovandi, where he says, " Our common country hen, all white, and with a crest like that of a lark," a very useful com- parison that v,'ill 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, are quite sufficient to explain their arrival, without having recource to a new creation. The lately-introduced Cochin-China fowl, about which there is no mystery, is a case in point. But it is not strange nor unlikely that gentlemen who have succeeded 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 themselves raised and generated a breed which THK 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 be 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 tos 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 FO\VL. the human 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 Cochin-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 fellow creatures, been brought about. No ; most thankfully, no ! Then would matters have been far less harmoniously, far less benignantly 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 whose presence the best and greatest of us would be crushed into nothing- ness, did we not, to our comfort, believe that He is not the Creator mer.ely, but the Father and Protector of every animated creature. " These wait all upon Thee, that Thoii mayest give them meat in due season. When Thou givest it them, 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 DOMES nc 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 Gruiana, 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 Grui- 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 lanis. The carniverous 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 islanJs 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 Gf-reenland, they are occasionally kept only as curiosities and rarities. And Sir AVm. 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 sake of being eaten. The domestic fowl was found in the Sandwich Islands by their first discoverer, although seldom used by the natives as an article of food ; and, 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 wee settled, or that they were created by Taarva, at the same time that their men were supposed to have been made. This account would assign an unfathomable anti- quity to the domestication 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 hen. 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 V. fe-v cocks and hens in return for the substantial 18 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 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 different principles to what they would be if we allow them to take rank as original and independent 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, we have to become well acquainted with all the wild and all the domestic species of gall us, and then arrange them in groups or in a continuous line, according to their resemblances and relationships, 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 observation, and opportu- nities which f(3W individuals, if any, have at present at command. In the meanwhile, I will attempt some- THK nOMESTIC FOWL. 19 thing like an artificial arrangement, which may afford a temporary assistance to the fancier, till a more scien- tific scheme is worked ont 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. Stwontmes. — Gallus bankifa, of Temaiinck ; Jiyam-utan, or Brooga, of the Malays ; Jaian CocA. of Latham ; Bankiva Fowl, Javanese Jungle Fowl, Bankiva Jungle Foal, 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 TIIK DOMESTIC Fowl. chestnut, with tho webs of the feathers disunited ; greater coverts, steel-blue ; secondaries, also steel-blue, with a border of chestnni. 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 toun 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 iSirang, 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 under the very natural appellation of Bantam fowls. Their elegance and diminutive size rendered them favorites, and in due time the name, belonging exclu- sively to these birds, came to be conferred on all small or dwarf fowls indiscriminately, whether of this pure breed or otherwise. The domestic Bantam stock, as every one knows, breeds freely with ordinary fowls, the mixed offspring being intermediate in size between their parents ; and that the Bankiva jungle fowl will breed with our domestic Bantam race, aiul with other Tin: no.MKSTic 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 offsjpring 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 — as on both sides was the lineage the same. SONNERAT'S JUNGLE FOWL. Syitostmes. — GallxiS sonneratti, of Temminck ; Rahn Komrah, of the Mahrattas ; Coq sauvage, of Sonnerat ; Jungle Cock, of the British Sportsmen in India ; Sonnerat's Jungle Fowl, Stanley'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 cock ; 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 90. THE DO.MESTfC 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 pencillings ; throat and front of the neck white ; feathers of the rest of the lower parts greyish- white, 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 be no doubt of their real distinctness. Colonel Sykes, speaking in reference to the Gallus sotineratit, says: "Very abundant in the woods of the Western Ghauts, where there are either two species, or two THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 23 very strongly marked varieties. In the valleys, at 2,000 feet above the sea, Sonnerat's s{)ecies 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 ho admitted that Sonnerat's jungle fowl is the 34 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, [Gall us ce?ius,) a fine species, remark- able for a large 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 furcatus). 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 {Ettplocamus ig-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 decipher 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 flesh and its eggs being in all coun- tries regarded partly as delicacies always acceptable, and partly as staple articles of food, at once nutritious and digestible. That a bird which has passed in a THE DOMESTIC FOWF-. 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 sulliciently 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, Of 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, tlie 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 : — o 26 THE DOMESTIC FOWIj THE SPANISH FOWL. Stwowtmes. — Oallus guUinacetit. of Naturalists ; GaJto undalnz, of the Spaniards ; Mijioicas. in North Devon, in Englam! ; Portugal yowl, Spatiish Fowl. Black Spaniih Fowl, of the English and Anglo-Americans. This is a noble race of fowls, possessing many great merits ; of spirited and animated appearance, of considerable size, excellent for the table, both ia white- ness of flesh and sUin, and also in flavor, being juicy 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 soil of smoke or dirt is apparent on its plumage. The thorough-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 FOAVL. 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 \vhite patch, or ear lobe, on the cheek, of a fleshy substance, similar to the wattles, Avhich 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 wh(;le race. ^^ooie 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 Guinea 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 supjily 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 obscrvrs : " With regard to an anxiety about 28 THE DOMESTIC FOU'L. 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 becomcj acclimatized in the northern part of the United States, for continued frost, at any time, much injures their combs ; frequently causing 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 rain*. 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 choose to give information on the subject, presume to affirm that there can be no such breed as " speckled Spanish," it being characteristic of that breed to be perfectly black. Still there are some breeds, in Spain, closely allied to these, which are of a blue, grey, or a slaty color. Their growth is so rapid, and their even- tual size so large, that they are remarkably slow in obtaining their feathers. Although well covered with down when first hatched, they look almost naked when half-grown, and should, therefore, be hatched as early in the spring as possible. The cross between the pheasant-Malay and the Spanish produces a particularly handsome fowl, and probably very much resembling the old Hispanic type. THE DOMKSTIO FOWL. 29 THE DORKIXG FO\YL. St!»0!«tmf.s. — GaUus ftenladactylus oyv>iKS. — Gtillus galli/iaceus (var.?), of Ray ; Gallina turcica (?), of AldrovanJi ; Coral Grey, holton Gi-«'y. jBo? Dixmi. 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 fetciiing 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 kouI 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 to 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 C(^mb, clean and sinewy legs, glossy plumage with almost metallic lustre, of a diflerent 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 qaiality ; and any one may, at breakfast, observe how much less a proportion of whito 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 e."?uberant. 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. They 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 imve 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 man}^ 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 careful 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 might be challenged to bring evidence that any permanent intermediate variety of quadruped or bird, generated by the crossing THE DOMESTIC FOUO.. 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 alHed to the investigation of the diflerent 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 djffi- * Tlie prevalence of briglit colors in the aiiinials of polar and cold renjons is well known, and is ascrilied to the influence of climate : the arctic fox. the polar hear, and the .Vmeiican snow bird, aie striking instances. The same cliaracter is remarkable in Siirne species which aie more darlUy colored in warmer situations A similar fact is also observable in those birds and animals which change their color in the same country, .it the winter season, to while- or giey, as the ermine, (Muslela ermina,) and weasel, (ilf. iiirdlis.) the varyiiiij hare, squirrel, reindeer, the white game bird of L3j)land, {TeCrao litoopus.) and the .American snow bunting (Emberi-a nivalis.') In cold regions, too. the fur and feathers are thicker, and more copious, so as to form a mucli more eflectual defence against the climate than the coarser and rarer te.\tures whicli aie seen in ■warm countrios. Difl'erence of food might bo naturally expected to produce considerable cor- re';ponding modifications in tlie color, fornr and size of animals. Kor instance, oxen become very large and fit uhen reared for many generations on rich soils, Imt arc <'istinguished liy shortness of the legs; while, on drier situations, their whole hulk is less, and the limbs more muscular and strong. Some singing b' ds, foil, chiefly of the lark and finch kinds, are known to become gradually blaok If tl'.ey are fed on hemp seed alone. 74 THE DO.MESTIC 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 pretensions to distinctness of character, and have been propagated either for orna- ment or profit. Their names and chief 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. Jogo, 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, {ayam,) some with black bones, and some of the sort we call Freezland or Negro fowls ; hen of the woods {iiyam 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 diningtable ; 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 breed 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- flavored 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 V cried back." There are numerous other races or THE DOMESTIC FOWI,. 75 varieties bearing this and other names found in different parts of Europe and this country, one of the most interesting of which is called ihe "Spanish fowl" (see vignette). The body and tail feathers are of a rich black, with occasionally a little 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 cornb, 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 famous "shack-backs," "shack-bags," or "Duke of Leeds' fowl," in vof];ue in Endand some vears asjo, were supposed to have been a cross between the jago and Dorking fowls. The Shanghoe 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- cominenced, 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 3^ 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 Plymouth 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 Plpnouth 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 priinitive 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 months old, proving themselves very superior layers. Their eggs are 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 are very fine fleshed, and easily fit for the table. Their legs are very large, and usu- ally blue or green, but occasionally yellow or white, generally having five toes upon each foot. 8ome have their legs feathered, but this is not usual. They have large and single combs and wattles, largo dewlaps, [?] 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. TJie 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- York markets. The Ostrich FoiuJ. — 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 42 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 Foivl. — 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. Some of their eggs weigh over 82 ounces each, and measure three inches in circumference. The Bucks-County Fowl. — Here is another mongrel monstrosity, first brought into notice in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and has little to recommend it except great size, and a few large, well-flavored eggs. The • American Poulterer's Companion, p. 172. Tfli: DOMRSTIC FOWL. 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 Black 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 ]\ralay 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 FOWL. never become of great utility, except to cross with the common or the game fowl, to the farmer." The Dominiqjie, 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 feet, 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 are often variegated with gold yellow, or reddish-brown. The Blue Dun Foiol. — 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 good 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 hackles of the cock are always in great re- quest, in England, for making artificial flies for fishing. If kept perfectly unmixed with any other fowl, ono THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 81 will sclJom 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, (Gal/us ccai((latus,)he\ieyed 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 shed, 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 offer 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 pass through the yard; but if this cannot be done, a trough filled with fresh water every morning may be 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 provided 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 opposite 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 silting 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 a3he.«, 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 heavil}^ 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 admi.ssion of fresh air. In the easterly end, there are two doors, one leading into the laying apartment and loft, and the other into the hatching room. In the same end there is also a wooden shutter, or blind, which mav 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 affording fresh air to the sitting hens. In the front, or i 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, desicjned to admit the light and heat of the sun, in cold weather, to stimulate the laying hens. In the southerly side, there arc 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 shuttei's, as well as with " light- ing boards," inside and out, and may be guarded by PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF A HEN HOUSE. sheets of lin, 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 preserving the internal ar- rangements and proportions, in reference to breadth and height. As a general rule, as regards the length of the building, each hen, irrespective of the cocks, may be allowed a foot. Tin: DOMESTIC FO"\VI.. So 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 inciies deep ; o, o, SfC, nest boxes for the sitting hens, of the GROUND PLAN. same size ; /, a ladder, or ste^DS, leading into the loft ; and s, a stove for warming the apartment, if desirable, when the weather is cold. TRANSVERSE SECTIOK. The transverse, or cross section, shows the building, from the bottom to the top, with the internal arrange- S6 thp: domestic fowl. merits. L, denotes the laying apartment, and H, the hatching room, divided in the middle by a partition ; 7i, the nest boxes, resting on tables, three feet above the floor or ground ; b, b, boxes, or troughs, containing water, grain, bjick dust, sand, ground oyster shells, or other materials for the convenience of the fowls ; d, an aperture, or door, three feel 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 off" from the laying and sitting apartments by the ceilings, c, c; h, a, hole, or opening, in the ceiling, for the escape of the air below into the loft ; V, the ventilator at the peak of the roof; p, 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 house is described at p. 820, vol. viii. of the American Agriculturist, in the following words: — " This kind of work can easily be made by any person accustomed to the use of the saw and axe. All that is required is a little taste, having your plan well digest- ed before commencing, so as to require no alterations.. " For the construction of a piece 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 uuder 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 ofl' 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 pro- 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 Vdver do so well. A sickly 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 safety 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 evince their hostility and rancor to such a degree, that, sometimes, they actually destroy their more unfortunate com- panions. Every 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, fourteen inches wide, and ten inches deep, partitioned in the middle, so as to leave two compart- THK DOMESTIC FOWI,. 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, tlie 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 w-hich the hens prefer, particu- larly when they are inclined to sit. Therefore, 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 astiressive to birds of other species. He allows the turkey to strut before 90 THE DOiMr^STIC i'OWL. his numerous dames, and the Guinea fow .o court his single mate, uninterrupted ; but if the one presumes upon his su])erior weight, and the other on his cowardly likings 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 w'ith 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 for his household. For this bird devotes whatever energy he has, the live-long day, THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 91 to the good of his dependents, and is solicitous 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 tutt 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 Ivke the cocke, 92 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. or doth creke and scrape to help the same, ye shall pluck off the greatest I'ethers of iier 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 bi'oke in upon their minds. By-and-by, they will commence 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 sufEcient 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 DOMliSTIC FOWL. 93 assiojned to one cock, but no more ; 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 sutlicien.tly numerous. When the old cock is past his fourth year, ho\ve\er, 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 manv a hard fight before he can establish 94 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. himself, either in the character of a conqueror, or a defeated champion. ON THE LAYING PROPENSITIES OF HENS . TiiK act of hiving 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 n)arshalled by one of the stronger sex, who is a kind, though a strict master, and a considerate though stern disciplinarian. QUALITIES AND SEX OF EGGS. 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 smooth 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 difficultv 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 I 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 when 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 egij. A cock ought thus to be, like 96 TMH DOMESTIC FO\VI.. 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 eggs they are, more nourishing and sound." The popular notion now is, that eggs with buff and brownish shells have a higher flavor, and are more nutritious, than those which the shells are white. 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 Romans. He says that " long and sharp eggs are females, but that ihose that are sph3rical, and have a THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 93^ 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 Cobbet, " 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 "egg-nog." A large proportion of the eggs brought to mwket 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 to give a Iresh-lookinff roughness to the shell. Cooks say they answer their purpose ; but it is assuredly worth while to try for sometiiing better. The three following are cheap and easy 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 tallow or lard, and pour, while warm, not hot, 98 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. over the eggs in the jfir 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 wante-d, 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 l)o almost unavailable for practical purposes. The chicks in stale eggs have not sufficient strength to extricate themselves from the shell ; if assisted, the yolk is found to be 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 be 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 IK:\rEr?TlC FOWL, 99 shelled eggs, like those of geese, G-uinea fowl, &c., will retain life longer than thin-shelled ones, as those of hens and duclcs. 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 s^hell 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 oinduct. 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 albumen, of the egg now becomes diffused around the yolk, being secreted from the blood vessels of the egg 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 d.'tached from the egg cluster, while it is strength- ened by a second and stronger membrane, formed around the first, immediately after falling into the THE DOMESTIC FOWL. KM 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 folliculus 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. 102 THE DOMESTIC FOAVX,. 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 white of the egg, (albumen,) is without taste or smell, of a viscid, glairy consistence, readily dissolving in water, coagulable by acids, by spirits of wine, and by a temperature of 165° F. If it has once been coagulat- ed, it is no longer soluble either in cold or hot water, and acquires a slight insipid taste. Experiments show that it is composed of 80 parts of water, 15! parts of albumen, and 4^ parts of mucus, besides giving traces of soda, benzoic acid, and sulphuretted hydrogen gas. The 1/olk has an insipid, bland, oily taste, and when agitated with water, forms a milky emulsion. If it be long boiled, it becomes a granular, friable solid, yield- ing upon expression a yellow, insipid, 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, no\ only to prevent speedy fermenta- tion and corruption, out as Dr. Paris remarks, to avert the fatal chills M^hich 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. WTiile 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 com )letelv exhibit those qualities, 104 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. and so on from generation to generation, until the de- sired points are 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 prop<^rty 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 circumstances 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- tiquity, is the permanent character of the different varieties. Before attending much to the subject, some people fancy that crossings and intermixtures may bo infinitely multiplied and continued, restricted only by the algebric law of permutation and combination ; and such is the current opinion among many who are ac- customed to SCO the diverse colors ami appearance of THE DOArcSTIC 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 o.x- liibit 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, eithei pure bred or mongrels, may be obtained, which pos- sess such properties as may be desirable, as regard? 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 bread, placed in 0* 106 THE DOMESTIC FO\VI.. 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 fmm 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 manifest 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 feathers, wanders about, searches obscure corners and recesses, 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 supplied with food in abundance, and it may be induced by stimulating diet, a little raw liver or fresh meat, chopped small, potatoes mashed warm, with njilk and Indian meal. Some farmers recommend a fomenta- THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 107 tion of vinegar in which pepper has been steeped, to be applied 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 ihis 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 lor 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- traordinarv 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 DOMKkSTIC KOWL. 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 106° F. Towards the close of incubation, the process may be 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 embryo chick. The growth of the chick in the egg has been so fully and so well described by many writers, from Aristotle down to Reaumur, that I need merely refer the reader to them. The observations of the latter, particularly, have appeared in almost every compilation that has been pub- lished on the subject; and I think it much better taste for common inquirers to betake themselves to such sources of information, 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 shattered and imperfectly -formed chick, struggling in vain in the fluid that ought to perfect its frame, till it sinks in a gradual and convulsive death, is a horrible THK DOMESTIC FOWf^. 109 spectacle, though 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. MIDDLE STAGE OF INCUBATION. CHICK JUST BEFORE HATCHING. Shortly before the time of hatching arrives, the 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 top of the egg, which then opens like a lid, and the little bird strugg;les 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 rash 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 better to wait awhile and not interfere with any of them, tilf it is apparent that a part of the brood has been hatched some time, say twelve hours, and that the rest cannot succeed in making their appearance. After such wise delay, it will generally be found that the whole fluid contents of the egg, yolk and all, are taken up into the body of the chick, and that weakness alone has prevented its forcing itself out. The causes of such weakness are 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 loill sit, at seasons of the year at which there i^ 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 mi 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. ARTiriCIAL 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 be 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 106° 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 be 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 are peculiarly the pensioners upon our bounty. The apparatus, latterly employed for this purpose, has been described under the names of eccaleobion, (literally the invoker of life,) polotokian, and hydro- incubator. The former was an ingenious contrivance, for hatching chickens by means of heated air. It pre- sented the appearance of an oblong box, nine feet 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 poAver was within. According 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 300^ 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 I The polotokian, also, was a similar contrivance for hatching, by means of heated air, established in 1S43, 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 the 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 incubation 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, Gruinea 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 top 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 less than by a radiating heat. THE DOMESTIC FOWL. Il5 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 nourishment 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 th« 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 egg-hatching 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.''' AMIlRICAN EGG-HATCIIIXr: .ArACIIINK. 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 const;antly 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 600 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 humble opinion, all these ingenious imitations of, and interferences with, nature, though they may flourish for a day, (and flourish they cannot be said to do,) will pass 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- fet'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 rJM's in its nest, clothed with a downy garment of exqui>ite 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 eg^, 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 tenderne>ss. 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 drunk 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, be watchful, and ready for every emergency." So far we 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 appearance. 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 whioh are reared ; and some have recourse to artificial mothers, 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 tup: 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 wooden trays, or boxes, so con- trived as to impart the necessary heat to the young chickens, after exclusion from the egg, till they are sufficiently strong and grown to need no further assist- ance. When chickens are hatched by artificial means, as by the eccaleobion, 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 bo 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 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. AiVTien 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 lo 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 tliereby obtain a large share of their living. This plan is objected to by many, in this country, 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 hou.se, not only on acoount 6 J 22 THE DOMESTIC TOVVL. of the safety of the young brood, but for the conveni- ence of feeding them, as M'ell 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 I^ 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. MAKQUKE OR TENT-SHAPED COOPS. Another kind, lately used by Mr. C. N. Bement, author of the "American Poulterers' Companion," answering a very good purpose, is the marquee coop, denoted by the above fir:u"'e. It is made by nailing THE DOMESTIC FO\VL. 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 I, and range at pleasure about the yard. As the chicks, at first, will hardly be on an equal footing with their older companions, in regard to 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 OF 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 ino pendent members of the gallinaceous community. For c. 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 they 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 fowls. 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 preier 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 cummin, with wheat flour, and feed hens on this food, they will get so fat, and th« » Aldrorandi. THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 127 people who eat them will grow so stout, as to burst. John Jacob VVecker 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 wiiich the hens can thrust their heads out of doors, and take 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 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 FOWT,. that they did not mean to fatten, but this was of rare occurrence, and proceeded, no doubt, from some ailment beyond my power of discoverinjr; but, fat or otherwise, they were never tough. 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." EXPERIMENTS WITH BOILED GRAINS IN FATTENING 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 weie well burst, and he found that the increase of bulk in each sort was the foUowiner:^— THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 129 Pint meaaorai. Four pints of oats, after being 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, alter being boiled to bursting, filled above 15 Four pints of wher.t, after being boiled to bursting, filled a little more than .' 10 Four pints of rjc, 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. Reau- 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 was, 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 Ihe 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 FOWL. 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 sufficing ; 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." Buckwheat, 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 consume the four- teen pint measures of the boiled grain nearly in the same time which four pints of the dry would have sufficed them. Moubray says, also, that buckwheat is an unsubstantial food. Maize, or Indian Corn, is, on the other hand, more profitable when boiled than when given raw ; for the fowls which would have got through a pint and a quarter of the dry maize, consumed 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 measures, 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 al.«!o 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 fowls 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 wheatj 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 133 THE DOMESTIC FO^V^i. 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 v/ith 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 suffered long to remain undressed, 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 flesh of blood. Then, the feathers and pin feathers should be immediately plucked off", the intestines removed, the blood washed out with cold water, and carefully hung up in a cool, dry room, until ready to convey to market, or otherwise to be used. THE TURKEY. ORIGIN AND HISTORY. •• Ther* is no poor animal so beset with ignorant and dcstrnctire empicisra, on its first introduction into life, as the turkey." Anon. 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 ot 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 probably 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 adjacent islands ; for Oviedo, who embarked for the West Indies, in 1514, and resided as governor of the fort and harbor of St. Domingo, in the island of Hayti, then called Hispaniola, published among other work.*?, (some very voluminous,) one entitled Tradado de la Historia Natural de las Indias, which was published at Toledo, in 1526. In this work, he describes the turkey as a kind of peacock, (pavo,) abounding in New Spain, whence numbers had been transported to tha 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 Greeks 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, Gesner, and others followed in the wake of Belon. Linnaeus, 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 Grreat, reigned from 1520 to 1566 ; his fleet was then the first in the world, and the scourge of the Mediterra- nean ; his 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 universal over Europe. It might have been that the outlandish aspect of this bird, its deep gut- teral notes, its haughty carriage, and irascible disposi- 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, carps, hops, pickerell, and beer, Came into England all in one year.'' " The old couplet," adds he, " is certainly errone- ous ; pike, or pickerell, were the subjects of legal reg- ulations in the time of Edward the First. Carp are mentioned in the Boke of St. Allbans, printed in 1469. Turkeys and hops were unknown till 1524, previous to which wormwood and other bitter plants were used to preserve beer ; and the parliament, in THE TURKEY. 137 1528, petitioned against hops as a wicked ineed. 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 work 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 were 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 Grulf 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, [Meleagris gallopavo,) of North America, the origin of our domestic stock, and the Honduras turkey, {M. ocellata,) 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 be domesticated in our Southern States, what a splendid acquisition should we have to our poultry yards and lawns I * THE TURKEY. 139 THE ^^^LD 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. Bartram, the prince of Canino, (Charles Lucien Bona- parte,) 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 ot 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 necic 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 plumage 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. Q,uills 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 are 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 fascicle 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 frequentFy 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 aj^sertion 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 weiij^ht 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 the 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 are often employed 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 rt^aring them. Although sufficiently tame to feed with his other tur- keys, and generally associate with them, yet they al- ways retained .some of the original propensities, roosting by themselves, and higher than the tame birds, gen- erally on the top of some tree or of the house. They were also more readily alarmed. On the approach of THE TURKEY. 14$ a clog, they would 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. AVhenever 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 Audubon, " 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 advancmg 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 chick, 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 their bod}^, 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 e£isy prey to the hunter. " When 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 have been seen to approach the farm houses, associate with the domestic fowls, and enter the stables and corn cribs in tjuest of food. In this way, roaming THE TURKEY. 14f'> 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 perse veringly followed. At this time, the males begin to gobble strenuously, and strut about, making that peculiar whirling jar with their ^vings, 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 eni>ue, 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, arc 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 tuany as he chances to meet. The seraglio follow their favorite sultan, roosting at night near hiiu, 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 dilficult 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 Audubon says that he once found three hens sitting on forty-two eggs. Tn such cases, one of TlIK TUKKEV. 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 balfle 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 shell, 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 aston'.shing 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 larvae 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 are able to escape 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 cocks ruow begin to show their distinctive char- acteristics, and even to utter an imperfect gobble, while the young hens pur and leap. Several broods now flock together, and 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, bnt is common to all gallinaceous birds. In America, the different species of grouse ex- hibit the same tendency." GEOGKAPHICAL DISTRIBXTTION. 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 TuracEV. 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, \yho, 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 Carol i- 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 ver}'^ 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 prefers to incubate, and in the tenderness of her young, I will next consider the turkey in a domestisated state. THE TURKEY. 151 THE DOMESTIC TURKEY. STNO:fTjfi:«. — Meleagris gallopavo, of Naturalists ; Coq d'Inde. Din- don, of the French ; Paio, of the Spaniards ; Truthahn, Calcuttischer 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 isconi^iderable 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, bat 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 be allowed, as the feet of these birds are THE TURKEV 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, CHOICE OF THE TURKEY COOK. The turkey cock 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 for the table, "ought not" says Mascall, 7* 154 THE TURKEY. " to be passing a yere, or two yeres old — three yeres is the most, and too much — for, being olde, they are so heavy in treading, they wyll commonlye hurt the hennes, in broosing their backes, 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. The hen turkey should be dark-colored, like the cock — those with white feathers appearing amidst the black plumage 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 practice 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. NUMBER 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 semi to be the case with the common fowl. M. Parmentier 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. Ijawrence, 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 commences laying ; she indicates this coming 156 i'HE 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 ipay 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 brood, it must render it more difficult, on account of the cold weather, in spring, to rear it with success. The habit of laying in the morning may be usefully taken advantage of, where several turkey hens are kept. Their nests may be examined, individually before they go out, and keep back those which 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 reddish 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 eircumstanoes, when well housed, fed, and 158 THK TUKKKY. 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. INOUBATION. 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 to be re- moved to her food, so overpowering is her instinctive affection ; she must be freel}^ 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 by man, were his interference possible, 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, it 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 sa}', "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. Not 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 which 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 inclination 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 be a guide. 1 say this, because some have recommended spices, wine, and even bathing in cold water. Give them nothing ; do nothing to them ; let them be n the nest under the shelter of their mother's wings at THE TURKEY. 16J 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 hurry 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 descendant^ of well-educated dogs, will point at the scent of game without any previous 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 w hich would be disdained, if seen accidentally on the ground, will be 162 TIIK TURKEY. relished from the tip of a finger. The proverb that "The master's eye fattens the horse," is applicable to thenn, not in a metaphorical, but in a literal sense; for they certainly take their food with a better 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 indifferent 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 newlj'-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 fl}^ 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 have 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 afford them cover from birds of prey; the hen will herself drive off four-footed enemies with 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 lime loudly yelp, " O then remember me," in notes less melodious than those of Sl 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 brcod, 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 ot 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 THE T'JKKEY. 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 theruta-bagas ; before the bulbs are formed, they will strip the green fiom 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. They 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 theirgraminivorous 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 otF their urood 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 many harpies, to devastate and plunder their neighbors' fields. FATTENING. On the first of October, it will be time to begin to think of fattening some of the earliest broods, in order THE TIRKKY. 165 to supply public houses, and such families as require turkeys earJy in the season; but they are like every 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. 8ome 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, how- ever, in small quantities, and as the substratum of fatting, rather improves the flavor than otherwise. Acorns, which 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 w^holesome. 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 diflers from the rest of our poultry in being fit for the table after its youth is past. Many • When a cock turkey arrives at the age of two y»ar«, he is called a " itae." 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 betvi^een 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, every 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, Avill render them exceedingly plump, delicious, and fat. It has been asserted, 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 caponisins^ them, which, also, produces better and sweeter flesh. But how far this will prove profitable, future experiments will show. THE GUINEA FOWL. ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 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 Meleagris. Columella. The Guinea 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 Gruinea 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, arc shy and wary, and seek refuge 168 THE GUIXF.A TOWT.. amongst the dense underwood, threading the mazes of their covert with wonderful address. The female in- cubates in some conceated 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 3Ielcag'ris, 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, (Observ. sur les Cout. de I'Asie,) we are informed that, in the year 1508, or about 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 THE GUINEA FUWI.. 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 Guinea 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 Vv-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 remote 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 Melea^ris? 170 THE OtINEA FOWL, THE GUINEA HEN. Stbokymes.— iV'^nii'da meleagris, of Naturalists ; Pintade, ot th* French; Puitada. of the Spaniards; Perlhuhn, of the Germans; Come- Back, in Norfold. England ; Guinea Hen, Guinea 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 wattles, naked skin, distinct mark of the eyebrow, bright, glancing eyes, and comical, quick expression, make, at a front view, a perfect miniature of a clown, dressed and painted for the circus or pantomime, DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE COCK AND HEN. It is not every one who knows a cock from a hen of this species. An unerring rnl« is, that the hen THE GLIiSKA 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. FAIRING. There is one circumstance, in regard to the habits of the Guinea 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 faithful 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 tkree 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 Pggs> 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 Guinea 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 GUmEA FOAVL. also, if possible, from a place where only a sinf^le 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 few steps, and then walking affectedly 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. LAYING. Of all known birds, this, perhaps, is the most pro- lific of eggs. Week after week and month after month see little or no intermission 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 the Gruinea 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. iSuch 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. 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 G-uinea 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 II grow III 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, G-uinea fowls, pheasants, &c., never to 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 Gruinea 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 Gruinea fowls are about the ^ze of quails, or perhaps a little larger, their mother Bantam, (which we suppose to be a tamCj quiet, matronly crea- 176 THE GUINEA FO^VL, 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 either find them, or are themselves lost, destroyed, oi stolen. It ts of no use to shut up these fowls to fatten, un- less, they have previously been made particularly tame, as they would sulk, pine, and die, before they THE GUrVEA 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 muffs 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 exquisitely fair. When clouds forsake, or when invest the air; His gems now brightened by a noon-tide ray ; lie proudly waves his feathers to the day, A strut majestically slow assumes, And glories in the beauty of his plumes. Pabaphrase of the Book or Job. 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 Grreece ; 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- tus, the male and female were valued at 1,000 drachmae, or about $150 the pair. The remarkable point in this account is, that the creature was not gratuitously exhibited, like the tri- umphal 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 band" performed before the doors, and whether the pictorial representations, THE PEA FOWL. - 179 hung outside, at all outrivalled the brilliant display of Barnum's Museum, in Broadway. 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 I It is a specimen of ornamental poultry, and not unsuitable, perhaps, to the monarch 180 THK PEA POWL. 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 lier kings barbaric pearl and gold. MiLTOW. 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. AVhen we talk of the peacock spreading its tail, we use popular language. The gem-adorned plumes, with their loose silken barbs, are not the tail, bvit 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. I 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 forests, 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, sportsmen in India ; but from all this we gain no positive information. The reader must, therefore, pardon me for the meagre history of the wild bird. However, what it is in captivity in our country, tlxn.t it is in the forests of India, domestication having littVe influenced its nature. There can be little doubt that the splendor of this bird first attracted the notice of the ancients, yet in luxurious Rome, its beauty was not its safeguard ; on THR PEA rOWL. 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 brains. Well might he say — " Oft as the bird 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, [Scariis creticus,) the tongues of flamingos, and the brains of peacocks. The bird figured also in the feasts of Hortensius and other sensualists. GEOGRAPHIOAIi DISTErBUTION. 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 Ghauts, 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 THK PEA FOWr,. 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 common 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 counfries 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 Griffith'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 confused. 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 metallic-green 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 inferior, and her propor- tions more slender. THE PEA FOWL. 183 THE PEACOCK. Synowymk*. — Pavo crittatut, of Naturalists ; Mohr, of the MahrattM ; Paon, of the French ; Pavnn, Pavo real, of the Spaniards ; Pfau, P/auhahn, of the Germans ; Peacock, of the English and Anglo-Atnerl* cans. 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 gluttenous, 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. He is far from manifesting the politeness and attention which the common cock shows towards his mates. The peacock will greedily snatch from the mouth of his 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 regards the display of his tail, his puffings and struttings, and all the rattling of his TUn PF.A KOAVL. 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 from 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 vard, 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 hunp; round their necks 186 THE PKA 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 with 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 restrj,in them from mischief till an eye can be kept upon their move- ments. At the first dawn, or at the most unsuspected moments, they will steal off' 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 flowers is comparatively trifling; though, like the Gruinea 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 large and unsightly ; but this can be provided for them in some T!ir. PKA FOWf,. 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 off, 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-ydfiow 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 summey, 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 e?2:s. 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 ! ! I in geometrical pro- gression, and drain the sources of vitality still faster than they can be 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 ftom the egg with their quill feathers very highly developed. In three days, they will fly up and perch upon anything THE PEA KO\M.. 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 fire, and served with brown gravy, exactly like par- tridges or pheasants. When moulting, extra diet and varieties of food, including hemp seed and animal sub- stances, are most desirable. THE TAME DUCK. ORIGIN AND HISTORY. It woTild be curious to know when this species was first domesti- cated ; but, reader, the solution of such a question is a task on which I ■hall not venture. 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, {Anas boschas,) 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 ^Hvhen this species was first domesticated,^^ has raised some doubts upon the subject, which it is of no use 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 tame 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 D/CK. 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 conckisions, 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 say.« " 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 occur* with ducks' eggs in China. The rearing of ducks as well as pigs there 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 tnay 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 signal 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, TTir. TAMK. PUCK 193 soon aware, hence each strives to be foremost ; one un- fortunate must of course be tiio 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. " Goose 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 number of birds, appa- rently ducks, are caught upon a lake or some water; a fifth man, a little in advance of tlie 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 amphoroe, 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 amphorae, 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 the salt. The other figure appears to us to ba 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 exercised his art in 9 Y-) [ 11!K TA.Mi; DUCK. the reigns of Thutmes IV. and of Ameno II., in the beginning of the eighteenth century before the Cliris- 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 tree.--, are presented. It is somewhat remarkabJe, that, esteemed as the duck was by the an- cient Egyptians, neither this bird in a tame state, nor the goose, thongii wild fowls are abundant, is to be seen as of extraordinary occurrence in the villages ; the same observation applies to Syria, 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 tv.'o laughable exceptions, are more sensible and practical than are to be found in modern works, proceeds to offer instruc- tions for making the nessotrophion, or duckery. He speaks of it as a matter of curiosity rather than profit ; " for ducks, teal, mallard, phalerides," 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 7io power of flying 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 desirou-- of estahli-^bing a duckery," THE TAMB DUCK 195 sontinues he, " it is a /ery old mode to collect the c^ggs 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 ot 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 dacks 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 suffi- 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 ditFerence is likely to be the result of dome.stication. Let us not forget, too, that the domestication of wild races is an art that demand:^ quiet, peace, patience, and superabundance, not merely ••' A oil np(>d not he at a loss it know a tr/W duck. The claws in ihe wUd ipecies are tl.ik — Co: . H»«'skr 196 Ti!;: i >.:;; dvcic. for its snoce^sful issue, but for its being exercised at all, and was little likely to be miieh practised by any European nation, in the interva^ between the fall of the Roman Empire an(i the pesent 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 wildnessof 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 duck, 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 be the same ; although we know that the old travellers, and many of the modern emigrants, are not very precise in their zoology, and indeed might sometimes be excusably puzzled. For instance, when Captain Wallis, soon after he had discovered Otaheite, saw animals lying on the shore with their fore feet growing behind their heads, rising every now and then, and running a little way in an erect posture ; he was naturally incited \N ith curiosity to inspect them more closely ; and after- wards found that they were dogs with their fore legs THr> TAMK 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. 19fi THE TAME DUCK THE MUSK DUCK. SrnoNTMES — ^nas moschala, of Linnaeus ; ^nas sylvestris hraziliensif, of Ray ; Cane musquee. of the French ; bisamduftend Ente, of the Ger- mans ; Pata real, Pata grunde, Pala almisclada. of the Spaniards ; Musk Duck, Muscoeij Duck, of the English and Anjlo-A.inorican'!. The musk duck, so termed from the strong scent of musk 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 carunculated. This duck greatly exceeds the ordinary kind in size, and the male is far larger than the female. The general color is glossy blue-blacU, 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 colir, like the common duck. The tropical regions of South America are the na- tive country of the musk duck, which may account for its dislike to a cold bath in 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 ; Tilt: 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 hardly 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, (kc. Its feet appear by their form to be more adapted to such purposes than those of most other ducks. If allowed to speni 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 describable means of annoyance. He manifests little affection to his femab partner, and none towards her 200 THii TAME DUCK offspring. The possession of three or four mates suits him and thorn, 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 tliem 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 arc covered with down, the shades of which indicate the color of the future feath- ers; and they do not jur some time show any appear- ance 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 ACCOMMODATION 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 of the pond, cr sheet of water, over which they scatter themselves ; thus also, they come to the cal. 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 tame 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 loeedes do grow therein, but that the fowle may have clear water still run thorow. 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 fowle therein ; 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 weedes." 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 constantly looked after, and driven home at night, and provided with proper shelter or pens. These may be made of rough boards, or of rustic work, thatched with straw, as denoted in the following cut. They may also be made after the mode oi the poultry house, at p. 86. TITB TAME UUCK. 203 DUCK POND AND HOUSK3. 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. pairhtg and layiiig. 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 nearly double that number. They do not, usually continue to lay, however, later Ihan 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, and will even sometimes drop their eggs in the water. When they succeed in laying out their num* 204 THE TAME 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 daring 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, duck eggs are much better than hens' eggs, giving a finer color and flavor, and requiring less butter. INCUBATION. 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 be spoiled. From eight to ten eggs may be given, according to the size of the duck, 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 superfluous, 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 be content w'th it, whatever be its qual- THE TAMK DUCK. 205 ity; it has even been remarked, that when ducks arc 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 morning; 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 TOUNG. The best mode of rearing ducklings depends very much upon the situation in which they are hatched. XjJ the TV v. I. Ij-. ck. For the first month, the confinement of their mother, under a coop is better than too much liberty. AH kinds of sopped food, buckwheat flour, Indian or barley meal and water mixed thin, worms, &c., 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 1' 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 G-ervase Markham, pulse, or any kind of grain, will fatten ducks or ducklings in a fortnight; but if he had tried this, he would have found that his receipt was not always successful. Lawrence says that butchers' offal 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 good for fat- tening, injure the flavor of the flesh, and barley in Tllli TAME DUCK. 207 any form is apt to render the flesh insjjiid, 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 o-f 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 tho fat pressing on the roots of the feathers. THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. ORIGIN 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 of 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 bo classed generically with the swan, and so be included in their list of unclean birds. Among the Greeks and Romans, it seems to have been the only really domesti- cated water fowl they possessed ; and appears to have held exactly the same place in their esteem, that it still retains with us, after the lapse of two or three thous- and years ! Indeed, a modern writer may escape great part of the trouble of composing the natural history of the domestic goose, if he will only collect the materials that are scattered amongst ancient authors. A very early notice of them occurs in Homer. Penelope, re- lating her dream, says, " I have twenty geese at home, that eat wheat out of water, and J am delighted to look at them." The alarm given at the approach of the army of the THK DOMKSTIC dOOSE . 203 Gauls 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 extractirig — " Thus they were employed at Veii, whilst, in the 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 Yeii 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 watchful 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 v>^ings, 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 Gaul 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." 2 ) THK DO.MKSTIC GOOSK. 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 ditiered 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. * *' * * * It is 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, whether Scipio Metellus, of consular dignity, or M. Seius, a Roman knight at the same epoch. But, (what is certain,) Messalinus Gotta, the son of Messala, the orator, discovered the method of cooking the web of their fSet, and fricasseeing them in small dishes along with cock's combs. I am ready heartily to at- tribute the merit to the kitchen of either. It is won- derful that this bird should travel on foot from the Morini, (in the north of France,) to Rome. Those which are tired are carried to the front ; so that the rest push them on by a natural crowding. ***** In some places they are plucked twice a year." It is very natural to inquire whence so remarkable and valuable a bird was originally obtained ; but the conclusion generally arrived at appears to be inconsist THK DOMESTIC GOOSE. 211 ent, not merely with truth, but even with probability ; namely, that it results from the crossing and intermix- ture of several w^ild 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. ferns,) would equall\* 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 the}'' 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 THL )OMESTIC 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. Enth'cly white specimens of the Anas albifrons are indeed occasionally hatched in con- finement, 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 v-hina goose {A. ci/gndides) : but these are mere im- parities which wear out, and the race returns to the well-known domestic type. And it will be allowed by most persons who have possessed a variety of these birds, and who have watched anl tended them day by day, that the domestic goose is sufficiently 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 eyes, 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 difference, that the domestic goose is polygamous, whereas all wild geese that we are acquainted with are monoga- mous. It is true that wild geese, in captivity, will couple with the females of other species, but that takes place by their utterly neglecting their own mate for the time., not by entertaining two or more mistresses at once. It will be replied, that habits of polyamy are the effects of domestication ; but what proof have we TIIK nO.MKSr.H- (iOO?R. 213 of such an assertion ? Domestication has not yet in- duced the pigeon nor the Gfuinea fowl to consort with more than ono partner, and tlie swan, called " domes- tic," by some writers, remains obstinately and even fiercely faithful in its attachments. THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. STPtonTMEi. — ^Inser paluslrif (.-.,) of Naturalists ; Oie commune, of the I'rench ; Gemeine Oans, of the Germans ; Ansa domestica, 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 are hatched, iniluences 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 GOOS^E. RANGE AND DOMESTIC ACCOMMODATION. With respect to the range and domestic accomoda- tion of geese, they require a dormitory apart from otho.'-* 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 willed, 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 yeo 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, he can never keepe geese well." Yet if we are 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, v,-ith 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 Iceep geese with other poultry ; for when confined in the poultry yard, they become very pugnacious, and will very much harrass the hens and turkeys. C'Oiurnella 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 . " G-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. Genis, 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 THK 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 v/ith 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, offer 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 ; vWierefore, 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 goodnesse." LAYING. "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 be known when an indi- vidual is about to lay, by her carrying about straws to THE DOMESTIC GOOSK. 217 form her nest with ; but, sometimes, she will only throw them about. When this is observed, the geese should be watched, lest they lay in some by-place, and the eggs be lost. '' Wherefore," says Mascall, " towarde night, ye must take them up, and feele how many be ready to lay, which ye shall perceive if sheebe 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. INOUBATIOIT. 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 liay, 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 oft" 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 2[^ T.!;; ;.';';c (jouti-:. common fowl has been equally praised lor filling this important I'nnctifin ; bnt the eggs of the goose being very liirge, 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, therefoHi, 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 OP THE GOSLINGS. LniE 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 crusts of bread boiled in milk. Afterwards, advantage must be taken of a fine warm sun to turn them out for a few hours ; 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 IJO.Vir.riTIC 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. Cxeese may be fattened at two different 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 bi:ishel, 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 ihcy may thrust their heads to feed ; and being natur- 220 thl; domestic uoosk. ally voraciuiis, 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 in 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 appetite falls oft'. As soon as ihis is perceived, they may be 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 oft" like the mouth piece of a flageolet, 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. The operator sits squat on the ground, holds 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 ai the same TIIR DOMKSrrC GOOSK. 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. Water 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 enlarsred 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. Stnonymes. — Anser cygnoides. Anus cygnoides, Cygnus sitiensis, of Naturalists , L''oie de Guinee, of Buffon ; Oie de Ch'me, of the French ; Chineslsche Gans, Gans von Guinea, of the Germans ; Ganso de C/iina, Gxnio de Guinea, Ganso de cistie, of the Spaniards ; China Goose, Hong- Kong Goose, Swan Goose, Chinese Sivan, Guinea Goose, Spanish Goose, African Goose, and a host of other names, of the English and Anglo- Americans There is a venerable joke told about a Spanish Don who knocked at a cottage door to ask a night's lodging: "Who's there? — what do you want?" demanded the inmates. " Don Juan Jose Maria Antonio Pedro Alonzo 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 perplexity 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- markable of a bird so striking in its appearance, 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 Gipsies, it has not been allow-ed to claim a place among the "i'Mi: ciiiXA r.oosE. 223 natives of any one region ; and like many others fur- nished with a variety of aliases, it ends by being aho- gether excluded from society. The old writers call it the Guinea goose, for the excellent reason, as Willughby In'nts, 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, w^alking 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 onee Cygnus sinensis, (Chinese swan,) and says that 224 THE C^I^.. ~.OOSK. this and the Canaila 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 ot seldom being in a hurry, which seem to say that it came Irom 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, alter 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 sufficient, 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 72 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 fli^dit i':sr.,\.-K.- or rMi-Titv. audible, dullness, di.surder 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 diag'nosis. 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 obtaininer a flow of blood is barbarous. OBSTRUCTION OF THE NOSTRILS. Fowls, as already remarked, do not in general breathe throusfh the mouth, but through the nostrils, and conse- quently, when these through any cause become obstruct- ed, the bird may be observed to gape and pant for breath. This is the case in the ''pin," 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 trickling over, and plugging up the nos- tril with a hard adherent crust. When 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, and in most cases be followed by a speedy cure. This may be con- sidered by some a very barbarous remedy ; but the pain it produces 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 •weet oil or fresh butter. DISEASES OF roLLTKY. 267 ROUT, OR INFLUENZA. The term "roup," is in common speakini; 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 ahighly dangerous disorder, caused partly, if not altogether, by cold and moisture, but usualjy 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 eves afterwards become much swollen, and the eyelids livid, with decay of sight, and even total blindness. I'here 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 afl'ect a fowl for two years. When any fowls oi" other poultry are observed to be infected with roup, they ought to be kept warm, anrl have plenty of water and scalded bran, Indian-inerd dough, or other light food. The most efiectual re.nedy is said to be antimonial powder or caloir.el, in grain doses, made into a pill with bread. When it becdnps chronic, change of food and of air, if convenient, will be advisable : such as confininji the diet to earth worms 368 DlSEAtiEri OF POULTRY. fora week, and then keeping \vlioily to grain for another week, and again to hot mashed potatoes for a third week. Cleanhness is no less indispensable 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 influence 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 did not confine his researches to the common domestic fowl, but experimented like- wise on (lucks, which he found, conformably to general experience, no less susceptible of catarrhal dissorders than tbwls, proving that it is not altogether a change of c-Iimate which causes such susceptibility. M. Flourens being in the country in the month of DISEASES OF POL'LTRV. 2G& Mav, his atleution was called to a duckling of a brood newly hatclied. which was reported to have swallowed something that stack in its throat, appearing to be on the point of sulfocation, con.tinuailv opening its broad bill, and breathing with 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. Anorher 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 witli op- pression of the chest, that it stood motionless, gasped for breath, had violent palpitation of the heart, left otf 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 wher« 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' UISF..ISKS OF PoLLTUV. chickens, amon^ whicli were^ four females and two males, were affected with consumption nf 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 it 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 ihan the others, but they remained dwarfeo and feeble 'J'here renKiineil six chickens more out of the tvventv- three on which tie had begun his experiments. Tiie following is what he did with these : — He lelt 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 then) 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 the 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 these 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 juisKASEs or poultry. From these observation, M. Flourens concludes, wii*h 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 ser>ous in proportion as the creature is of tender age. 3. That when cold does not produce a pulmonary inllammation, acute and speedily fatal, it produces chronic intlammation, 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 cominenced; 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 aflTected with phthisis were not only the whole day with the healthy chickens, but roosted at night in the san)e bas- kets, without ever having experienced the slightest in- fluence from a connnunication 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 effects 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 ; ibr even when they are cured, they frequently remain not only lean but voracious, destroying a great quantity 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 cuie 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 thera, 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 belbre only took up one inspiration, causing a double heaving of the chest. The capacity of the lungs being, 274 UISRASES OF POULTRY. of course, diminished, the membrane which lines the 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 happen, 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 betvv'een, 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 affected 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 unfrequently killed outright. This fever is sometimes increased, by buffing the combatants about with a handkerchief, to induce them to leave off. A more effectual 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 possible, by removing them within doors, should the weather be damp or cold. DIgEASRS OF "OULTRV. 275 In a case of highly inflammatory fever m a chicken, noticed by Mr. Dicitson, 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 ever3'-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 ihesaine 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, ia summer ; but in winter, this must only be done if there be con- venience to let it dry its^li" 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 11 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, for a short time, diminish the velocity of '27(3 DISEASES or poultrt. 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 etfectual, 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 slate also takes place about the time hens be- gin to la}^ 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 more extreme cases, they may be plunged into, or sprinkled with, water to allay the heat. VORACIOUS APPETITE. Fowi,s 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 may cause obstruction, mashed carrots or boiled cabbages may be given two or three times, till the effect produced be ascertained. CROPSICK, INDIGESTION, OR WANT OF APPETITE. WnEN the food of fowls is suddenly changed, such as from dr}?^ to boiled barley, or Indian meal, or to mashed potatoes, they may often be observed to feed badl}', and to lose flesh in a surprisingly short space of DISKASKS 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 etfect of warm, instead of cold food being quite wonderful ; fowls enjoy a iiot 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 aff'ected 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 onlv 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 OP POULTKV. when there is any atrophy or loss of flesh observed. It ought of course to be cotnbined with good barley, oats, Indian meal, or ground malt, and occasionally some good ale, milk warm, to drink. The ale has a very great ef- fect in improving what may be termed the " condition" of fowls. COSTIVENESS. 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 substitute 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 remedy. But should any individual 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 natural, in consequence of feeding on green vegetables, bad 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 off. But when it does amount to a confirmed looseness, it ought to be attended to, lest, in the end, it prove fatal, as not unfrequently happens when it is neglected. The worst DISEASES OF POULTRY. 279 svmptom is the voiding of a white calcareous matter, (urate of ammonia,) sometimes streaked with yellow, hke the yolk of a stale esg, which sticks to the feathers round the anus, and being very acrid from the ammo- nia it contains, soon 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 etfectual. 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 onlv drink. 280 DI3EASU3 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 slated 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 swellini.'. feathers. In order to explode a notion so uni- '2Sl DISEASES OF I'OULTHY 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. Dr. 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. From fighting with each other, from having their feet cut with glass or gravel, and not unfrequently from the bites of animals, such as iiinks, 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 the others abusing ii; lor 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." FKACTURES 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 FOILTRY. 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 I'arely con)rnunicates these to the rest ot' the flock in the same yard, thoutrh they be i'ed ai.d lodged ahke — 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 niaintained. 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 trifling cases, when the infection is not very obvious to casual inspection, no particular attention will 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 sti'awe, 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 fleas." The corrupting of their bodies, seems a much more probable cause than any of the others. " The remedy," adds he, " ye shall 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 washe them therewith, or to bathe them in soap water, which is good to kill lyce, or the fine powder of pry vet mixte 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 speaking of this disgusting affliction, says: — ' Some time ago I had a beautiful brood of black DISKASCd or roULTRV. 285 Spanish chickens, and the day after they were hatched, 1 hajipened to lake one in my hand, and was nnucli struck by observing on the top ot' its poll five or six laree full-grown lice, evidently caught from the moth.tr. I then examined the whole brood, and found them all similarly aflected. Knowing that they would not thrive until I had dislodged or destroyed the enemy, the next day I attempted to pick ihem out; but 1 ibund that, having only been left one night, the whole poll was covered with nits, and 1 could not git rid of them from their hanging so tenaciously to the down. 1 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 1 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 bnjods tlie same, and have never lost one from sickness All hens are afTected with these parasites, and as they do not dust themselves so fre- quently during the time of incubation, they are more liable to them. 1 have ascertained from observation, that as soon as the chickens are hatched, these pests leave the parent ff)r 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 day.s 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 lier ; 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 ijrsi.ASES of i'olltkv. There are some startling facts on the subject of para- sitic insects, to be found in the " Monographia Anoplu- rorunn Brittanniae," by the late Henry Denny, a work which, ahhoughwith a dog-latin title, that has doubtless iinnited its circulation, is written in such plain and truth- ful English, as to make the flesh creep on one's bones. It is not easy 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 suflicienl to create feelings of disgust. ' W/i]/ not tahe wp some more interesting or popular department of entomology?' has been the irequent remark made to him. He considered, however, that if lie wished to render any service to science, he must not consult popular taste or ephemeral i'ashion, 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 inl"est poultry are, " Gnniocotes hologaster (Louse of the Domestic Fowl). " Goniudes falcicornis (Louse of the Peacock). — This beautilul (!) 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 ot Pavo cristatus having passed through my hands, upon each of which 1 observed, for the first time, several ex- amples 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 my way, 10 ascertain whether great diversity in size or ap- pearance existed between the parasites oi" difterent species or genera. This I soon ibund to be so consider- able, that 1 resolved upon forming a collection, and ascertainino- what was written upon the parasitic tribes. " Goniodes stylifer (Louse of the Turkey). — Common upon the turkey, irequenting the head, neck, and breast; a very beautiful species. The males of this and all the DISLASliS IJF POrLTRY, 287 Other species of goriiodes use the first and third joints of the antennae with great facility, acting the part of a finger and thumb. " Gnniodes dissimilis (Louse of the Domestic Fowl). — I vsuspect 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 polytrapezius (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. " Menopon pallidum (Louse of the Domestic Fowl). — Found in great abundance on poultr}', 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 v:onfinement, are particularly subject to an extensive loss of feathers, rendering them naked and deplorable. TWs 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 DiiKAoi:^ HI roui.KY. above the sui Aice of the skin, hut remniii as mere sfvimps arrested in their growth. It is a disorder apparently similar to that whicli, 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- tunm, 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 lalling 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. Bechstein 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 bv 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 oft' 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. CHANGE OF COLOR. A RE.M.^RK.\iiLE peculiarity in the colors of fowls, is, that ihey 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 bv 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 M'- Allen J. Daw, well 13 DISEASES OF I'DULTKV. known among the agriculturists and sportsmen of the south, who bro;d a game cock, in Madison county, Vir- ginia, which, in 1821, was a bluish-grey. Jn 1822, he was still grey. la 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, iiad 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. Heie, then, was a transition from white to a light-brown, indicating th-d the whiteness of his feathers was not owing to the number of his years. It Ixis 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 some 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 undergoes a similar alteration, so as to render it difficult to distinguish the birds from 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 t|ie name of " albinos," I think, with propriety, may be classed among the diseases, as their characteristics appear to arise from a deficiency or 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 leucoethiopic 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 pu )ils mark the same deficiency of coloring matter. APPENDIX. APPENDIX. COMPARATIVE MERITS OF DIFFERENT BREEDS OF FOWLS. Having hastily examined the proof 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 reminded 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 ever\thing 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 coming 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 1 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 pound, feathers or shot ;" and the buyer seldom stops to think of the weight, al- though there may be three times the diflerence 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 are objectionable on account of their turbulent dispositions when kept with other fowls. The little Bantams, however, can only be kept with any advantage as pels 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 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 while, 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, ai 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 hrilHancy of its plumaiie, 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 White, 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 of their living out of the water, as cockles, mussels, weeds, &c., it is doubtful whether they afford much if any profit. Besides the common varieties, I APPFXIUX. '^09 think the Mxiscovy or Musk Duck mav 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 Common Sican 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 few vears past by iMr. 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 ai this moment, the following reply: — Paterson, December 31st, 1849. Dear Sir, You ask me what success 1 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 lavs an egg every other day, and begins to lav 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 ^ AFPKMJIX. the corn, oats, &c. They also come out and eat grass like 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 few 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. But, unfortunately, most of the Debit and Credit accounts of poultry profits, we so often see pub- APPENDIX. 30J 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 830,000 ; 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 time 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 egcrs, 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 volume of the " American Agriculturist," as having oc- 302 APPENDIX. curred on the farm of Mr. Gerard Carpenter, of Pougli- 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 16th of September, he lost two more. The average number of hens re- maining, during the year, was estimated at sixty, which laid each month as follows : — Kggs. January, . . . . 191 February, . t . . 400 March, ... . 892 AprU, 1,037 May, 1,086 June, 700 July, 838 August, 740 September, .... 540 October, 11^ November, . . . . 21 December, ..... none. Total, . . . 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 nr)t confined at all, and had access to lime and gravel, while the ground was covered with snow. A correspondent, of Rahway, New Jersey, states in the filth volume of the journal last named above, that he conmienced the year 1845 with a stock of poultry, the expenses and profits of which were as follows: — 1845 Dr. Jan. 1. To 44 hens, 6 cocks. . at 25cts. . $12.50 u " 6 turkeys. . at 62 iota . 3.75 (( " 4 geese. . . at 62 iota. . 2.50 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. 6U bushels corn. Carried up, at 50cts. at 25cts. at 62icts. 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. By 3,660 eggs used or sold, . $40.15 u (( 26 chickens, " . 6.25 a 11 3 turkeys, " . 2.25 li 11 6 ducks, " . 2.25 (C ii 23 geese, " 15.67 u a 35 lbs geese feathers. 17.50 li (( 16 bushels of hen manure, . 2.00 (( li 103 fowls on hand, valued at 25.75 (( a 7 ducks, " 2.63 11 (( 4 turkeys, " 3.00 u u 4 geese, " Total proceeds. 3.00 $120.45 Deduct cost, . 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 dift'erent 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 thjir laying. 1 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 following 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 dollar!?. I have reckoned no eggs higher than fifty cents a dozen ; those that 1 sent off at one dollar a dozen, I 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 number of barnyard fowls, obtained at a heavy cost, in- cluding the purchase of food, accommodations, &c., I am free to venture the opinion that, speculations of AIM' i:\MX. 805 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 mone}' could be made on a more extensive scale trom the sale of tlieir feathers and flesh. An instance is said to have occurred within two or three years past, in the western part ol Pennsylvania or Virginia, in which a farmer raised 2,000 geese in a year, from which he obtained a ton of feathers, valued at -SI, 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 field of standing corn. When sufficiently matured, they were slaughtered solely for their feathers, their carcasses being burned or thrown away. THE EGG TRADE. UxDER 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 4d. 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 shorl 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'CuUocb saj^s. the price paid by Kngland to Ireland for egg« and poultry may be estimated at from jCiOO.OOO to £300,000 a year. 300 APPEN'DIX. " The consumption of eggs, at Paris, is estimated a 100,000,000 of eggs a-year."' Everywhere in France, 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 115i eggs per head, or fo 1,052,400. The consumption in other ])arts 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 necessary for reproduction, and it will result that 7,380,925,000 eggs were laid in France during the vear 1835." " The exportations from France, in 1835, were as follows : — To England, . . 76,190,120 " Belgium, . " United States, 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 (876,800). France is essentially a fowl-keeping country. The farms, owing to the system of subdivision of landed property 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 envious of Barbezieux, La Fleche, and especially Mons, for the tables of the luxurious. The following interesting statistical remarks are taken XPPENDIX. 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 lOd., 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 198,000. 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 <;om- 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 visitmg 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 Biitish census returns for 1841 present us with an ac?-ra/o?-em estimate of the poultry, (of all sorts,) kept in Ireland, the pecuniary value of each fowl being 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 tfie 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: — LEINSTER. Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, . King's County, Longford, . Louth, . Meath, Queen's County, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow, . £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, Leitrim, . £10,753 4,083 Mayo, . Roscommon; 8,457 7,814 SHgo, . . . . 4,109 £35,216 MUNSTER. Clare, £1,031 Cork, . 23,547 Kerry, Limerick, 7,864 . 10,687 Tipperary, . Waterford, 4,794 . 14,907 £62,830 APPENDIX. 309 Antrim, £3,998 Armagh, 3,829 Cavan, 6,609 Donegal, ..... 5,744 Down"^ 6,992 Fermanagh, .... 4,113 Londonderry, .... 4,027 Monaghan, .... 5,314 Tyrone, ..... 7,257 £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 company's vessels for London, during the year 1844-5, was 8,N74 ; about the same number was shipped by the British and Irish Coinpany, 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 25,506.500 eggs, making a total of the shipments from Dublin alone, during the years 1S44-5, to the two ports of London and Livei-pool, "of 48,639,900, the value of which, at the average rate of 5s. 6d. per every 124 effgs, (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' tiie 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 thev 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 ir. 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 iheir enemies. Yet thousands remain in an erect posture, each covering its single egg, the hope of both parents. The reports of several muskets loaded with heavy shot are now heard, while several dead and wounded birds fell heavily on the rock or into the water. APPENDIX. 311 Instantly ail the sitting birds rise and fly off affrighted to their coni|)anions above, and hover in dismay over their assassins, who walk forward exuhingly, and with their sh.)ais niinghng oaths and execrations. Look at them! S.e how they crush the chick within its shell, how ihev 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 thev have regained their filthy shallop; they strip the birds by r, single jerk of their leathery 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 morn,.' 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. IMark 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 liis tnetnory, and gives orders to depart. The Hght breeze enables them to reach another harbor a few miles distant, one which, Hke 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 lo the eggers, who, like themselves, are desperadoes. The first question is the discharge 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. POULTHY 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 ofTal — 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 trom well- authenticated sources, which should convince the most incredulous; but they will omit doing so in this report, and confine themselves to a few 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 ofTal. " 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 vear 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 obtained,) 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 II2 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 satisfactory returns, that the city of New York alone expends nearly a million and a half of dollars per annum, in the purchase of eggs. " By reference to the agricultural statistics of the United States, 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 of its sheep, the entire value of its neat cattle, and nearly five times the value of its horses and mules. Vri'KNDIX. 315 '■ The same authority ex of poultry, in various states Union : — Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachtisetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, . New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, . Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennesee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, . Michigan, Arkansas, Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa, . District of Columbia, Total, . bits the total valuation and territories of the $123,171 97,862 176,437 540,295 61,492 176,659 2,373,029 412,487 1,033,172 47,465 219,159 752,467 544,125 590,594 473,158 734,931 536,439 581,531 273,314 369,481 829,220 230,283 393,228 335,968 82,730 93,549 61,007 16,167 17,101 3,092 $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 31C 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 15lbs., 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 — I.BS. 07.. 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. Globe-crested Polish hen. Silver Polish hen. Game cock, .... Ditto hen, .... Young blue-dun cock, . Blue-dun hen, . 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 observed that there is a great relative difference between the pullets and the grown hens of the Polish breed. All 5 3 3 4 2 6 5 0 3 S 3 10 2 8 4 12 3 1 3 10 3 9 3 4 4 10 3 0 3 6 3 0 3 8 APPENDIX. 317 the Polish increase much in size and beauty the secona. 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 pidlet, 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, ]Mask drake (moulting ) LBS. 7 7 5 5 5 5 5 7 6 6 17 10 9 9 0 0 1 3 8 12 0 0 S 12 12 0 9 12 iMr. Dixon's own poultry yard gave the following weights : — I.BS, Turkey cock, sixteen months old, . . .16 Ditto hen, three or four year old, . . . 8 White, China gander, six years old, . . .12 White, China goose, . . . . .11 Common China goose, (cynoides,) six years old, 10 Cochiu-China cock, about sixteen months old, moulting, ....... 6 Ditto hen, ditto, ditto, 4 ^Malay cock, ditto, ditto, 6 Ditto hen, ditto, ditto, 4 Pheasant-Malay cock, . . . . . 5 Ditto Malay hen, moulting, . . . . 3 Game cockerel, about five months old, . . . 4 Golden Hamburgh cockerel, just arrived from a long journey, about five months old, . . 3 Ditto pullet, ditto, ditto, . 2 Cochiu-China cockerel, six months old, .' . 4 Another, ditto, . . .4 Silver Hamburgh cockerel, after travelling, about five months old, . . . . . . 3 Ditto pullet, ditto, ditto, 2 oz. 0 6 13 13 10 5 6 14 8 7 8 2 8 4 14 3 0 2 3 3 8 2 6i 2 11 2 n 2 141 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 v^'e can rival those Cochin-China specimens, in whose existence some persons appear to believe. SAMUEL ALLEN. To C. M. SAXTON. New York, January 2, ISSO. INDEX. A , PAGES. Albinos 65,292 AHectorius 252 Animals influenced by Food and Climate 73 White , 292 « Inferiority of 32, 92, 297 B Bonkira Fowl 19 « Jungle Fowl 19 Breeding, Remaiks on 72, 103, 295 C Caponjsing Fowls 166, 251 Capons trained to hatch Eggs 119 " employed to nurse Chickens 119 Cob (Male Swan> 245 Cock, Dunghill, Selection of 89 " Character of 90 Javan 19 Jungle 19, 21 D Diseases of Poultiy 259 Apoplexy 260 Appetite, Loss of 276 " Voracious 276 Asthma 273 Bloody Flux 279 Catarrh 268 Change of Color of Feathers 289 Colds 268 Consumption, Pulmonary 268 Costiveness 278 Cropsick 276 Diarrhcpa 278 Dislocations 283 Feathers, Loss of 287 Fever 274 " Hatching and Pairing.. 275 Fractiu-es 283 Diseases of Poultry pag k s. 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 Pir), or Thrush 202 Phlbi!?is 268 Rheumatism 280 Roup 267, 281 Rump Gland, Obstruction of . . 281 Scoui-ing 278 Thrush, or Pip 262 Thirst 275 Ulcers 282 Wounds 282 Duck, Aylesbury 197 Marsh 197 Musk, or Muscovy 198, 298 Rouen, or Rhone 197 Tamo 190,298 " Choice of varieties of 197 " Fattening of 206 " Incubation of 204 " Origin and History of 190 " Range and Domestic Acco- modation of 201 " Reaiing and Feeding of .. . 205 Wild 191 E Eccaleobion described 1 12 Egg Cluster 100 Eggers, Labrador, described 310 Egg-Hatching Machine, American 116 Egg Trade 305 Eggs, necessaiT Temperature for Hatch- ing 112,111 S20 PAOES.I Eggs, QuatitieH of 94, 29C | Fow. " Fiesen'alion ol' for Cooking 97 1 « " " Hatching 98 " Recipes for Preserving 97, 98 1 " Sexes of 95| « Structure of 99 « Weight of 41, 224 Everlasting Layers. 54 Fowl, Domestic, Anomuloii!- Varieties of 81 Antiiiuity of Varieties of 5,14,73 Artificial Incubation of 112 " Mothers in Rearing of 120 Bantsm C7, 297 " I'.lack 70 " Creeper 71 •' Jumper 71 " Nankin 67 " Sebright 68 « White 71 « Yellow 67 Bam-Door 55, 72 Best Food for 125 Black Polisii 62 " Topped White Polish 63 " Spanish 26 Blue Dun 80 Bolton Bay 51 " Grey 51 Booby 78 Breeding and Crossing of 103 Buck's-County 78 Caponising 251 Chittagong 37 Cheteprats 51 Chittiprats 51 Classification of 25 Cochiii-China 33 Comparative iSIerits of . 295 Cuckoo 55 Coops for 121,122 Copplecrowns 56. 00 Coral Grey 51 Creole 51 Diseases of 259 Dominica, or Domini- que 80, 297 Dorking 29,296 " known to Columella 32 Duke of Leeds 13, 75 Experiments in Feed- ing of with boiled Grain 128 Fattening of 125 Food of, compared 128 found on the Pacific Isles 16, 17 Friixled 81 Came 44,297 FAOK9. Domestic, Geographical Distribu- tion of 15 Golden Hamburgh .... 51 " Poland 60, 03 " Spangled 58 Great Malay 37 Immutability of Species of 73, 105 Incubation of 106 Influenced by Food and 'Jlimato 73 J'jgo, or St. Jago ... 39, 74 Jersev-Blue 77 Jungle 19, 21 Kulm 37 Killing and Preparing for Market 132 Lark-Crested 56 Lims, 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 found in the Atlantic Isles, when discover- ed by the Mtxlerns . . 8 not mentioned in the Old Testament 6 Old Sussex, or Kent . . 31 Origen and History of . 5 Ostrich 33, 78 Paduan 60 Paring of 92 Pencilled Dutch 51 Pheasant 40 Breed 40 " Malay -10 Plymouth-Rock 76 Poland, Polander, or Polish 60 Portugal 26 Range and Domestic Accommodation of.. 81 Rumkin, or Rumple.^ . 81 Shack-Back, or Shag- Bag 63, 75 Shanghae Cochin-China 75 Silky 81 Silver Hamburgh 51 " Poland 00 " Spangled Ham- burgh 58 Spangled Polish 00 Spanish 26, 75 Topknott(!d, not men- tioned by the An- cients 12 Weight of . . . 30, 35, 76, 78, 79, SK White Polish 00, 03 Tiu-kish ."il INDEX. Ml rAOES.j Fowl, Domestic, Young of, Growth in the Egg 108 " liow to feed previous to Weaning 121 Voungof,how to nurse 117 Fowl Houses ,,; iq or o5 Fowl, Wild 15,19,21,24 Bankiva Jungle i» Classif.cation of 1° Geo'JTupliy of 1^ Javanese Jungle 19 Jungle, Sonneral's 21 " Stanley's 21 South American 15 MSBt Guinea Fowl, Laying of MS Origin and History of 167 Pairing of 171 H Hen, Domestic, Character of 81 « Choice of 91 " Laying Propensities of . 94 Hens, Relative Number to a Cock 92 Hybrid between the Pheasant and Do- mestic Fowl -v- 41 Hybrid Geese .... 212, 218, 226, 227, 229, 298 Hydro-Incubator H* G Game Cock, English Game Fowl .„ « Breeding of ?» Geese, Sandwich-Island 18 Goose, African ~» American Wild ^ " Breeding of 240 tt Geographical Distri- bution of 238 " Management of 240 " Migration of 238 « Natural History of". . . 234 « Pairing of 240 ■■"" 296 Bean Bremen j^„ Canada, described ~^^ China fjr | « Breeding of ^ Incubation, Period of— American Wild Goose -iM China Goose ^ Common Goose -1' u Swan 246,229 Domestic Hen 103, 114 Guinea Hen }J^ Musk Duck 200 Pea Hen 18° Tame Duck 205 Tui-key Hen 158 VVTiite, China Goose 233 Incubation, Periods of, vary according to Circumstances 300 Domestic Fattening of 219 « Incubation of -J 1 « Laving of -lo " Origin and History of. . 208 « Pairing of •• 215 " Range and Domestic Accomodation of 214 « Young of, bow to treat. 218 Embden 213 Grey-legged ^^^ Guinea ^^ Hong-Kong ^- Laughing -^^ Spanish ^^- Swan *** White, China 228,231,298 White-Fronted -1; Wild --23- Guinea Fowl ietween the Cock and Hen I'O Eggs of 1"2 Feeding and Management of "■* Geographical Distribution of 1°^ Incubation of 173 Javanese J nngle Cock 19 Jungle Cock *} Fowl, Sonnerat's ^J " Stanley's *' K KuhnFowl 87 Longevity of Poultry 90, 141, 590 Lost Varieties of Fowls 13 Laying Propensities of Fowls ">* Malay Fowl , , . . , ^ Meleagris of the AncienU, What ?. . 167, 169 Neat Boxes for Domestic Fowls 85 Nests, Materials for making 87 ISDEX. Ostrich Fowl 33,78 Ovoi'ium, or Egg Cluster of Fowls 100 Fea Fdwl 277 Feeding and Management of. 188 Geographical Distribution of . 181 Japan 182 Laying and Brooding of 187 Origin and Histoi-j- of 178 Queen Victoria's 179 Range and Domestic Accom- modation of. 186 Pen Birds (Female Swans) 245 Pheasant-Malav Fowl 40 Fowi 40 Breed 40 Prfotolcian 113 Poulardes, how to malce 253 Poultry Raising, Profits of 300 Statistics 313 Weight of.30 35 76 78, 79, 142, 152, 221, 249, 315 Queen Victoria's Pea Fowl 179 Rumkin, or Rumpless Fowl 81 S Sonnerat's Jungle Fowl 21 Stanley's " " 21 Bw^i) Chinese 222 Common 245, 299 " Distinction between Sexes 247 PAOES. Swan, Common, Feeding of 247, 299 " Management of . . . 247, 299 « Mute 245 " Natural Histoiy of 244 "• Pairing of 246 Tui-key, Domestic 151, 297 Caponising of 166 Choice of the Cock . . 153 Eggs of 157 Fattening of 164 Incubation of 158 Laying of 155 Long-island Dwarf.... 151 Number of Hens to a Cock 155 Origin and Histoiy of 133 Range and Domestic Accommodnlion of. 152 Selection of tlie Hen . 154 Should not roost with other Fowls 152 Topknotted Vai-iety of 152 • Story of, in Persia . . . 137 Young of, how to treat IGO " injured by Wet 148 Weight 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 ILLUSTRATIONS. PA0B9 American Kgg-natching Machine 11^ " Wild fioose X" " 'A! 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