AM Hew Pork State College of Agriculture At Cornell Aniversity Bthaca, 2. D. Librarp ornell Universit: The American poultry yard :comprising th Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003200015 See Et = I ._ cle i i : i le | i eS t ; ) THE AMERICAN POULTRY YARD; COMPRISING THE ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT BREEDS OF DOMESTIC POULTRY; WITH COMPLETE DIRECTIONS, FOR THEIR BREEDING, CROSSING, REARING FATTENING, AND PREPARATION FOR MARKET; INCLUDING SPE- CIFIC DIRECTIONS FOR CAPONISING FOWLS, AND FOR THE TREATMENT OF THE PRINCIPAL DISEASES TO WHICH THEY ARE SUBJECT; DRAWN FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES AND PER- SONAL OBSERVATION ; ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS. BY D. J. BROWNE, AUTHOR OF THE SYLVA AMERICANA. oN ae WITH AN APPENDIX, EMBRACING THE COMPARATIVE MERITS OF DIFFERENT BREEDS OF FOWLS, BY SAMUEL ALLEN. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY C. M. SAXTON, 1861. (@ 6,976 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 194s, by EPHRAIM BLANCHARD, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. ADVERTISEMENT, Tur “American Poultry Yard” being now completed, the publisher has thought proper to offor 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 be procured, suited to tho 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 farmer, 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 on our public works, and as the writer of a treatise on American trees. He is an enthu- siastic devotee to the natural and exact sciences, particularly to agriculture and rural economy, having travelled and -resided. for a considerable time in various parts of North and South America, the West Indies, Europe, and Western Africa, with the express object of practically investigating the agricuiture 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-luborer of the editors of the “ American Agriculturist,” 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 und utility, united, at the same time, with elegance and the facility of obtaining the desired end. Cc. M. SAXTON, New York, January 2, 1850, PREFACE, TxE scope and intention of the present treatise, perbaps, is sufficiently declared in the title page. Thereforc, to waste the reader’s time by further details would be as 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 birds, of which but few records are to be found, together with the limited nature of the work itself, are the only apologies the author has to offer for any errors and deficiencies with which he doubtless may be charged. With- out great aid from those who have written before him, the volume, though not large, never could have appeared ; yet, most of the current books on poultry are but compilations of matter, valuable only to those practically acquainted with the sub- ject, and many of them unsuited to our economy as weli as to our climate, and full of errors and confusion, that would be obvious to the attentive reader, even though he never had seen a fowl in his life. In order to write a perfect work on poultry, two important desiderata would be required for its attainment; one or the other of them would be indispensable—the first, a complete set of full-sized colored figures of every 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. The 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 country and from abroad, and breeding them in-and-in for a series of years, a3 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 prove a boon to mankind. In order that he may not be accused of the reproach of “strutting in borrowed plumes,” the author bas the candor to confess that he has made afree use of the Jabors of Pliny, Columella, Cuba, Aldrovandi, Mascall, Reaumur, Moubray, Par- mentier, Flourens, W. B. Dickson, J, J. Nolan, W. C. L. Martin, and the Rey. Edmund S. Dixon, particularly of those of the four gentlemen last named, without giving them, in numerous instatices, such credit a3 the punctilious critic would seem to demand. Be this as it may, the author has endeavored not to deviate from estab- lished cusiom, except in cases where he deemed it expedient to change the language, in part, for the sake of brevity, elucidation, or Americanising the subject, 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 his book may deserve. D. J.B. New York, December 26th, 1849, THE DOMESTIC FOWL ORIGIN AND HISTORY. " fowls were prepared for me, and also once in ten days, store of all sorts of wine.” Hoxy Writ. Tax Common Fowt, 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 arliitself. For, it is supposed by the erudite, and shown by at least probable arguments, that the descendants of Gomer settled in the northern parts of Asia Minor, and then spread into the Cimmerian Bosphorus and the adjacent regions, and that from them the numerous tribes of the Gauls, 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 6 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, Xu. 4. “And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, 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, xxxvill. 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, 18, 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 flourish, and the arts of life to be strenuously cultivated. After the Babylonish captivity, we cannot doubt that the fowl was among the domestic animals of Palestine, and it is to this bird, most probably, that Nehemiah, (s.c. 445,) alludes, when in his rebuke he says, ‘‘ Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox, and six choice sheep, also’ fowls were prepared for me, and also once in ten days, store of all sorts of wine” (v. 18). Antecedently to this period, the fowl was abundant in Persia. Thus Peistheterus relates why the cock is called the “Persian bird,” and how it reigned over that country before Darius and Megabazus (n.c. 521). Not only do the classic poets and historians speak of the high antiquity of the fowl, but medals anc coins THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 7 proclaim the same, and bear its figure stamped upon them. Nor is its delineation absent on other relics of remote periods. In Camparini’s ‘ Etruscan Tombs,” we see several persons reclined on a sort of couch, taking wine and bread after the burial of some friend. Under one of the tables a cock and hen are depicted, and under another a cat is seen insidiously creeping towards them. Figures of the domestic fowl are carved in relief on the marbles lately brought into England from Lycia, in Asia Minor, by Sir C. Fellows, and their outlines are represented to be remarkable for accuracy. Among the Greeks and Romans the fowl figured in the public shows. It was dedicated to Apollo, to Mercury, to Aisculapius, and to Mars; and its courage and watchfulness were well appreciated. The Rhodian fowls, and those of Delos, Chalcis, Media, and Persia, were celebrated for their superiority in fight, and for the excellence and delicacy of their flesh. Cock-fight- ing, as might be expected, was a diversion in conson- ance with the tastes of the Romans, and they were as much devoted to it as the Malays of the present day, who will stake all upon the issue of the battle. To the rearing of these birds for the table, the greatest attention was paid by the luxurious. They had their gallinaria, and were accustomed to cram their fowls with meal, and keep them in the dark that they might the more readily fatten; nor were the capon, (gallus spado,) and the poularde, (gallina spadonia,) unknown, Herodotus does not mention the fowl as among the domestic birds of Egypt, though he speaks of the goose, the vulpanser, or chenalopex, the duck, the quail, small birds, and two sorts of ibis; neither does it occur on any of the ancient monuments of that country. Aristotle, who wrote about 350 years before Christ, speaks of them as familiarly as a natural historian of the present day would. It is unnecessary more than to allude to the beautiful comparisons taken from them in the New Testament. The Roman authors of the 8 THE DOMEfTIC FOWL. con.mencement 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 Cesar, 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 ‘“ Bridgewater Treatise,” doubts whether the camel ever existed in a wild and inde- pendent state. But others do not go quite so far as that in scepticism in the 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 whole 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 DOMESTIC 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. Réaumur, whose writings are really philosophical and valuable, devoted his inquiries to more practical objects, but Sonnerat was merely a blind leader of the blind, if there is justice in the criticism of Mr. Swainson, who pronounces that “ Son- nerat’s works, although often cited by the French authors, are very poor; the descriptions vague, and the figures, particularly of the birds, below mediocrity.” Buffon, who did not die till 1788, had therefore an opportunity of adopting Sonnerat’s jungle fowl as the parent of cocks and hens, and his vivid imagination made him very likely to have adopted so apparently clear an account, ready telegraphed for his reception. But instead of that, he speaks hesitatingly and doubt- fully of the derivation of our domestic fowls from wild cocks, and seems to despair of indicating their origin. He says, ‘Amidst the immense number of different breeds of the gallinaceous tribe, how shall we deter- mine the original stock ? So many circumstances have operated, so many accidents have concurred; the attention, and even the whim of man have so much. multiplied the varieties, that it appears extremely dif- ficult to trace them to their source,” A difficulty, which speaks volumes, is, that those birds which have been pointed out as the most pro- bable ancestors of the domestic fowl, do not appear to be more tameable than the partridge, the American grouse, or the golden pheasant ; moreover, so remark- able an appendage as the horny expansion of the feather stem, as seen in Sonnerat’s cock, would, according to what is generally supposed to take place, be increased rather than diminished and obliterated by domestica- tion ; and even if got rid of by any course of breeding for a few generations, would be sure, ultimately, to reappear. Still, our own 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 ‘sy man, is now extinct, for ever gone, with the Dodos and the Deinornithes. Such an idea quite agrees with what we now see going on in the world. At no very distant period, the turkey will be in exactly the same position in which we are supposing our cocks and hens to be now placed. The race will continue to survive, only from having submitted itself to the dominion of man. Wild turkeys are becoming every year more and more scarce with us, and as population increases, and pene- trates deeper into the wilds, till the whole face of the country is overspread, occupied, and cultivated, this bird must share the fate of the bustard in England ; and where shall we find it then, excépt under the same circumstances as we now see our domestic fowls? How long existing literature will endure it is impossible to say; but should it be swept away by any social convulsion, our descendants, two thousand years hence, will have as much 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 the 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 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 11 would alone ensure the destruction of her progeny in an unprotected state, in spite of all her fruitfulness and her great maternal virtues. Her delight at having laid an egg, expressed by loud cackling, which is joined in by all her companions that are at hand, would, by itself, be sufficient to- prevent much increase of her young. How the squaws and their picaninnies would chuckle to have wild birds abounding around them, that not only produced an excellent egg every day, but told them where to find it! The habit which so large a bird as the fowl has of retiring to roost by daylight, too, and compos- ing itself to repose before it is hidden and_protec- ted by the shades of night, would also be a cer- tain source of danger in a wild state. The craving hunter who wanted a meal, need not fatigue himself by a search during the noontide heats. He would have but to bear the pangs of appetite till evening approached, and then stealing with no great caution under the outstretched branches, he would find a ready prey distinctly apparent between himself and the ruddy glare of sunset. No wild race could survive a few years of such facile, such tempting capture. Those who would reply by saying that when cocks and hens were wild they had not fallen into the imprudent fashion of roosting before dark, and cackling when they dropped an egg, beg the question which we are not disposed to grant them, unless they can positively establish their claim. The common cock, (Gallus gallinaceus,) would at first sight appear to have received one or two remark- able changes of form subsequent to its having been saved from annihilation by becoming dependent on the care of man, if we can believe domestication to be capable of producing such changes. The crest of feathers on the head is an extraordinary netamorphosis 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 THLE DOMESTIC FOWL. distinction between the feathered crests of birds in general, and the combs of cocks, as to lead to a strong suspicion that he was unacquainted with fowls with topknots; which he could hardly have avoided seeing in the course of his unequalled opportunities for research, had they existed in hisday. ‘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 1s the Latin word used by Pliny to denote the tuft of feathers on the head of certain ducks, (fuligule,) 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 will serve to distinguish such-like from the Polish fowls ; the other, what he calls the Paduan, evidently a variety of the Polish or Poland. If birds with such peculiarities were unknown to the ancients, it will be asked through what agency they have made their appearance in our days. Are they new races, the result of judicious combination and nurture, or of mere chance? Not conceiving that they are anything “‘ new under the sun,” although long un- known to us, I answer, at once, No. The mercantile enterprize and trading voyages of the English, Dutch, Spaniards, and Portuguese, 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 anlikely 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 THE DOMESTIC FOWL, 13 excites the curiosity and admiration of their neighbors. There are several varieties that are extinct, or not to be obtained in England, as the Duke of Leeds’ fowl, and the white Poland fowl with a black topknot. Attempts have been made to reproduce them, both by the most promising: systems of crossing, and by acting on the imagination of breeding fowls, after the manner of Jacob’s experiments with Laban’s flocks; all in vain. We can easily understand how certain points in any race can 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 toe to the foot, as in the Dorking variety, is more likely than the crest to have supervened in the course of time. This appendage is said not to be mentioned by any earlier writer than Columella, since whose time, to the present day, a fifth toe has been the well-known and distinctive cha- racter of a certain breed, A Cochin-China cock in the possession of Rev, E. 8. 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. 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.” GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. Tue 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 TURKEY. reluctant steps, yet such is the rapidity with which settlements are extended and condensed over the sur- face of this country, that we may anticipate a day at no distant period, when the hunter will seek the wild turkey in vain. The wooded parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennes- see, and Alabama, the unsettled portions of the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois, the vast expanse of territory north-west of these states, on the Mississippi and Missouri, as far as the forests extend, are more supplied than any other parts of the Union with this valuable game, which forms an im- portant part of the subsistence of the hunter and trav- eller in the wilderness. It is not probable that the range of this bird extends to, or beyond, the Rocky Mountains. The Mandan Indians, who,’ a few years ago, visited the city of Washington, considered the turkey one of the greatest curiosities they had seen, and prepared a skin of one to carry home for exhibi- tion. In some parts of Florida, Georgia, and the Caroli- nas, the wild turkey is still common, but less so in the ‘western parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia. Some, also, are said to exist in the mountainous districts of Sussex county, New Jersey. In New England and Lower Canada, they were formerly very abundant, but as their places of resort became settled and thickly peopled, they retired and sought refuge inthe 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 domesticated state. THE TURKEY. 151 SANE Yr nag? US ae WY : NN THE DOMESTIC TURKEY. Synonymes.—Meleagris gallopavo, of Naturalists; Cog d’Inde, Din- don, of the French; Pavo, 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; alton gh there is considerable variation in color, as well as in size, but no Bantam, or dwarf race exists, unless we except the small, delicate-fleshed turkeys of Hemp- 152 THE TURKEY. stead Plains, near New York, which often weigh, when dressed, not more than 4 or 5 lbs. The finest and strongest birds are those of a bronzed black, resemb- ling, as closely as possible, the original stock. These are not only reared the most easily, but are generally the largest, and fatten the most rapidly. Some turkeys are of a coppery tint, some of a delicate fawn-color, while others are parti-colored, grey, and white, and some few of a pure snow-white. All of the latter are regarded as inferior to the black, their color indicating something like degeneracy “of constitution, if not actual disease. A variety is said to exist in the avi- ary of Madame Backer, at the Hague, with a topknot springing from the crown of the head, resembling that of the plumed Poland fowls. To describe the domestic turkey is superfluous ; the voice of the male; the changing colors of the skin of the head and neck; his proud strut, with expanded tail and lowered wings, jarring on the ground ; his irascibility, which is readily excited by red or scarlet colors, are points with which all who dwell in the country are conversant. RANGE AND DOMESTIC ACCOMMODATION. Tue 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 TURKEY 153 apt to become frostbitten from such exposure to the air on the sudden decline of the temperature far be- low the freezing point. It must be remembered that the domestic turkey, hardy as it is when adult, is not equal in point of endurance to its wild relative breed in the woods and inured to the elements. Turkeys are fond ot wandering about pastures, hedgerows, and the borders of fields; they love to visit turnip fields, where, besides the leaves of the turnips, which they relish, they find insects, snails, slugs, &c., which they greedily devour. In the morning, they should have a good supply of grain, and after their re- turn from their peregrinations another feed; by this plan, not only will the due return home of the flock be insured, but the birds will be kept in good store con- dition, and ready at any time to be put upon fattening diet. Never let them be in poor condition—this is an axiom in the treatment of all poultry—it is difficult, and takes a long time, to bring a bird into proper con- dition, which has been previously poorly fed or half starved, CHOICE OF THE TURKEY COOK. Tue 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.” ‘6 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. Tae 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 ES THE TURKEY. 154 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, shofild be kept up, deficiencies by death and accidents being duly supplied. NUMBER OF HENS TO BE ALLOTTED TO HAOH COOK. It would appear that an almost unlimited number of hens may be allowed to a single male—in fact the caresses of the male only once or twice are required for the fecundation of all the eggs which she will lay dur- ing the current. season; but, in order to make assur- ance doubly sure, the number of hens under one lord may be limited to fifteen or twenty; that is, if it is desirable that so many should be kept. The number of hens, however, which should be put with one cock is disputed amongst several authorities, as we have seen to be the case with the common fowl. M. 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. Lawrence, on the other hand, advises six hens to a cock ;- though he thinks more may do no harm; and mentions it, as a common practice with breeders, to keep a cock for the use of any neighbors who may have so few hens as to render it too expensive to keep one, LAYING. Axout the middle of March, generally speaking, the female commences laying ; she indicates this coming 156 THE TURKEY. event by a peculiar cry, by strutting about with an air of self-satisfaction, and often by prying into out-of- the-way places, evidently in quest of a secret spot of incubation—for her instinctive dread of the male is not removed by domestication, nor has the male lost. his antipathy to the eggs. She should now be closely watched, and some management is required to induce her to lay in the nest assigned her. The nest should be prepared of straw and dried leaves; it should be se- cluded, and to excite her to adopt it, an egg, or a piece of chalk cut into the form of an egg, should be placed in it. When her uneasiness to lay is evident, and symptoms prove that she is ready, she should be con- fined in the shed, barn, or place in which her nest, (in a large wicker basket,) is prepared, and let out as soon as it is deposited. It is generally in the morning that the turkey hen lays, and mostly every other day; though some lay daily, until the number amounts to from fifteen to twenty. As the eggs are laid, it is as well to remove them, (leaving the decoy egg or piece of chalk,) until the number is complete, as they are liable to be broken, or sucked by rats, weasles, minks, or skunks. They may then be ‘restored to her for in- cubation. ; ; Some persons are in the habit of giving turkeys stimulating food at the laying period, in order to pro- mote their fecundity, particularly oats and hemp seed; but this is quite superfluous, and may even, perhaps, be injurious, by tending to produce “clear” or in- fertile eggs. By proper food and shelter, during win- ter, indeed, turkeys may be brought to pair and lay earlier than they otherwise would do ; but, though this might have the advantage of 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. Tue 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 he 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 kéep each hen’s eggs distinct, that they may be put under those which laid them ; but this appears to be an unnecessary trouble, as a hen turkey will not only successfully hatch the eggs of her own species, wherever they may be procured, but also those of geese, ducks, and com- mon fowls. It does not appear from Audubon’s account, that the wild turkey has usually more than one brood in the year, unless her eggs have been carried off or de- stroyed ; and Buffon says the tame turkey lays only once a year. The latter is wrong in this; for, under favorable circumstances, when well housed, fed, and 158 THE TURKEY. taken care of, the hen turkey will lay a second time towards the end of summer, sometimes sooner and sometimes later. In the second laying, there are rarely more than a dozen eggs; and in order to have the brood from these successful, more than ordinary care will be requisite. When a second laying is expected, the sooner one hen is turged away from her brood, and the brood mixed with that of another, hatched about the same time, the better chance there is of rearing it; as the hen, which is so turned away, will lay again in a fort- night or three weeks, and thus hatch a second time be- fore the month of July is out. Even under these cir- cumstances, the chance of rearing the young ones is very uncertain, as they are hardly strong enough to meet the cold nights in the autumn, when they often. become what is called “ club-footed,” and die. INCUBATION, Tue 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 freely supplied with water within her reach; should she lay any eggs after she has commenced incubation; these should be removed—it is proper, therefore, to mark those which were given to her to situpon. 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. Tne treatment of the chicks next demands considera- tion. Some books tell you to plunge them in cold water, to strengthen them; those that survive will certainly be hardy birds. Others say, “make them swallow a whole pepper corn,” which is as if we were to cram a New- town pippin down the throat of a new-born babe. Oth- ers, again, say, “give them a little, ale, beer, or wine.” We know, unhappily, that some mothers are wicked enough to give their infants gin, and we know the con- sequences. 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. I say this. because some have recommended spices, wine, and even bathing in cold water. _ Give them nothing ; do nothing to them; let them be in the nest under the shelter of their mother’s wings at , THE TURKEY. 161 least eight or ten hours; if hatched in the afternoon, till the following morning. Then place her on the grass, in the sun, under a roomy coop. If the weather be fine, she may be stationed where you choose, by a long piece of flannel list tied round one leg, and fastened to a stake or a stone. But the boarded coop saves her ever- watchful anxiety from the dread of enemies above and be- hind—the crow, the raven, the hawk, the rat, the weasel ; and also protects herself—she will protect her young— from the sudden showers of summer. Offer at first a few crumbs of bread; the little ones, for some hours, will be in no 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 descendants of well-educated dogs, will point at the scent of game without any previous training; and so turkey chicks seem to wait for thé at- tention of man before they can have any experience of the value or nature of those attentions. Food which they would refuse from a platter, they will peck greed- ily from the palm of a hand; a crumb which would be disdained, if seen accidentally on the ground, will be 162 THE TURKEY. relished from the tip of a finger. The proverb that “The master’s eye fattens the horse,” is applicable to them, not in a metaphorical, 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 newly-acquired sagacity was possessed by their offspring, which had never seen a man. Wild and domesticated turkeys are, in fact, from the same origina type; it is only necessary to compare them, when hatched together under a hen, to be convinced of the principle of hereditary transmission of habits—the wild young ones instantly fly from man, the tame ones are indifferent to his presence. Young of ‘rabbits, wild and tame, show this contrast more strongly than any crea- tures with which I am acquainted. The turkeys, then, are hatched, and we are rearing them. Abundant food for-the mother and her yqung, 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 time loudly yelp, “ O then remember me,” in notes less melodious than those of a prima donna, and then they will be sulky and silent. When you at length bring their delayed meal, some will eat, some will not. Those that will not, can only be saved by a method at all other times unjustifiable ; namely, by cramming; but it must be done most gently. The soft crumb of bread rolled into miniature sausages should be introduced till their crops are full. For drink, many would give wine. I advise milk. The bird wants material, not stimulant. It has been actually wire- drawn. It has grown all the hours you have neglected it, without anything to grow from. Like a young plant in the fine spring season, it will and must grow ; but it has no roots in the fertile earth to obtain incessant nourishment. The roots which supply its growth are in its stomach, which it is your office to replenish. “ Pre- vention is better than cure.” Such a case ought never to occur in a well-cared-for poultry pard. , The time when the turkey hen may be allowed full liberty with her brood, depends so much on season, situation, é&c., that it must be left to the exercise of the keeper’s judgment. Some, whose opinion is worthy of attention, think that if the young are thriving, the sooner the old ones are out with them the better, after the first ten days or so. Avsafer 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 TURKEY. 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 Jbs. in eight or nine months? They will jump into the potato ground, scratch the ridges on one side, eat every grub, wireworm, or beetle that they find, and every half-grown potato. From thence they will proceed to the ruta-bagas ; before the bulbs are formed, they will strip the green from the leaves, thereby checking the future growth of the root. Ata 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 their graminivorous propensities, to the great disadvantage of the farmer. The farmer’s wife sees them not, says nothing, but at Christmas boasts of the large amount of her turkey money. One great merit in old birds, (besides their ornamental value, which is our special recommendation,) is, that in situations where nuts, acorns, and mast are to be had, they will lead off their vrood 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. Ow the first of October, it will be time to begin to think of fattening some of the earliest broods, in order THE TURKEY. 165 to supply public houses, and such families as require turkeys early 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 dict 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 turnip with the leaves attached, or a hearted cabbage, may now and then be thrown down to amuse them. Some use plain oats, but barley or Indian meal is preferable, acting more quickly. Cramming is unnecessary, though it may hasten the progress. In some forests, where there are immense quantities of mast, turkeys will get perfectly fat upon them; but this, although no doubt profitable to the “ oude 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 nut come amiss. When they have arrived at the desired degree of fatness, those which are not wanted for im- mediate use must have no more food given them than is just sufficient to keep them in that state ; otherwise the flesh will become red and inflamed, and of course less palatable and wholesome. But with the very best management, aftcr hav:ng attained their acmé of fat- tening, they will frequently descend again, and that so quickly, and without apparent cause, as to become quite thin. Cock birds play this game oftener than hens. The turkey-differs 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 years, he is called a “stag.” 166 THE TURKEY. of the large birds that are brought to market are not less than eighteen months old; some double that age. Nor are they the worse for it, provided the lady of the house be informed of the circumstance, and so enabled to leave a due interim between the killing and the cooking. Almost every district or country, however, has a pe- culiar mode of ‘fattening turkeys, and everywhere it depends on local resources. In one place, it is acorns, hickory nuts, beech mast, or chestnuts, sometimes boiled, and mixed with Indian or barley meal; others préfer to feed them, every morning, a mdnth previous to killing, with boiled potatoes mashed with the meal of buckwheat, barley, Indian corn, or beans, according to their cheapness or abundance, made into a paste, of which the turkeys are allowed to eat as much as they please. Every evening, the remains of the paste is removed, and thrown away ; the trough, or vessel, in which it was kept, is thoroughly cleaned for the next morning; because, if the weather, be warm, the paste is liable to become sour, and endanger their health. For eight days previous to slaughtering time, the tur- keys are allowed, in the evening before going to roost, a small quantity of barley or Indian-meal dough, which, in the course of that period, will render them exceedingly plump, delicious, and fat. It has been 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 caponising 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. Tur 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, é&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 Guinea fowl does not trust much to its wings as a means of escape from danger; indeed, it is not without. some difficulty that these birds can be forced to take to flight, and then they wing their way only to a short distance, when they alight, and trust to their swiftnesss of foot. They run with very great celerity, are shy and wary, and seek refuge 168 THE GUINEA FOWL. amongst the dense underwood, threading the qnazes of their covert with wonderful address. The female in. cubates in some concealed 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 Amertica, that the Guinea fowl became naturalised in Western Europe. Must we not, then, pardon Belon and Aldro- vandi for considering the turkey as the Meleagris, 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 V’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 that the Spaniards, instead of attempting THE GUINEA FOWL. 169 to tame them, or render them domestic, turned them at large into the wild savannas, where they have in- creased in such prodigious numbers, that they may well appear to be indigenous. Though extensively spread, the Guinea fowl is not even now a very common bird. Itis 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 Linneus in his ‘“‘ Fauna Suecica,” though he was 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 vivarta 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 petons, or peacocks, cranes, bustards, and other birds, which figured in the feasts of our British ancestors, nor even ata 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 Meleagris? 170 THE GUINEA FOWL. THE GUINEA HEN. Synonymes.—Numida meleagris, of Naturalists; Pintade, of the French ; Pintadua, of the Spaniards; Perlhuhn, of the Germans ; Come- Back, in Norfold, England ; Guinea Hen, Guinea Fowl, of the English and Angilo-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 eye brow, 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 rule is, that the hen THE GUINEA FOWL. 171 alone uses the call note “come back,” ‘come back,” accenting the second syllable strongly, from which they are often called “‘come backs.” The cock has only the harsh, shrill cry of alarm, which, however, is also common to the female. PAIRING. TuereE 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 three keep together so as to forrn one ‘“ pack,” according to their original instinct, yet that the cock and one hen will be unkind and stingy to the other unfortunate female, keep her at a certain distance, merely suffering her society, and making her feel that she is with them only on sufferance. The neglected hen will lay eggs, in appearance, like those of the other, but not somany, 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. Ifthe 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 GUINEA FOWL. also, if possib.e, from a place where only a single pair ts 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. Or 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 Guinea 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 thihg is less frequently seen among turkeys that are about to vease laying. Such 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. INGCUBATION. 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 thana full-sized fowl. She will well cover nine eggs, and intubation will last about a month. The young are ex- cessively pretty. When first hatched, they areso 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 wormis, 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 taily bear no traces of the speckled plumage of their parents. FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT. Harp-soitep 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. Féeding three, four, or five times a day, is not nearly often enongh; every half hour, during daylight, they should be tempted to fill their little craws, which are soon emptied again by an extraordinary power and quickness of digestion. The newly-hatched Guinea fowl is a tiny creature, a mere infinitesimal of the full-grown bird; its growth is consequently very rapid, and requires incessant supplies. A check once re- ceived can never be recovered. In such cases, they do not mope and pine, for a day or two, like young turkeys under similar circumstances, and then die; but in half an hour after, being in apparent health, they fall on their backs, give a convulsive kick or two, and fall victims to starvation. The demands of na- ture for the growth of bone, muscle, and particularly of feather, are so great, that no subsequent, abundant supply of food can make up for a fast of a couple of hours. The feathers still go on, grow! grow! grow!!! in geometrical progression, and drain the sources of vitality still faster than they can be supplied, till the bird faints and expires from want of fullness. _ This constant supply of suitable food, it is believed, is the great secret in rearing the more delicate birds, turkeys, Guinea 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, ax soon as they once feel languid, from this .cause, efuse their food when it is at last offered to them, (just like a man whose appetite is gone, in consequence of having waited too long for his dinner,) never would eat more, were it not forced down their throats, by which operation they may frequently be recovered; but the little Guinea fowls give no notice of this faintness, till they are past all cure ; and the struggle of a few minutes shows that they have, indeed, outgrown their strength, or rather that the material for producing strength, has not been supplied to them in a degree commensurate with their growth. A dry, sunny corner in the garden will be the best place to coop them with their Bantam mother. As they increase in strength, they will do no harm, but a great deal of good, by devouring worms, grubs cat- erpillars, maggots, and all sorts of insects, By the time their bodies are little bigger than those of spar- rows, they will be able to fly with some degree of strength ; and it is very pleasing to see them essay the use of their wings at the call of their fostermoth- er, or the approach of their feeder. It is one out of millions of instances of the Provident Wisdom of the Almighty Creat , 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 sptits, comb, and ornamental plumage do not appear till quite a subsequent period. When the young Guinea fowls are about the size of quails, or perhaps a little larger, their mother Bantam, (which we suppose to be a tame, quiet, matronly crea- 176 THE GUINEA FOWL. 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 fuod; 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. Ata 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 eka, 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, or stolen. =i It is of no use to shut up these fowls to fatten, un- less, they have previously been made particularly tame, as they would sulk, pine, and die, before they we THE GUINEA 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 sir; His gems now brightened by a‘noon-tide ray ; He proudly waves his feathers to the day, A strut majestically slow assumes, And glories in the beauty of his plumes. PARAPHRASE OF THE BOOK oF JOB, Tue common pea fowl has probably been tamed and domesticated ever since there have existed hyman eyes to admire it. It is said to have been brought from the barbarians into Greece; and being for a long time rare, it was then exhibited for money to the ad- mirers of beauty in a similar manner as menagerie birds are with us, at the present dayx 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 drachme, 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, Queen Victoria, continue in posses- sion of it. Not being larger than an ordinary hen, it consumes but little food; and does no mischief in the gardens, but rarely permitted to go abroad. It would be cheap at £30,000 ; for, independent of its worth as a trophy, and the strange history attached to it, its tail is made up of diamonds, and the rest of its body is composed of other costly materials, of which gold is the least precious! It is a specimen of ornamental poultry, and not unsuitable, perhaps, to the monarch 180 THE PEA FOWL. of Great Britain; but if I may presume to gvwess at the tastes of the royal owner, more pleasure is derived from the sight of her living models than from the in- animate splendors of this glittering toy, although it does so far— Outshine the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and Bold, con That the peacock should, in all times, have been admired for its singular beauty is not surprising. When it moves along in state with its wings lowered to the ground and its tail spread, the rays of the sun glancing upon its gorgeous plumes, iridiscent with metallic effulgence, the eye of every beholder is ar- rested, and all gaze with admiration on the glorious spectacle. When we talk of the peacock spreading its tail, we use popular language. The gem-adorned plumes, with their loose silken barbs, are not the tail, but the tail coverts, The tail is beneath these, and hidden by them, and consists of rather short, stiff rust-colored feathers, which serve as a support to the train. 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 isin captivity in our country, that it isin the forests of India, doméstication having little 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 THE PEA FOWL. 181 the contrary, it was slaughtered in very wantonness, for the sake of a few parts only deemed worthy of being introduced as small items in the dishes of royal lunatics or noble madmen. The sneer of Martial must, in his day, have been biting ; he saw the peacock in its glory, and then beheld it murdered for the sake of its brains. Well might he say— este eae caer 20, And canst thou thon, hard-hearted, take its life, And coolly give it to your hireling’s knifo.” Of the favorite dishes of the Emperor Vitellius, called the buckler of Minerva, was prepared with the livers of a choice fish, the scarus, (Scarus creticus,) the tongues of flamingos, and the brains of peacocks. The bird figured also in the feasts of Hortensius and other sensualists. GEOGRAPHIOAL DISTRIBUTION, Tue 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 additionai brilliancy; he states that small patches scattered about, cultivated with mustard which was then in bloom, induced the birds to collect there for the sake 182 THE PEA FOWL. of feeding on the plant, and he speaks of the beauty. of the scene as enchanting, and so indeed it must have been; for he adds, ‘‘1 speak within bounds when I assert that there could not be less than twelve or fifteen hundred pea fowls of various sizes within sight of the spot where I stood for near an hour.” The 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 countries separated by many hundreds of miles of distance, even by many degrees of lati- tude and longitude. Yet Sir W. Jardine, in the “ Na- turalist’s Library” gives the Pavo javanensis as the same as the Japan peacock. His figuré 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 dre 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. LBS THE PEACOCK. ~ Synonymrs.—Pavo cristatus, of Naturalists ; Mohr, of the Mahrattas ; Paon, of the French; Pavon, Pavo real, of the Spaniards; Pfau, Pfauhahn, of the Germans ; Peacock, of the English and Anglo-Ameri- cans. : The pea fowl is too wel known to require a detailed description. There are two varieties of this species, the “‘ pied” and the “white.” The first has irregular patcheslof white about it, like the pied Guinea fowl, the remaiider of the plumage resemblin® 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 tarfie, 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 obedienée 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,sor 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 THE PEA FOWL. 185 quills, with the coolest indifference. Nor does he seem to care much about her admiration, or to make all this exhibition of his attractions to secure her notice, but is content, if he can get some astonished hen, or silly bewildered duck, up a corner, to wonder what all this fuss is about. Like other vain coxcombs, he ex- pects the lady to make the first advances. Although occasionally cruel, the peacock is shy of fighting, par- ticularly when in full plumage; nor do these birds so frequently engage with each other as with those of a different species, such as drakes, cocks, &c. One, out of feather, was seen to keep up a three-hour struggle with a musk drake; had it been in full plumage, it would not have shown fight at all. Another objection to them, is their alleged wanton destructiveness towards the young of other poultry, a propensity respecting which, the accounts are very contradictory. It is believed, however, that the pea- cock becomes more cruel as he advances in life, al- though they often vary in their dispositions. A writer on this point says, ‘I have known them to kill 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 yard, the pet of his mistress, who is, perhaps, the most suc- cessful poultry woman in the neighborhood, and whose stock shows no sign of any murderous thinning. The peahen, which, when she has eggs or young, seems really a more guilty party, is not, in general, even suspected. So true is it that ‘one man may steal a horse, while another must not look over a hedge.” Nervous and fastidious persons object to their cry, or call, which, indeed, is not melodious; and a strip of woollen cloth is sometimes hung round their necks 186 THE PEA FOWL. in the fashion of a collar, to silence them; the appen- dage, however, is anything but an ornament, and the effect is not permanent, But it must be regarded as an unhealthy symptom, when any natural or rural sound is displeasing to the ear. The bleating of sheep, the pattering of rain, the hum of Hees, 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. Tur 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 restrain 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 Guinea fowl, they are great eaters of buds, cutting them out from the axils of the leaves as cleanly as a surgeon’s dissecting “Knife would do. They must also have a dusting hole, which is large and unsightly ; but this can be provided for them in some THE PEA FOWL. 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 ean 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 issomewhat bigger than a turkey’s egg, bulging considerably at the larger end, of af@ull, yellowish-white, and occasionally, but not always, spotted, or rather freckled, with a few small reddish-brown marks. The newly-hatched chicks are streaked on the head and neck with alter- nate stripes of dingy-yellow and pale-brown; the legs are of a dusky-ygllowish tinge. : The probable term of life of the pea fowl is eighteen or twenty years; and the young poults may be eaten 188 THE PEA FOWL. at nine months old. The female does not lay till her third summer; but she then seems to have an in. stinctive fear of her mate, manifested by the secrecy with which she selects the place for her nest; nor, if the eggs are disturbed, will she go there again. She lays from four or five to seven. If these are taken, she will frequently lay a second time, in the course of the summer, which plan is recommended to those who are anxious to increase their stock. She sits from twenty-seven to twenty-nine days. A common hen will hatch and rear the young; but the same objec- tion lies against her performing that office, except in very fine, long summers, for the pea fowl, as for tur- keys; namely, that the poults require to be brooded longer than the hen is able conveniently to do, A tur- key will prove a much better foster mother in every respect. The peahen should, of course, be,permitted to take charge of one set of eggs. Even without such assistance she will be tolerably successful. The chicks are engaging little things, most elegant in appearance, very tame and confident. They may be made to sit upon the hand to peck flies from the window. 4 The same Wise Provision is evinced by them, as in the Guinea fowl, but still in a greater degree. The demands of nature for the growth of bone, musele, and particularly of feathers, are so great, that no subsequent abundant supply of food can make up for a fast of a couple of hours. The feathers still go on, grow! grow!! grow!!! in geometrical pro- gression, and drain the sources of vitality still faster than they can be supplied, till the young birds faint and expire from want of fullness. Their native jungle, in India, tall dense, ae ee impervious, swarming with reptiles, quadrupeds, and even insect enemies, would be a most dangerous habi- tation for a little tender thing, that can but run and merely squat. Accordingly, they escape from the egg with their quill feathers very highly developed. In three days, they will fly up and perch upon anything THE PEA FOWL, 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 would 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 shall not venture. Aupuzon, Iy,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- dubori, 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 ‘“‘when 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 DUCK. 191 THE WILD DUCK. As to its history, one thing, I think, may be demon- © strated, that is, that the date of its first appearance in domestication on the European continent is not very remote, however high may be its antiquity~in India and China. In pursuing this sort of inquiries, which are daily becoming more interesting and more impor- tant in their conclusions, one regrets that untranslated works on natural history or farming, (if such there be,) in the oriental languages, are sealed records to almost every one who has the leisure to make use of their contents. It is extremely probable that great light might be thrown on the origin and history of our do- mesticated animals by a careful inspection of such works. As‘it is, we are left to obtain our evidence from imperfect and more recent traces, with the ex- ception of geology. If the swan and the pelican were forbidden to the Israelites, and their carcasses to be held in abomination, (see Leviticus, xi. 18,) the duck would probably be included in the list of unclean birds; or, rather, we may, without violence, suppose that the Hebrew words translated ‘‘swan” and “pelican,” are used generi- 7 41 192 THE TAME DUCK. 7 cally for all web-footed fowls. But, as Scott says “here the critics find abundance of work.” I have already alluded to the artificial incubation of the eggs of fowls in Egypt; the sams thing occurs with ducks’ eggsin 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 may be seen everywhere, more especially about the time of cutting the rice, when the masters of the duck boats row up and down the rivers, according to the opportunity of procuring food, which, during that season, is found in plenty at the ebb of the tide on the rice plantations which are overflowed at high water. It is curious to see how the ducks obey their master; for, some thou- sands belonging to different boats, will feed upon the same spot, and on a 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, THE TAME DUCK 193 soon aware, hence each strives to be foremost; one un- fortunate must of course be the last, and undergo its punishment. Among the ancient Egyptians, ducks were in great request, and Herodotus informs us that they were eaten salted, without any other preparation. “ 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 lalxe or some water; a fifth man, a little in advance of the four, has also hold of the rope, and seems to be giving a signal to the rest, while a man hid among some plants, (papyri?) appears to be giving a signal and recommending care and silence. Further on the left, are two men carry- ing the ducks on their shoulders, and a little further, a man putting them into earthern vessels, formed like Roman amphore, 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 amphore, 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 be pluck- ing the feathers off the neck of a duck; but Rosellini describes him as sprinkling a handful of salt upon it. These two seated figures are placed near a frame work, formed by two upright poles and a third placed across. From this cross poll, the geese, which are plucked and ready for the amphore, 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 13-4 THE TAME DUCK. the reigns of Thutmes IV. and of Ameno II., in the beginning of the eighteenth century before the Chris- tian era, and hence, if Rosellini’s interpretation of-the inscriptions is right, the picture is 3,600 years old.” In other delineations of the same work, ponds in gardens, with tame ducks, geese, and fishes, sur- rounded by fruit trees, are presented. It is somewhat remarkable, that,.esteemed as the duck was by the an- cient Egyptians, neither this bird in a tame state, nor the goose, though wild fowls are abundant, is to be seen as of extraordinary occurrence in the villages ; the same observation applies to 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 two laughable exceptions, are more sensible and practical than are to be found in modern works, proceeds to offer instruc- tions for making the messotrophion, 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 no 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 desirous of establishing a duckery,” THE TAME DUCK 195 continues he, “it isa very old mode to collect the eggs of the above-mentioned birds, (such as teal, mal- lard, &c.,) and to place them under common hens; for the young thus hatched and reared, cast off their wild tempers, and undoubtedly breed, when confined in menageries. For if it is your plan to place fresh- caught birds that are accustomed to a free mode ot life in captivity, they will be but slow breeders ina state of bondage.” Cicero also speaks of hatching ducks’ eggs under hens, (De Natura Deorum, II.,) but there is nothing in the passage from which to infer that those ducks were domesticated, but rather the contrary ; as he re- marks how soon they abandon their foster mother and shift for themselves. Pliny describes the flight of ducks, as rising imme- diately from the water into the higher regions of the atmosphere ; a performance that would make our duck keepers uneasy. The very little mention that he makes of ducks at all, shows that hedid 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 were placed side by side, it would require, not a skillful comparative anatomist, but only an observant spertsman, or even an ordinary . cook, to point out which was which.* Nor has sufh- cient weight been attached to the circumstance of one bird being polygamous, and the other monogamous.” When I come to speak of the domestic goose, it will be seen how little such a difference is likely to be the result of domestication. Let us not forget, too, that the domestication of wild races isan art that demands quiet, peace, patience, and superabundance, not merely * You need-not be at a loss to know a wild duck. The claws in the wild specivs are bluck—CoL, Hawker - 196 THE ‘fal DUCK. for its successful issue, but for its being exercised at all, and was little-likely to be much practised by any European nation, in the interva. between the fall of the Roman Empire and the present day, with a crea- ture that required a course of generations to reclaim it. I am inclined, therefore, to consider the race of farmyard ducks as an importation, through whatever channel, from the Hast, and to point out the discovery of the passage of the Cape of Good Hope, (1493,) as the approximate date. The early voyagers speak of finding them in the Hast Indies exactly similar to ours; and the transmission of a few-pairs would be a much easier task than to subdue the shyness and wildness of the wild mallard, and induce an alteration in its bony structure. The mallard, though not gone, is fast diminishing as a permanent inhabitant of England ; the tame duck, go 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 tu 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 Hast 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 with curiosity to inspect thenf more closely ; and after- wards found that they were dogs with their fore legs THE TAME DUCK. 197 tied behind them, brought down by the natives as a peace-offering and a festival dish. One of the most valid arguments in favor of the de- rivation of the tame duck from the mallard, is to be found in the readiness with which the former returns to a wild or a half-wild state. In Norfolk, England, there is a breed called ‘“‘marsh ducks,” more from their habits and place of birth than from any peculiar- ity of race. ‘They are mostly of plumage generally similar to the mallard, though an ornithologist would immediately distinguish them; their size and the firmness of their bones are intermediate between the wild bird and the common farmyard duck. They are turned out on the marshes to forage for themselves ; indeed, it would be next to impossible to keep them at home ; and of the number which are annually lost to their masters, it would seem likely that quite as many assume an independent condition, as are killed by birds, beasts, or men, of prey; but still they do not appear to be ever found actually and entirely wild. CHOICE OF VARIETIES. Tue 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 itis termed. Great numbers of these fowls, how- ever, are fattened in Buckinghamshire, England, for the London markets, where, in consequence of their large size, they command high prices. There is also the “crested,” or “topknot duck,” a beautiful ornamental tame variety, which breeds early, lays freely, and hatches well. They occur pure white, black, or mixed with black and white. Then there is the “‘musk” or “Muscovy” duck, which, from its large size, and peculiar habits, demands a more ex- tended notice. 198 THE TAME DUCK THE MUSK DUCK. Synonymes— Anas moschata, of Linneus; Anas sylvestris bruziliensia, of Ray ; Cane musquée, of the French ; bisamduftend Ente, of the Ger- mans; Pata real, Pata grande, Pata almiselada, of the Spaniards ; Musk Duck, Muscovy Duck, of the English and Anglo-Americans, 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-black, varied more or less with white, the head is crested, and a scarlet fleshy space surrounds the eye, contin- ued from scarlet caruncles at the base of the beak. Tail destitute of the curled feathers so conspicuous in the tail of the common drake. Ina 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 color, 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; THE TAME DUCK. 199 and selecting by day, the most sunny corner to bask and doze in, “Can a duck swim?” is a pert question sometimes asked with little expectation of an answer in the neg- ative. Here, however, is a duck, which, if it can swim, performs that action in such a clumsy way as 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 asit 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, &c. Its feet appear by their form to be more adapted to such purposes than those of most other ducks. If allowed to spend the night in the hen house, the female will generally go to roost by the side of the hens, but the drake is too heavy to mount thither with ease. His claws are sharp and long; and he approaches the tribe of “ scratchers,” (rasores, ) in an un-scientific sense, being almost as dangerous to handle incautiously as an ill-tempered cat; and will occasionally adopt a still more offensive and scarcely describable means of annoyance. He manifests little affection to his femalz partner, and none towards her 200 THE TAME DUCK offspring. The posyession of three or four mates suits him and them, better than to be confined to the com- pany of a single one. He bullies other fowls, some- times by pulling their feathers, but more frequently by following them close, and repeatedly thrusting his face in their way, with an offensive and satyr-like ex- pression of countenance; or salaciously pursuing them, whether male or female, until he-has accom- plished his purpose, or at least has made an attempt. The musk duck, though a voracious feeder, is easily fattened, a prolific breeder, and consequently, may be profitably reared. The male pairs readily with the common tame duck, producing, by the cross, a hybrid, or mongrel, which is incapable of ‘‘ breeding in a line.” The female, however, will pair with the common drake and produce a good sort. The hybrid generally has a deep-green plumage, and is destitute of the red car- uncled membrane on the cheeks, as well as of the musky odor of the gland on the rump. Her eggs are scarcely distinguishable from those of the common duck; they are well flavored. The time of incubation is five weeks; but in all birds that I have observed, the duration of that period varies so much according to circumstances, that a mean of many observations must be taken to arrive at a correct standard. The time required by the hybrid eggs be- tween this and the common duck, is intermediate between the respective periods. The newly-hatched young resemble those of the common tame duck ; they are covered with down, the shades of which indicate the color of the future feath- ers; and they do not for 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 Guinea 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 DOMESTIO ACCOMMODATION OF THE COMMON TAME DUOK. Ir 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 larvee, 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; afarm yard, with barns, and water, a common, smooth and level, with-a sheet of water, and nice ditches, abounding in the season with tadpoles andthe larve 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 call of their feeder. Ducks should always have a lodging-place of their own, they should be separate from fowls, and never housed beneath their perches’; yet where fowls are kept, a little contrivance will suffice to make their berth, even in a fowl house, tolerably comfortable. In winter, a thin bedding of straw, rushes, or fern leaves should be placed on the floor of their dormitory, and frequently changed. As respects the accommodation of the tarhe duck, Mascall says, ‘‘ Yee must make a ponde of two feete deepe, so long and wyde as the place will serve, and that the water there may run full continuallye to the brimme thereof, that the bankes may not be marde, and also made with plaister, and cimmond, (cement ?) in the bottom, and all about the sydes paved with smooth stone, that no weedes 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 ot the poultry house, at p. 86. SHE TAME DUCK. 203 DUCK POND AND HOUSES. The internal arrangement of these houses may vary, according tothe means and taste of the proprietor, only providing the ducks with nests or nest boxes, in order that they may lay and incubate undisturbed, and affording proper protection for the young. PAIRING AND LAYING. One drake, according to M. Parmentier, is sufficient for eight or ten ducks, while Columella limits the number of ducks to six; and others to four or five. They begin to lay towards the end of February, and sometimes earlier, but so far from producing the lim- ited number of about sixteen eggs, some will lay as many as fifty, and even nearly double that number. They do not, usually continue to lay, however, later than May or June, unless they are very well fed—the great secret for rendering them prolific, provided they do not become too fat. At the laying season, ducks require to be closely looked after, inasmuch as they are not so easily brought to lay inthe 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 eonfine them during the period when they must lay, a circumstance easily as- certained by feeling the vent. It will accordingly be requisite at the approach of the laying season, in spring, to give them food in a particular place three or four times a-day, to prevent them from wandering, and when once they can be got to lay in a nest prepared for them, they will prob- ably continue to do so, without laying elsewhere. ; The eggs of the duck are_readily known from those of the common fowl] by their bluish color and larger size, the shell being smoother, not so thick, and with much fewer pores. When boiled, the white is never curdy like that of a new-laid hen’s egg, but transpa- rent and glassy, while the yolk is much darker in color. The flavor is by no means so delicate. For omelets, however, as well as for puddings and-pastry, duck eggs are much better than hens’ eggs, giving a finer color and flavor, and requiring less butter. INCUBATION. Tue tame duck isnot 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 with it, whatever be its qual- THE TAME DUCK. 205 ity; it has even been remarked, that when ducks are too well fed, they will not sit well. The period of in- cubation is about thirty days, which is somewhat lon- ger than that of the wild species. The first broods of the season are usually the best, because the heat of summer helps much to strengthen the ducklings; the cold always preventing the later broods from getting strong. The duck is apt to let her eggs get cold, when she hatches. Yet Réaumur 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 : mother as soon as they are excluded from the shell. REARING AND FEEDING THE YOUNG. Tue best mode of rearing ducklings depends very much upon the situation in which they are hatched. 206 THE TAME DUCK. For the first month, the confinement of their mother, under a coop is better than too much liberty. All kinds of sopped food, buckwheat flour, Indian or barley meal and water mixed thin, worms, &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 “ Poéme de |’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. Accorpine to Gervase 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 THE TAME DUCK. 207 any form is apt to render the flesh insJpid, and woolly, or, as it is termed, “ chickeny.” As the duck is both a voracious feeder and fond of liberty, it will fatten very well when allowed to roam about, provided it has abundance of food; but it ex- pedites the process of fattening, to have recourse to coops, quiet, and darkness. In Lower Normandy, where great numbers of ducks are reared and fattened, the poulterer prepares a paste with the flour of buckwheat, made into gobbets, with which they are crammed thrice a-day, for eight or ten days, when, though not full fat, they are sufficiently marketable to bring a remunerating price. In Languedoc, when ducks have been rendered tol- erably fat by being at large, they are cooped up by eights or tens in a dark place, whence they are taken out morning and evening to be crammed. This is done by a girl, who crosses their wings on her knees, opens their bill with her left hand, while with her right she stuffs them with boiled maize. Many ducks are suffocated by the operation, and killed outright, but their flesh is not the worse for the table, provided that they be immediately bled. It requires a fortnight to complete the process, which increases the size of their liver enormously, and oppresses their breathing in a distressing manner. The sign of their being suf- ficiently fat is, when the tail opens like a fan, from the fat pressing on the roots of the feathers. THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. ORIGIN AND HISTORY. A team of twenty geese, a snow-white train! Fed near the limpid lake with golden grain, Amuse my pensive hours. t Pore. Tue domestication of the common goose, like that uf the domestic fowl, hides itself, as we pursue it, in the remotest depths, and obscurest mists of ancient his- tory. It has already been hinted that, by the Hebrews, as by many modern naturalists, it would probably be classed generically with the swan, and so be included in their list of unclean birds. Among the 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 I am delighted to look at them.” The alarm given at the approach o1 the army of the x THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 209 Gauls by the geese kept in the capitol of Rome, oc- curred so long back as a. v. c. 365, or 388 years before Christ. The passage is worth extracting— ‘“‘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 Veii 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 wings, Marcus Manlius was roused from sleep,—a man of distinguished character in war, who had been consul the third year before ; and snatching up his arms, and at the same time calling to the rest to do the same, he hastened to the spot, where, while some ran about in confusion, he, by a stroke with the boss of his shield, tumbled down a 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, wake hurled down the precipice in promiscuous ruin. 210 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. Lucretius, referring to this event, attributes the vigilance of the geese to their fine sense of smell: «The white goose, the preserver of the citadel of the descendants of Romulus, perceives at a great distance the odor of the human race.” Virgil, alluding to the same occurrence, ascribes the preservation of the capitol to a ‘silver goose.” Both these poets, therefore, inform us that the domestic goose of their days differed as much from the grey-lag or the white-fronted, as it does at present, a circum- stance which the reader is requested to bear in mind. Pliny, about four hundred years later, remarks: “The goose is carefully watchful; witness the de- fence of the capitol, when the silence of the dogs would have betrayed everything, * * * * * “Itis 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 Cotta, the son of Messala, the orator, discovered the method of cooking the web of their feet, and fricasseemg 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 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE,. 211 ent, not merely with truth, but even with probability ; namely, that it results from the crossing and intermix- ture of several wild species. None of these ancient accounts indicate any such fact ; but on the contrary, declare that the domestic goose was in the earliest ages, (dating with respect to man,) exactly what it is now. The very same arguments that are used to show that the domesticated goose is a combination of the “grey-legged,” (Anser palustris,) ‘ white-front- ed,” or ‘laughing goose,” (A. albifrons,) and “ bean goose,” (A. ferws,) would equally prove that the Anglo- Saxon race of men is derived from a mixture of the Red Indian, the Yellow Chinese, and the tawny Moor. But the supposition that all our domesticated crea- tures must necessarily have an existing wild original, is a mere assumption ; and it has misled, and is likely to mislead, investigators, as far from the truth as did the old notion about fossil organic remains, that they were Lithoschemata, as Aldrovandi has it, sketches in stone, abortive efforts of Nature, imperfect embryos, instead of fragmentary ruins of a former state of things. Some naturalists seem already to have had misgivings that such a theory respecting domestic animals is not tenable. According to popular opinion, the domestic goose is usually considereé 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! The origin of the domestic goose is indeed unknown if we look to man, or his influence, to have originated so valuable and peculiar a species; but not unknown if we believe it to have been created by the same Al- mighty Power who animated the Mammoth, the Plesi- Osaurus, the Dinornis, and the Dodo, For let us grant that the grey-legged goose is the most probable exist- ing parent to the domestic sort. Now, even that is becoming a rare bird; and the more scarce a creature is in a wild state, the scarcer it is likely still to be- 212 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. come. Suppose the grey-legged goose extinct ; by no means an impossibility. Then those who must have a wild original from which to derive all our domestic animals would be compelled to fall back on some other species still less probable. It is surely a simpler theory to suppose that creatures that were cotemporary with the mammoth, have, like it, disappeared from the earth in their wild state, but have survived as depen- dents on man, than to engage in attempts at reconcil- ing incongruities and discrepancies, which, after all, cannot satisfy the mind, but leave it in as doubtful a state as ever. Still less is the “‘ white-fronted,” the ancestor of the domestic goose. Entirely white specimens of the Anas albifrons are indeed occasionally hatched in con- 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 China goose (A. cygnoides) ; but these are mere im- purities which wear out, and the race returns to the well-known domestic type. And it will be allowed by most persons who have possessed a variety of these birds, and who have watched and 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 6t 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 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 213 of such an assertion? Domestication has not yet in- duced the pigeon nor the Guinea fowl to consort with more than one partner, and the swan, called ‘“ domes- tic,” by some writers, remains obstinately and even fiercely faithful in its attachments. THE DQMESTIC GOOSE. Synonyvmes.—Anser palustris (?.,) of Naturalists ; Gie commune, of the French ; Gemeine Gans, 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 ‘“‘ Hmbden 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, influences their future size and development. After allowing for these causes of diver- sity, it will be found that the domestic goose consti- tutes only one species or permanent variety. 214 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. o RANGE AND DOMESTIC ACCOMMODATION. Wirx respect to the range and domestic accomnda- tion of geese, they require a dormitory apart from othar fowls similar to the one shown at p. 203 for the tame duck, or the rustic poultry house at p. 86, and a green pasture, or common, with a convenient pond or stream of water attached. Mascall, following Columella, directs as most proper for geese to ‘‘have a large court, close paled or walled, of nyne foot hye, that no vermin may enter, and all about within the same to make alleys and galleries, with partitions and chambers for one alone to sleep in and over the same, to set your house for ‘them, made strong with stone 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 havecause. Then, if there be not a ponde or river nye unto them, and to the house yee must then make one, else to seeke their water farre off, which is not good, for geese that sitte must have water to bathe them when they rise from their neast, or else, as some say, their egges will not prosper. If there be no water, must make a ponde, clay it in the bottom for the water to remain; and make it some- what deep, that they may plunge therein ; for a say- ing is, a goose will not live withoute bathing and ‘washing her often, no more than a beast without pas- ture.” | ‘All men,” says Markham, ‘must understand, that, except he have either pond or streame, 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 fhe same lodge, with roofs and partitions to separate them, never THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 215 allowing more than eight under one roof. All damp must be avoided, for geese at all times are fond of a clean, dry place to sleep in, however much they may like toswim in water. It is not a good method to keep geese with other poultry ; for when confined in the poultry yard, they become very pugnacious, and will very much harrass the hens and turkeys. Columella advises to pasture geese in marshy or moist ground, and to sow for them vetches or tares, mellilot, clover, and fenugreek, but more particularly chiccory, and lettuce, of which, he says, they are very fond. , ‘‘ Grasse, 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, forma united band, and thus distinct groups herd together, bound by the ties of habit. PAIRING, Ir was ascertained by 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 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. two, and even by three, includiug the common father, no disturbance nor disputes occur, the pairing taking place without any noise, and no doubt by mutual choice. Besides the common father, he left two of the young ganders unprovided with female companions ; but the couples which had paired, kept constantly to- gether, and the three single ganders did not, during temporary separations of the males and females, 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 ; wherefore, nourish as few blacke geese as ye may, for their flesh is not so good, being much dryer.” And again: ‘‘ They are better to be all white than grey, or mixte with two colors, and the blacke color is worste of all, and of leaste goodnesse.”’ LAYING. Wuen 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 ro- 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 GOOSE. 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 shee be nye laying, yee shall feele the end of her egge harde at her vent. Then shutte her up, and put her alone in a neast till she have layd, so she will seeke that place agayne to lay.” It is an essential precaution, M. Parmentier says, as soon as it is perceived that geese want to lay, to coop them up under their roof, where nests made of straw have been previously prepared. If they can ance be induced to lay in this nest, they will continue to do so till their number of eggs is completed. In order to have early goslings, geese should be brought to lay early by keeping them in a warm, clean place, and feeding them on stimulant food. INCUBATION. Wen a goose is observed to keep her nest longer than usual, after laying an egg, it is a pretty sure in- dication that she is desirous of sitting. The nest for hatching should be made of clean straw, lined with hay, and from fourteen to eighteen eggs will be as many as a large goose can conveniently cover. Dur- ing the period of incubation, the gander is very atten- tive to his favorite, sits by her, and is vigilant and daring in her defence. The goose sits about one month, and requires to have food and water placed near her, that she may not be so long absent as to allow the eggs to cool, which might cause her to abandon her task. It is the prac- tice of some to put vinegar in the water, and of others to lift them off the nests to make them drink, but neither of these is necessary. It is an economical way of getting a great number of goslings, to employ turkey hens to hatch. The 10 214 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. common fowl has been equally praised for filling this important function ; but the eggs of the goose being very large, and their shell very hard, a hen is not bulky enough to hatch more than eight or ten, even if we employ the Cochin-China, or great Malay. The tur- key hen, therefore, deserves to be preferred, because she can hatch twelve or fifteen. This function of the goose being thus filled by another, she is not kept from laying, and yields eggs in great abundance. Tn the environs of Toulouse, in France, where many hybrid geese are reared, increasing with the common duck and the large musk duck, they give the eggs to the common fowl to hatch; and to these are added two or three of the large-sized goose eggs. The hy- brid bird from this crossing conducts the goslings in a superior manner, and always walks at their head. CARE OF THE GOSLINGS. Lie 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 DOMESTIC GOOSE, 219 defend themselves against any hostile attack, to which new-comers are usually exposed. ‘T'o 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. Geese may be fattened at two different periods of their lives, in the young state, when they are termed ‘‘ oreen geese,” and after they have attained their full growth. The methods at each period are very nearly the same. ; The writer of the article on poultry, in Baxter’s “Library of Agriculture,” recommends steamed po- tatoes, with a gallon of buckwheat or ground oats to the bushel, mashed up with the potatoes, and given warm. This, it is said, will render geese, cooped in a dark, quiet, cool place, fat enough in three weeks. M. Parmentier gives very copious details of the French methods of fattening. The whole process, he says, consists in plucking the feathers from under the belly ; in giving them abundance of food and drink, and in cooping them up more closely than is practised with common fowls, cleanliness and quiet being, above all, indispensable. The best time is in the month of November, or when the cold weather begins to set in; if it is longer delayed, the paring season approaches, and prevents them from becoming fat. When there are not many geese to fatten, they are put into a cask with holes bored in it, through which they may thrust their heads to feed ; and being natur- 220 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE, ally voracious, the love of food is greater than the love of liberty, and they fatten rapidly. The food consists of a paste, made of buckwheat, barley or Indian meal, with milk and boiled potatoes. In Poland, a similar method is practised, the goose being put in an earthen pot without a bottom, and of a size not to allow the bird to move. Similar food as that just mentioned is given in abundance, and the pot is so placed that the dung may not remain 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 off. As soon as this 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 off 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 at the same THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 221 time given to the geese to drink, and must always be left near them, as the cramming renders them very thirsty. A woman who is dexterous will cram ten geese in an hour. In less than a month, a goose may, in this way, be fattened to an enormous bulk. In Belgium, a lean goose is confined in a small coop made of fir, narrow enough to prevent it from turning, while there is a place behind for passing the dung, and another in front to let out the head. 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 fora 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 be choaked with fat, and die. By this process, the liver of the goose is increased so much, that it will weigh from one to two pounds, and will besides yield about three ounces of fat, which is much employed in French cookery for dressing legumes, &c. Among six geese, the fatteners commonly succeed with no more than four, and these generally the young- est. The Romans, who were fond of enlarged goose livers, were very careful to keep them quiet and in the dark. In some places on the continent, they nailed their feet to a board, burnt out their eyes with a hot iron, and kept them before a large fire, allowing them, however, as much water as they chose to drink ; but these barbarous practices are now seldom resorted to. M. Viéle, 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. Synonymers.—Anser cygnoides, Anus cygnoides, Cygnus sinensis, of Naturalists, L’oie de Guinée, of Buffon; Oie de Chine, of the French; Chinesische Gans, Gans von Guinea, of the Germans ; Ganso de China, « Gunso de Guinea, Ganso de cisne, of the Spaniards ; China Goose, Hong- Kong Goose, Swan Goose, Chinese Swan, Guinea Goose, Spunish Goose, ‘African Goose, and a host of other names, of the English and Anglo- Americans Tuere 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 mmates. “Don Juan José 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 allowed to claim a place among the THE CHINA GOOSE. 223 natives of any one region; and like many others fur- nished with a variety of aliases, it ends by being alto- gether excluded from society. The old writers call it the Guinea goose, for the excellent reason, as Willughby hints, that in his time it was the fashion to apply the epithet “ Guinea” to every- thing of foreign and uncertain origin. Thus, what at this day is erroneously called the “ Muscovy duck,” was then called the “Guinea duck.” Not long back, it was common to refer every strange or new object to a French source. “Spanish goose” is another title, pro- bably as appropriate as Guinea goose. Bewick has THE CHINA GOOSE. given an admiral wood cut of this bird, but he has evi- dently selected the gander, which is taller and more erect than the female, though to both may be applied Wil- lughby’s description, “a stately bird, walking with its head and neck decently erected.” Bewick calls it the “swan goose.” The tubercle at the base of the bill, the unusual length of neck, and its graceful carriage in the water, give it some claim to relationship with the aris- tocracy of lake and river. Cuvier goes further, calls it at once Cygnus sinensis, (Chinese swan,) and says that 224 THE CHINA GOOSE. this and the Canada goose cannot be separated from the true swans. A goose, however, it decidedly is, as is clear from its terrestrial habits, its powerful bill, its thorny tongue, and its diet of grass. There is something in the aspect of this creature, the dark-brown stripe down its neck, its small bright eye, its harsh voice, its ceremonious strut, and its affectation ot seldom being in a hurry, which seem to say that it came from China. It would perfectly harmonise in a picture of Chinese still life; or in a Chinese garden, with artifi- cially-arranged rocks, dwarf trees, crooked trellises, and zigzag pathways; or, in a more extended landscape, it would group well on a broad river, beside a boat filled with shaven fishermen, with their trained cormorants and pig-tailed children. If it does come from China, it has no doubt been domesticated for many hundred years, perhaps as long as the peacock or common fowl. An evident proof of this is the large number of eggs they may be made to lay by an increased supply of nourish- ing food. This is very different from the disposition to “lay everlastingly,” as seen in the Guinea fowl, and some varieties of the domestic hen—-the black Spanish, for instance,—because the China goose does, in the end, feel a strong desire to incubate as soon as her protracted laying is done, whereas entire exemption from the hatching fever is the great merit of the “everlasting layers.” Ifliberally furnished with oats, boiled rice, &c., the China goose will, in the spring, lay from twenty to thirty eggs before she ‘begins to sit, and again in the autumn, after her moult, from ten to fifteen more. It is not, as in the Guinea fowl, a spontaneous flow of eggs, for which the ordinary diet of the creature is 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 73 oz., or nearly half a pound. Double- yolked eggs are very rare, except among birds that have been long domesticated. Another proof is their deficient power of flight com- THE CHINA GOOSE. 225 pared with the rest of their congeners, owing to the larger proportionate size of their bodies. The common domestic goose flies much more strongly than her sister from China. Indeed, of all geese, these are the worst flyers. There is no occasion to pinion them. While the Canada goose thinks little of a journey from the north pole, or thereabouts, to Carolina; while the Egyptian goose pays an occasional visit from Africa to Great Britain, while the merry little laughing goose, if tamed and allowed the use of its wings, is almost as much at ease in the air as a pigeon, the China goose, to get out of the way of a frisky spaniel can hardly manage to flutter across a lawn. Said the tame goose to the wild one, “ On such a day, I shall fly away.” The wild goose replied to the tame one, “On such a day, I shall fly away, too, if it be the will of Allah.” At-the appointed time, the wild goose performed her annual migration ; the tame one remained, and cannot fly to this day. If China, instead of Egypt, had given rise to the above fable, we should believe that the Anas cygndides was the vain-boastful bird. The prevailing color of the plumage of the China goose is a brown, which has aptly.been compared to the color of wheat. The different shades are very har- moniously blended, and are well relieved by the black tuberculated bill, and the pure white of the abdomen. Their movements on the water are graceful and swan- like. It is delightful to see’ them on a fine day in spring lashing the water, diving, rolling over through mere fun, and playing all sorts of antics. Slight variations occur in the color of the feet and legs, some having them of a dull-orange, others black; a delicate fringe of minute white feathers is occasionally seen at the base of the bill. These peculiarities are hereditarily transmitted, but do not amount to more than mere varieties. The male is almust as much disproportionately larger than the female as the musk drake is in comparison with his mate. He is much inclined to libertine wanderings, without, however, neglecting to pay proper attention at home. If there is any other gander on the same pre- mises, they are sure to disagree; one of the two had 10* 226 THE CHINA GOOSE. better be got rid of. Both male and female are, perhaps, the most noisy of all geese; at night, the least footfall or motion in their neighborhood is sufficient to call forth their clanging and resonant trumpetings. This, to a lone country house, is an advantage and a protection. Any fowl stealer would be stunned with their din before he captured them alive, and the family must be deaf indeed that could sleep on through the alarm thus given. But by day it becomes a nuisance to the majority of hearers, and has caused them to be relinquished by many ama- teurs. One is inclined to address them as O’Connell did the uproarious fellow who was interrupting his speech, “I wish you had a hot potato in your mouth.” BREEDING AND REARING. Tue eggs of the China goose are somewhat less than those of the domestic kind, of a short oval, with a smooth thick shell, white, but slightly tinged with yellow at the smaller end. The goslings, when first hatched, are usu- ally very strong. They are of a dirty-green, like the color produced by mixing Indian ink and yellow ochre, with darker patches here and there. The legs and feet are lead color, but afterwards change to a dull-red._ If there is anything like good pasturage for them, they requir no further attention than what their parents will afford them. After a time, a little grain will strengthen and forward them. If well fed, they come to maturity very rapidly. In between three and four months from the time of their leaving the shell, they will be full-grown and ready for the spit. They do not bear being shut up to fatten so well as common geese, and therefore those destined for the table are the better for profuse hand- feeding. Their flesh is well-flavored, short and tender ; their eggs are excellent for cooking purposes. Hybrids between them and the common goose are prolific; the second and third cross is much prized by some English farmers, particularly for their ganders; and in many flocks, the blood of the China goose may often be traced by the more erect gait of the birds, accompanied by a faint stripe down the back of the neck. With the THE CHINA GOOSE. 227 laughing, or white-fronted goose, they also breed freely. The large number of eggs laid by these birds has led some persons to imagine that, like Guinea fowls, they were inexhaustible, so that, when at last the goose did make her nest in earnest, (which may be known by her mixing her own down with the straw,) no eggs had been reserved for the poor thing to sit upon. The best plan is to date the eggs with a pencil as they are laid, and * consume only those which are more than three weeks old. They are usually very late with their broods, but will rear them well enough if they are allowed to take their own time, and do it after theirown manner. Their period of incubation is five weeks. They are steady sitters when they_once begin in earnest, and exemplary parents. The goose, on leaving her nest to feed, covers her eggs carefully. Any difficulty in rearing them results from want of proper management. If, for in- stance, when the bird does at length sit, she is insuffi- ciently supplied with eggs, or with those which have been kept too long; or if she be permitted to be dis- turbed by dogs, &c.; if she be suffered to steal a nest, and sit on more than see can cover—things will go wrong. The great number of eggs Jaid may perhaps cause an uncertainty that each one is properly fecun- dated. THE WHITE, CHINA GOOSE. ‘‘ Manas he extends his dominion over earth and ocean, is gener- ally a Destroyer, occasionally an Enslaver, and so fara Protector ; hence, sometimes, even a Selecter and Improver, but never a Creator. Dixon. ‘‘ Hvery like is not the same,” is a principle that is beginning more and more to influence the reasonings of zoologists, and to effect their conclusions with re- spect to wild animals. But, according to the prevailing opinion with domestic ones, a diametrically opposite axiom would seem to hold; as the latter are described and catalogued apparently on the rule that ‘ Things may be unlike, and yet the same.” The various kinds of domestic fowls are supposed to be “ varieties”—by which, it is presumed, is meant transmutable, or at least, transmuted forms—of one, or at most, two or three wild originals; and the history of the common domestic goose is quietly settled by considering it as the result of a fusion of three or four different species melted and mixed into one. Believe it! those who may, and classify it with the marvellous story of the “‘bernicle goose originating from a worm engendered in the sea from rotten wood !” But, before finally determining to fix the appellation of species, or variety, to any particular race of animals, it will be necessary first to settle the question of what is meant by the terms Genus, Species, and Variety. They are all understood to denote certain degrees of THE WHITE, CHINA GOOSE. 229 difference, that are made use of to assist in classifica- tion ; but the precise lines of demarcation of each are extremely difficult to define. It is generally assumed that individuals of different genera will refuse to breed together ; that the mules between different species are sterile ; and that varieties are merely accidental, and recent instances of a slight alteration in the external character of species, which do not affect their contin- uance as a race, and, perhaps, disappear altogether after a time. But in opposition to this, hybrids have been produced between the Egyptian -goose and the penguin duck, also between the common fowl and the Guinea fowl, the siskin and the Canary bird; prolific mules are constantly occurring between all sorts of species of geese; and it is well and practically known, that though varieties breed freely with each other, nothing is so difficult as to establish a cross that shall be a perfect amalgamation of two distinct varieties. Even individual peculiarities are reproduced in the course of generations. For, some breeders of great experience firmly maintain that white pea fowls are not a mere accidental variety of the common kind, but a distinct sort; asserting that the cases, in which white birds are produced from colored parents, are only a breaking out of mixed blood, the “‘ crying back,’ in fact, to a cross some generations past. The white pea fowls are certainly of inferior size, and in their pro- portions bear more resemblance to the Japan breed than to the true Pavo cristatus. In truth, species and varieties differ only in degree. If we admit that the latter are merely recent changes of organization, we cannot refuse to allow that the former are so likewise; and thence proceeding back- wards, we must apply the same view to genera and classes, till we arrive at last at the theory of the de- velopment of all animated beings from Monads, as advocated by Lamarck, and more recently by the au- thor of the ‘“ Vestiges of Creation,” Thisis one mode of explaining the diversity wf Nature ; the other is by 230 THE WHITE, CHINA GOOSE. supposing that animals were originally created as we now see them, and that any apparent gaps in the chain or network are caused by the extinction of certain races, not by the uprising of new forms into existence, since the creation of man, at least. Besides, we have records of modern exterminations successively going on, from the Christian era to the present day. No undisputed record, however, is to be found of the sud- den emergency into life of a new tribe of creatures, Foreign introductions there have been, but nothing more, that there is any affirmative evidence to prove. [ am conscious that I may be contradicted by such in- stances as the New-Leicester sheep, and the very re- markable rabbits that are now kept in a state of domestication ; but Mr. Bakewell is asserted to have studiously concealed and destroyed every trace of the means by which he established his breed,” and the secrets of the “rabbit fancy” are as likely to be made available to the elucidation of natural history, as are the Eleusinian Mysteries. But so long as our com- mercial relations continue as widely extended as they are at present, the sudden and. unexplained appear- ance of any living novelty in Kurope or in this country, is by no means of necessity its first appearance on any stage. It may be as old as the hills—not a sudden drop from the clouds in these latter days, nor recently compounded, like Frankenstein’s monster, from the members of defunct creatures, not yet electrified into life in a pickle jar, like Mr. Cross’ mites. Milton’s noble lines, though true at the Creation, are no longer applicable— sent idee today pore They summed enole bond; aud, tearing their subtime, Srerseie tate wank tamiatanas ee Llantan aad tallegooen Sead ake Bond up Tose, SON Arist ihely If such views be correct, it will follow that thosé who are searching for the wild originals of many of THE WHITE, CHINA GOOSE. 231 our domestic animals, are altogether pursuing a wrong scent. They might just as well search for the wild original of the Mammoth or the Dodo. It is an as- sumption, unsupported by any proof, to fix upon the wild creature that nearest resembles any given tame one, and say, “Here is the wild original; the dif- ferences which we see, have been produced by time and domestication ;” or, if there is nothing wild com- ing within a moderate approach to it, to say, as of the common goose, “‘ it is a combination of three or four other species.” This is surely not philosophical reasoning ; it is a begging of the question which would not be admitted in the exact sciences. What a daring leap at a conclusion it is, to get from the Asiatic ar- gali, the American argali, or the Corsican mouflon, any or all of them, to the sheep, at a single vault! Such ratiocination is like the knight’s move on the chess board, hither and thither, but never straight forward. Nor has the wide gulf between cocks and hens and the jungle fowls been as yet bridged over by any isthmus to me visible. The principle here sought to be indicated as a guide for future research is, that existing varieties and species which cannot be exactly identified in a wild state, are, in all probability, the remains of extinct races, the fragments of a ruin, and not newly-raised ‘ seedlings,” the modern sports and freaks of Nature. ; And now to the white, China goose, about whose lineage, the reader, it is hoped, by this time, is inter- ested. It was brought into notice, a few years since, by Mr. Alfred Whitaker, of Beckington, in Somerset, England, who speaks of it in the following words :-— ‘The white, China goose is of a spotless, pure white— more swan-like than the brown variety, with a bright orange-colored bill, and a large orange-colored knob at its base. It is a particularly beautiful bird, either in or out of the water, its neck being long, slender, and gracefully arched when swimming. It breeds three or four times in a season, but I was not successfnl 232 THE WHITE, CHINA GOOSE. with them, owing, as I fancied, to my having no wa- ter for them, except a rapid running stream. A quiet lake, I believe to be more to their taste, and more con- ducive to the fecundity of the eggs. I believe my birds are still in the neighborhood, as I lent them to a farmer to try his luck with them. The egg is quite small for the size of the bird, being not more than half the size of that of the common goose. This bird de- serves to rank in the first class of ornamental poultry, and would be very prolific under favorable circumstan- ces. You will see both varieties of brown and white, China geese on the water in St. James’s Park. My geese were from imported parents, and were ‘hatched on board ship from China.” These geese, it is stated, formerly existed in the aviaries of the London Zoological Society, and were there considered in the light of a variety of the Anser cygndides; but the head keeper of that establishment speaks most decidedly of his experience of the perma- nence, not only of this variety, but also of that of the dark-legged sorts of the brown kind, thus indicating three races, which, I repeat, would be considered as species were they now discovered for the first time. Mr. Dixon, in speaking of these birds, says, ‘They are larger than the brown, China geese, apparently more terrestrial in their habits; the knob on the head is not only of greater proportions, but of a different shape. Ifthey were only what is commonly meant by’a variety of the dark sort, it is a question whether the bill would not retain its original jetty black, whatever change occurred to the feet and legs, instead of assuming a brilliant orange hue. If the bird were an albino, the bill would be flesh-colored, and the eyes would be pink, not blue.” Mr. Knight, of Frome, England, in whose possession they had been for three years, states that he has been unable to obtain any young from the eggs of the goose, but if he supplies her with eggs of the common goose, she invariably hatches and rears the goslings. Separ- ’ THE WHITE, CIINA GOOSE. 233 ate trials of each of the pair with the common goose and gander have been made by him unsuccessfully, although the white, China goose lays four times in the year. Another gentleman, who also had a pair of tho same lot, from China, says, ‘I had one good brood from the young pair which I kept, but since that, they have bred so badly that I have parted with the females and kept a male bird, and now get very good broods. My friends, to whom I have given young birds from my pair, also complain. The geese sit remarkably well, never showing themselves out of the nest by day, but whether they may leave the-nests too long in the cold of the night, I cannot tell. The time of incuba- tion I consider to be about four weeks and three days. The young birds of the crossed breed, in appearance, follow the mother, the common English goose, but they do remarkably well.” 1 THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. NATURAL HISTORY. Every portion of it, (the young of the wild goose bred in the inland districts, and procured in September,) is useful to Man; for besides the value of the flesh, as an article of food, the fea- thers, the quills, and the fat, are held in request, P AUDUBON, Tue history of the “Canada” or “ wild goose,” as it is usually called, both in a state of nature and in cap- tivity, has been so well and so fully delineated by the ablest ornithologists of Europe, as well as of this country, that for me to attempt giving complete details respecting it, would be either to restate the same facts in less ap- propriate language, perhaps, or to draw too liberally from the stores.of those who have written before me ; yet, this bird is by far too important, in every respect, to be entirely omitted in the present series ; and there are a few points respecting it which ought.to be brought into more prominent notice. Most writers on poultry call it a variety of the common goose. But it is no more a variety of goose than the swan is a variety of goose. Cuvier seems to doubt whether it is a goose at all, and says that it cannot be properly separated from the true swans. Audubon kept some three years, and though the old birds refused to breed in confinement, their young, which he had captured together with them, did. He states their period of incubation to be twenty-eight THE AMERICAN WILI GOOSE. 235 days, which is a shorter time than one would have imagined. That circumstance alone, if correct, marks a wide distinction. At a future time, probably, our scientific naturalists will deem it advisable to institute several new genera, for the reception of various water fowls, that are now huddled into one or two; particu- larly if they allow the diet and habits of the birds, as well as their external form, to influence the rules of classification. In a state of nature, the Canada goose eats worms and soft insects, as well as grass and aquatic plants, which the typical, or geese proper, never do. In a domestic or confined state, they do not breed till they are at least two years old, and so far approach the swan, like which, also, the male appears to be fit for reproduc- tion earlier than the female. But Audubon says, “ That this tardiness is not the case in the wild state, I feel pretty confident; for I have observed, having broods of their own, many individuals, which, by their size, the dullness of their plumage, and such other marks as are known to the practised ornithologist, I judged to be not more than fifteen or sixteen months old. I have, there- fore, thought that in this, as in many other species, a long series of years is necessary for counteracting the original wild and free nature which has been given them; and indeed, it seems probable that our attempts to domesti- cate many species of wild fowls, which would prove useful to mankind, have often been abandoned in despair, when afew years more of constant care might have produced the desired effect.” The Canada goose, in spite of its original migratory habits, which it appears in almost every case to forget in a reclaimed state, shows much more disposition for true domestication than the swan, and may be maintained in perfect health’ with very limited opportunities of bathing. The manner in which these birds are usually kept in Europe and this country, is neither consistent with their natural habits, nor calculated to develope their useful- ness and merit. They are mostly retained as orna- ments to large parks or inclosures, where there is an 236 THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. extensive range of grass and water; so far all is as it should be. But they are there generally associated with other species of geese and water fowls, all being of a sociable disposition, and forming one heterogeneous flock. In the breeding season, they neither can agree among themselves to differ seriously, nor yet live together in peace; the consequence is, that they inter- rupt each other’s love-making, keep up a constant bickering, without coming to the decisive quarrels and battles that would set all right; and in the end, we have birds without mates, eggs unfertilised, and now-and then a few monstrous hybrids, which, however much some curious persons may prize them, are as ugly as they are un- natural, and by no means recompense by their rarity for the absence of two or three broods of healthy legitimate goslings. Many writers speak highly of the half-bred Canada goose. They are very large, it is true, and mav merit approbation on the table; but with whatever other species the cross is made, they are hideously dis- pleasing. 7 The facility with which the Canada goose, captured wild, is tamed, while yet it retains a “trick of the old nature,” is well exemplified in a story related by Wilson, on the authority of a correspondent for whose veracity he avouches; which story, he observes, is paralleled by others of the same import. “Mr. Platt, a respectable farmer on Long Island, being out shooting in one of the bays, which, in that part of the country, abound with water fowl, wounded a wild goose. Being wing-tipped and unable to fly, he caught it and brought it home alive. It proved to be a female, and turning it into his yard with a flock of tame geese, it soon became quite tame and familiar, and in a little time its wounded wing entirely healed. In the following spring, when the wild eese migrated to the northward, a flock passed over Mr. latt’s barn yard, and just at that moment, their leader happening to sound his bugle'note, our goose, in whom its new habits and enjoyments had not quite extinguished the love of liberty, remembering the well-known sound, spread its wings, moved in the air, ‘joined the travellers, and soon disappeared. In the succeeding autumn, the . THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. 237 wild geese, as was usual, returned from the northward in great numbers to pass the winter in our bays and rivers. Mr. Platt happened to be standing in his yard when a flock passed directly over his barn. At that instant, he observed three geese detach themselves from the rest, and, after wheeling round several times, alight in the middle of the yard. Imagine his surprise and pleasure, when, by certain well-remembered signs, he recognised in one of the three his long-lost fugitive. It was she indeed! She had travelled many hundred miles to the lakes, had there hatched and reared her offspring, and had now returned with her little family to share vith them the sweets of civilized life!” z * Voie THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. SynonymMzs.—Anser canadensis, of Naturalists; Oie du Canada, of the French ; Canadische Gans, of the Germans ; Ansa de Canada, /nsa sil- vestre americana, of the Spaniards; Wild Goose, Canada Goose, of the English and Anglo-Americans. The Canada goose is a beautiful species. The head, two thirds of the neck, the greater quills, the rump, and tail, are pitch-black ; the back and wings broccoli-brown edged with wood-brown ; the base of the neck anteriorly, and the under plumage generally, brownish-grey ; a few white feathers are scattered about the eye, and a white cravat, of a kidney shape, forms a conspicuous mark on the throat; upper and under tail coverts, pure white ; bill and feet black. 238 THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. GEOGRAPHIOAL DISTRIBUTION. Tus American wild geese, in a state of nature, make their semi-annual migrations from the north to the south, and vice versa, which are sure signals of the approach of winter, or a returning spring. The tracts of their vast migratory journeys are not confined to the sea coast nor its vicinity, for in their aérial voyages to and from the north, these birds pass over the interior on both sides of the mountains, as far west at least as the Osage River. “Ihavenever,’ says Wilson, “yet visited any quarter of the country where the inhabitants are not familiarly acquainted with the regular passing and repassing of the wild geese.” It is an opinion with many that they visit the lakes to breed. Most, however, it would appear, wing their way much farther north- ward; for, from the Canadian lakes, they migrate to still higher latitudes on the setting in of spring. Hearne saw them in large flocks within the arctic circle, push- ing their way still northward. Captain Phipps observed them on the coast of Spitzbergen in latitude 80° 27'N. Audubon found them breeding on the coast of Labrador, and states that the eggs, six or seven in number, of a greenish white, are deposited in a roughly-made nest. Bonaparte states that they breed everywhere through- out the Hudson’s Bay Territory, and have been observed in the middle of July on the Coppermine River, not far from its debouchure, accompanied by their newly- hatched young. The destruction of the Canada geese during their migrations isenormous; the autumnal flight lasts from the middle of August to the middle of November. Those which are taken in this season, when the frosts begin, are preserved in their feathers, and left to be frozen for the fresh provisions of the winter stock. The feathers constitute an article of commerce, and are sent to England. The vernal flight of these geese lasts from the middle of April until the middle of May. Their arrival in the fur countries, from the south, is impatiently expected ; it is the harbinger of spring, and the month is named by the Indians the “ goose moon.” THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. 239 About three weeks after their first appearance, the Canada geese disperse in pairs throughout the country, between the 50th and 67th parallels, to breed, retiring at the same time from the shores of Hudson’s Bay. They are seldom or never seen on the cousts of the Arctic Sea. In July, after the young birds are hatched, the parents moult, and vast numbers are killed in the rivers and lakes, when, (from the loss of their quill feathers,) they are unable to fly. When chased by a canoe, and obliged to dive frequently, they soon become fatigued, and make for the shore with the intention of hiding themselves, but as they are not fleet they fall an easy prey to their pursuers. In the autumn, they again assemble in flocks on the shores of Hudson’s Bay, for three weeks or a month previous to their departure southwards. The flight of this species is laborious and heavy, and generally in single file, or in the form of two sides of a triangle, the leader, some old gander, being the apical bird. From time to time this leader utters his deep “honk,” which is responded to by the rest of the flock, and which may be translated, “ What cheer, ho!” “ All’s well!” Very often, however, all is not well, for the line is scattered by the withering fire of the gunner; often, . too, they meet with dense fogs in which they become bewildered, and after wheeling about alight on the ground, where the unerring rifleman gives them a warm reception. In some districts, the sportsmen take ‘with them into the marshes one or two of the domes- ticated race, which, by their call note, attract the flocks passing over head, and allure them to des- truction. Wilson says, that, except in calm weather, the flocks of Canada geese rarely sleep on the water, generally preferring to roost all night in the marshes. When the shallow bays are frozen, they seek the mouths of inlets near the sea, occasionally visiting the air or breathing holes in the ice; but these bays are seldom so com- pletely frozen as to prevent their feeding on the bars at the entrance 240 THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. a PAIRING, BREEDING, AND.MANAGEMENT. In the month of November, it is recommended that every flock of wild geese be reduced to two pairs, (or at least three pairs,) in order to guard against accidents to one. Such birds should be retained, as differ as much, in age, as may be consistent with their breeding powers ; and also, if possible, those should be selected which have been observed to entertain a mutual dislike, in order that they may fix their nests at a distance from each other. They should previously have become attached to their keeper, though not to their co-mates, that they may suffer him to approach and feed them and their goslings liberally, and so bring them into thoroughly good con- dition by killing time. The stock bird ought to be well supplied with grain or Indian corn during winter, when the grass grows little or not at all, to promote early laying; but they usually have a few kernels of barley or maize thrown down to them now and then. No one can blame them, if they occasionally stray out of bounds in search of food ; but they are then accused of restlessness, shyness, and so on. It is no migratory impulse that sets them on the move, but over-crowding and under-feeding ; in proof of which, they will generally return of their own accord. I am speaking of birds that have been bred in captivity for several generations. Give them room and food enough, and they will stay contentedly athome. Curtail their sup- plies, and they become like “darkness,” in Spoffoth’s well- known glee; “ flies away” is ever and again the burden of their song. The Canada goose is a very large bird, and cannot be expected to live and get fat upon air. If a farmer’s wife were to treat her turkeys as the Canada goslings are .usually served, they would at Christmas be just as tough, stringy, and uneatable, if indeed they survived the pinching regimen so long. The growing goslings must sensibly miss the abundance of their native breeding places, when confined to these short commons; and it isnot just in us, after such negleet and penurious- ness on our part, to complain that they neither fat well nor reproduce at an early age. THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. 241 From each pair of geese, properly looked after, be- tween six and nine goslings may fairly be calculated upon; which, killed in the autumn, when really plump, would be very acceptable at home, or as presents to unprejudiced persons. Managed thus, they would be little, or, according to Audubon, not at all inferior to a fatted cygnet. And their picturesque effect, as acces- saries in landscape gardening, would surely be greater in distinct uniformly-tinted groups, moving here and there across the scene with a decided object, namely, the conducting of their young, than as a motley crowd of diversely-colored, variously-shaped creatures, huddled together in unmeaning confusion. The woodland park should be stocked on different principles to the aviary and the menagerie. Thus it is, as a spot of pure white, that the swan gives such a sparkling brilliancy to the picture ; and the point of deepest shade, (an adjunct of no less importance to the painter,) may be made more intense and effective by the judicious employment of the Canada goose. When a pair are received from a distance, the best way of settling them in their new abode is to confine them with hurdles and netting, as near as possible to the spot where it is wished they should eventually make their nest. Those from the hands of dealers will generally be cowed or timidly tame; but young birds fresh taken from their parents, or adult ones that have been removed from their old home .to a new one, will sulk and be shy. For the first few hours, they need have nothing to eat, only plenty of water to drink. Their keeper should show himself to them, and speak to them kindly, as often as his leisure will permit ; when he guesses that they begin to feel the cravings of hunger, a small handful of grain may be thrown down to them, a cabbage or two, and half a dozen earth worms. It is, of course, supposed that they have been located on the grass. It is likely that, at first, they will not eat in the presence of a stranger; they may be left for an hour or so when, if they have availed themselves of his absence, he may give them a little more from time to time.. Pro- ceeding thus by kindness, familiarity, and very frequent 11 ~ 242 THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. visits, he will soon secure their confidence, and be able to form his own judgment when they may be suffered to range at large. The young are active, self-helping little things. Their down is of a dirty-grey, a color very difficult to describe, with darker patches here and there like the young of the China goose. Their bill, eyes, and legs are black. They give no trouble in rearing. The old ones lead them to the places where suitable food is to be obtained. The keeper, by a liberal supply of grain or Indian corn, can bring them forward for the table better than by shutting them up to fat; and before Christmas, the: pa- rents should be again alone in their domain. They will continue to increase in size and beauty for some years, and should have been pinioned at the first joint of the wing, reckoning from the tip, in the manner described for the swan; the young that are to be eaten had better remain unmutilated. Old birds, killed in the autumn, after they have recovered from moulting, and before they have begun to think about the breeding time, would make excellent meat if cut into small portions, stewed slowly five or six hours with savory condiments, and made into pies the next day. “’Tis the soup that makes the soldier,’ say the French. By roasting or broiling similar “joints,” we lose the large quantity of nutriment contained in the bones and cartilages, besides having to swallow tough, what we might easily maketender. The young, as well as the old, in some parts of this coun- try, are salted and“boiled ; they would. probably please most palates better, if cooked and served swan fashion. The young male has a frequent disposition tu neglect his own mate, and give himself up to unlicenced com- panionship. Mr. Dixon had one that deserted his partner, to her evident grief, and made most furious love to one of a flock of tame geese, separating her from the rest, nol permitting any other water bird to swim near her, stretching out his neck stiffly on a level with the water, opening his red-lined throat to its utmost extent, hissing, grunting, sighing, trumpeting, winking his bright, black eyes, tossing his head madly, and all kinds of folly. Mr. D. did not choose to nermit such conduct; but as often ‘TIME AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. 243 as he killed and roasted the object of his affections, the Canadian gander immediately selected another leman, in- variably the ugliest of the surviving females. One short, squat, rough-feathered, ill-marked goose, with a thick bill and a great grey topknot, was his special favorite. When the Michaelmas murders had extirpated the whole race he so admired, he returned reluctantly and coldly to his former love. ‘The best remedy in such a case is to divorce them at once, and exchange one out of the pair for another bird. A similar incident is related in the seventh volume of the “American Agriculturist,” by Col. Minot Thayer, of Braintree, Massachusetts, in the following words :—* A few years since, a neighbor of mine shot at a flock while passing to the south, wounded one in the wing, took him alive, and very soon domesticated him. Hesoon became very tame, and went with the other geese. I bought him, and kept him three years, and then mated him with an old native goose. They had several broods of young ones, and the old goose became very feeble; so much so, that she could not sit long enough to hatch out her eggs. [accordingly put them under another goose, where they did very well. In the fall of the year, I gave her away, and mated the wild gander with another. In the spring following, about six months after, I heard that the old goose had got better, and was in good health. She was brought home and put into my poultry yard. The wild gander and his new mate were at a distance of about eighty rods, in another pasture. As soon as the old goose was put into the yard, she made a loud noise, which the wild gander heard. He immediately left his new mate, and came down to the yard, recognised his old mate, entered into close conversation, and appeared extremely happy in seeing her again. His other mate followed him, and wished to join the party, but he ap- peared much offended, treated her with the greatest indifference, and drove her from him ‘ THE COMMON SWAN, NATURAL HISTORY. Emblem of modest grace, Of unaffected dignity and ease, Of pure and elegant simplicity, Evnosra, Tus swan, beyond all question, is the bird to place, as a finishing stroke of art, on the smooth lake which expands before ong mansions. It is perfectly needless, however delightful, to quote Milton and others, lauding the arched neck, the white wings, the oary feet, and soon. Its superb beauty is undeniable and acknowl- edged ; and, to borrow an apt, though homely meta- phor, I do not wish, if it can conveniently be avoided, in the present volume, ‘to thresh straw that has been thrice threshed before,” to repeat how lovely the swan is on the silver lake, ‘‘fleating double, swan and sha- dow ;” for I might thus run, scissors in hand, through the whole Corpus Poetarum ; my object being simply - to point out the chief features in their natural history, and the best mode of treating them. THE COMMON SWAN. 245 THE COMMON SWAN. Synonrmes.—Cygnus olor, ofNaturalists ; Cygne commun, Cygne muet, of the French; Gemeiner Sch , Stum Sel ,of the Germans; Cisne comun, Cisne mudo, of the Spamards; Swan, Common Swan, Mute Swan, Cob, (adult male,) Pen Bird, (adult female,) Cygnet, (young.) of the English and Anglo-Americans. Those who wish to make themselves acquainted with the habits and dispositions, as well as the mere figures and descriptions of animals, should know that all living creatures cannot be divided into two distinct ranks of wild and tame, but that there is a most per- plexing intermediate multitude, neither wild nor yet tameable, but usually spoken of as “familiar,” or ‘“‘half-domesticated,” a term without meaning, dodg- ing, like “squatters,” on the offskirts of human so- ciety, but determined never to enlist in the drilled and disciplined ranks, playing the game of “ off and on,” but always ending with the “off.” Such, among many others, are the partridge, rats and mice, and at a still greater distance, it is believed, is the whole genus of swans. 246 THE COMMON SWAN. Swans, then, are fere nature to all intents and purposes; yet, although capricious birds, wild in their very nature, like most living creatures, they have some attachment to place, yet they are called “tame swans,” ‘domestic swans, &c.; but never were epi- thets more inappropriate, unless we agree to say “‘ tame hyeena,” * tame wolf,” ‘tame rat,” ‘“ domestic pheasant,” ‘domestic swallow.” They will come to their keeper’s call, and take food from his hand ; they will keep at home, when they are completely prevented from ranging out of bounds abroad; so far are they tamed and domesticated, but no further, and never will be. To compare the relations which exist between them and man, with those by which we retain the gouse and the common fowl, is about as correct as to believe that the same temper and disposition influence the faithful dog and the wildest jackal of the wilder- ness. I put the case thus strongly, in order that it may be understood clearly. The comparisons may be a little exaggerated, but they will serve to raise the real truth into higher relief. The period of incubation is about forty days. _PAIRING. Lixe most domesticated animals, as before observed, swans have some attachment to place. The first, therefore, is to settle them, agreeably to their destined home. Old birds are less likely to be contented with a new abode, unless very distant from their former one. Cygnets may be procured every autumn ; if they have been put up to fat for some time so much the better, as they will the sooner become manageable, and content-with a small range. The disadvantage of having cygnets to begin swan keeping with, is, that they are less ornamental till they have attained their perfect plumage, and the proper orange color of the bill, and that they do not breed till their third year. Tt is not, however, generally known that the male is capable of increasing his kind a year earlier than the THE COMMON SWAN, 247 female, so that a brood may be obtained from an old’ hen, and a cock bird in his second year. In selecting a pair, the great thing is to make sure of having two birds of opposite sexes. ‘I'wo cock birds will not live together, and their mutual aversion would soon show that all was not right; but two hens will—which is the case also with pigeons. DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE MALE AND FEMALE. In selecting any water birds whose plumage is alike in both sexes, and which cannot, therefore, be distin- guished with certainty, the best rule is to see them in the water, and take that which swims deepest for the female ; and that which floats with greatest buoyancy for the male, remembering that, as a general rule, all creatures of the masculine gender have the largest lungs in proportion to their size. The neck of the cock swan is usually thicker. An experienced eye will, besides, detect a certain feminine gentleness and modesty in the one, and an alacrity and boldness in in the other, which is a tolerably safe guide, as well as an appropriate and becoming attribute to the creatures themselves. FEEDING, MANAGEMENT, ETC. Surposine the reader to have obtained two cygnets that are not mere friends, but actually husband and wife, he will recollect that those reserved for fatting are never pinioned, lest it should check their progress, and he will request the operation to be performed be- fore he has them home, in order that they may have the fewest possible disagreeable reminisences, connect- ed with the spot where they are to spend their lives. The amputation of the part of the wing, which corre- sponds to our hand, is quite sufficient to prevent the flight of the short-winged species, so far as migration is concerned, disfigures them less than the closer prun- ing, and still leaves them the means of escape from a 248 THE COMMON SWAN. dog, allows them now and then, in their gambols, to fancy they are free, and to enjoy a sort of half-run, half-fly, from the lawn into the water. Kindness, comfort, and good feeding must be employed to keep them at home as far as possible; but the loss of the last wing will not be enough to prevent their flight It is recommended that the female be pinioned at the wrist, the male at the elbow, trusting to their mutual attachment to keep the less-maimed bird from desert- ing her mate. But however it be done, let it be set about in a workmanlike manner; no chopping— no hacking—no hewing—nor butchering. Many cyg- nets are annually killed by the clumsy way in which their wing is lopped off. They suffer from the shock to their nervous system. Askillful operator will feel for the joint, divide the skin, and turn the bone neatly out of the socket. He should be allowed to shed just one drop of blood—no more. I would be as hard upon him as Portia was upon the flesh-cutting Jew— ; “This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; The words expressly are, a limb of swan , Take then thy bond, take thou thy limb of swan ; But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed a One drop of cygnine blood, thy elumsiness Shall brand the name of ‘ Bungler’ on thy back. Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the limb, Shed thou no blood ; nor cut thou less, nor more But just the very limb ; if thou tak’st more Or less, than just the limb, thou shalt bewail The consequence.” If any brook run into and from the pond where they are to remain, their escape through that channel must be prevented by netting, hurdles, pales, or other fencing, which should be continued some distance in- land, lest they should walk away, if they cannot swim away. This precaution will be found particularly necessary if there is any main stream in the immedi- ate neighborhood. A feeding trough may be fixed for them in the pond, in the part where it is most de- sirable that they should be accustomed to display them- selves, The trough must be placed in the pond on two firm posts, within arm’s length of the shore, raised high THE COMMON SWAN. 249 enough from the water to prevent ducks from stealing the food contained therein, having a cover which lifts up by hinges, and so forms a lid, to keep out rats, and open only in front. Many persons, however, feed their swans by simply throwing the corn, or grain, into shallow water. They will skim the surface for the light. grains which float, and then submerge their heads in search of that which has sunk. But it is cruel to locate a pair of swans for the sake of their beauty ina new-made piece of water whose banks and bottom are as barren and bare as the inside of a hand basin. A load or two of water weeds should have been thrown in, the previous spring, to propagate themselves and afford pasturage. Swan food exists in proportion to the shallowness and foulness, not to the extent and clearness of the water, “A yard of margin is worth a mile of deep stream.” In confined waters, swans require a liberal supply of food, in the autumn, when the weeds run short. It should be remembered, that at this season, they have to supply themselves with a new suit of clothes, as well as to maintain their daily strength. If they have not been taught to eat grain, and have not acquired a no- tion of grazing, they will perish from starvation. Young birds are apt to be fanciful or stupid, and have not sense enough to come to the bank and eat grass, nor pick up the threshed corn, or grain, which may be thrown down to them. Sometimes they may be tempted with a lock of unthreshed barley or oats, thrown, straw and all, into the water, which they will instinctively lay hold of and devour. Cygnets, which have been previously put up to fatten, will give little or no trouble in this respect, besides the advantage of being accustomed to the near approach of their feeder. The weight of the swan, in the feathers, varies from 25 to 28 lbs., and sometimes, though rarely, 30 lbs. They are never better than in the month of October, when the gastronomical inquirer, who is as yet unac- quainted with their merits, is recommended to give 11* 250 THE COMMON SWAN. a them a fair and impartial trial. They may be had till Christmas, after which they are good for nothing. A bird weighing 28 lbs. before Christmas, has been known ‘to shrink to 17 or 18 pounds by the end of January, in spite of high feeding. Therefore, ‘‘make hay while the sun shines,’ Mr. Epicure. As in the spring, the snowdrop gives way to the primrose and the violet, so, in autumn, the swan yields its place on the board to the turkey and the Guinea fowl. If to-day is lost, to- morrow the opportunity will have flown, in higher con- cerns than in mere eating and drinking, Now—or, perhaps, never. _ The “ swan feasts,’”? which sometimes have occurred. in England, that seem to have left the most pleasing impressions orf the palates of the partakers have been solemnised in the course of the month of September. As to the mode of dressing, those artists, who are skilled in the treatment of venison, will easily cook swan, namely, with a meal crust over it to keep the gravy in. Instead of stuffing it with sage and onions, like goose, (vulgar condiments to vulgar birds,) use rump steak chopped fine, and seasoned with Cayenne and salt. When browned, and served to an admiring circle, let it have rich gravy and currant jelly, the latter hot as well as cold, in respectful attendance. And is that all? No; the best remains behind. The hash, next day, is worth riding twenty miles to eat Nay, more; the giblets make soup before which ox tail sinks into insignificance. The mere writing about it has made me huagry. obey Buissiy\ Missing Page DISEASES OF POULTRY. GENERAL REMARKS. AxtuoueH poultry are no less liable to disorders than cattle, or other domestic animals, but very little at- tention has been paid to them, owing, no doubt, to the small value of individual fowls, compared with sheep or horses ; and frequently it is most economical to kill them at once. These disorders, however, are far from being devoid of interest, not only as sometimes leading to correct views of the diseases of other animals, in- cluding man himself; but so far as the saving of even afew dimes, by curing them when that is possible, or of rendering their eggs, or flesh, more wholesome and palatable, as well as the humane motive of adding to the comfort of the creatures, some attention to the subject, more than it usually attracts, is surely de- sirable. The following notices, though far from complete, and, not improbably, requiring correction, in several respects, will be found, it is presumed, as full and as perfect as anything hitherto published in treatises on poultry. But let me at once confess my ignorance relative to the treatment of fowls laboring under their various maladies. Their ailments have hitherto failed, with, perhaps, few exceptions, to attract scientific ob- 260 DISEASES OF POULTRY. servation, and no wonder. Who attends them? What complaint do they make? And when they die, who, acquainted with the symptoms before death, makes post-mortem examinations, and then refers those symptoms to the morbid appearances which his scal- pel has revealed? To speak the truth, neither are theif diseases well understood, nor is the treatment of them anything but empyrical. From reading, observation, and conversation, howev- er, with those who professto be practically acquaint- ed -with the diseases of poultry, my attention has only been directed to what may be considered as the prox- imate causes of their dissolution under,sthe following active forms, namely :—Apoplexy; evinced by inflam- mation of the membranes of the brain, or by effusion of blood within or upon it; peritoneal inflammation of the mucous membrane of the intestines, or intumes- cence of the rump gland, symptomatic of a febrile condition. N. B. Do not give salt in any case whatever. APOPLEXY. Tus is a very frequent disorder among fowls, which makes its attack in most instances without the slight- est warning. Mr. Flourens, a very distinguished physiologist, of Paris, and an author, says there are two degrees of apoplexy among fowls, one deep-seated, and the other superficial, each having different symp- toms. Deep-seated apoplexy is characterised by com- plete disorder of movement, while superficial apoplexy is manifested only by deficient muscular energy and instability in walking. Deep-seated apoplexy is ac- companied by superficial apoplexy ; but, as the latter is the precursor of the former, it ought to be carefully attended to, in order to prevent its passing to what may be termed the second stage, though both stages are capable of being cured by a natural process, as an individual case proves. M. Flourens had brought to him, on the 12th of DISEASES OF POULTRY. 261 April, 1823, a young fowl, whose gait indicated that of a tipsy animal, so much, that the peasants called it the ‘tipsy hen.” Whether standing, walking, or run- ning, it reeled and staggered, advancing always in a zigzag manner, frequently turning to the right, when it wished to turn to the left, and to the left when it wished to turn to the right; and instead of going for- ward, it went backwards, and backwards instead of forwards. Its legs also often bent under it, so that it fell down; above all, when it flew high up to perch, it could not govern nor regulate its movements, but fell and rolled about on the ground a long while, with- out being able to get upon its legs or recover its bal- ance. Thesg#imovements so nearly resembled those which had” been produced by experiment, that M. Flourens was impatient to examine the brain. He found the bone of the skull to be covered with black carious points. On penetrating the dura mater, a quantity of clear water ran out, while the cerebellum was yellowish, with rust-colored streaks on the surface, and in the centre was a mass of purulent coagulated matter, as large as a horse bean, contained in a cavity perfectly isolated, and Heiey its sides very thin and smooth. Dr, de Sala brought to M. Flourens, from Madame Rousseau, of Pecq, near Paris, a young cock, which had died of a disorder that appeared singular. This cock could not stand upright for any time without reeling on its legs, and it staggered when it attempted to walk or run ; its neck always trembled or oscillated, particularly when it stretched it or its body ; but when its head or beak were supported, the oscillation ceased. This is evidently the same disorder which Dr. Bech- stein terms epilepsy, and Mr. Clater, the megrims or giddiness. The latter says that “Many promising chickens are lostin this complaint. Without any kind of warning, they fall, roll on their backs, and struggle for a minute or two, ‘when they rise stupid and giddy, _ and slowly return to their food. One fit having oc. 262 DISEASES OF POULTRY. curred, is soon followed by others, each more violent than the preceding, until at length, the little animal staggers about half unconscious, refusing to eat, rap- idly wasting, and soon dies convulsed. In some cases, the megrims occur when the fowl is poor and half- starved ; but then the food has been improper; it has been watery or disposed to “fermentation; diarrhcea has followed, and the fits are the consequence of in- testinal irritation. Other young fowls will have oc- casional fits, from which they will rapidly recover, and appear to be little or nothing the worse. The me- grims,” he adds, ‘‘ must be stopped as soon as possible, Castor oil and syrup of ginger will be a very good med- icine, and be much improved by syrup of. white pop- pies added to it. -The fowl that has once had the megrims should be confined for some days, but in a tolerably large place, where it may obtain some de- gree of exercise.” This treatment, it may be observed, proceeds upon a. total ignorance of the seat of the disease, as so well proved by M. Flourens. Dr. de Sala adopted the best possible method of cure, by applying leeches to the nape of the neck. The food should be light and scan- ty, and the.affected fowl should be confined in a rather dark coop. ° PIP, OR THRUSH. Tus may be regarded as a token of derangement of the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal gener- ally, and not as a local disease. It is considered va- riously by different writers. Dr. Bechstein describes it as a catarrhal inflammation producing a thickened state of the membrane lining the nostrils and mouth, particularly the tongue. M. Buc’hoz, on the other hand, thinks it caused by want of water, or by bad. water, such as the drainings of dunghills, sinks, &c., which fowls will drink when they can get no other. ~ The symptoms of the “ pip,” consist in a thickening DISEASES OF POULTRY. 263 of the membrane lining the tongue and palate, which causes an obstruction to free inspiration, and makes the poor sufferer gasp for breath; the beak becomes yellow at the base ; the tongue dry ; the plumage be- comes ruffled, the bird mopes and pines, the appetite gradually declines to extinction, and at last it dies, completely worn out by fever and starvation. A cure may be effected by a low diet; that is, in the case of common fowls, by an allowance of fresh vegetable food, as lettuce or parsley chopped and mixed with potatoes and a little Indian or oat meal, granting at the same time a plentiful supply of pure water. Give, also, of castor oil, a tea-spoonful, or thereabouts, according to the age and strength of the fowl. Do not scrape the tongue, nor use rough modes of cleaning it; but apply a little borax, (sub-borate of soda,) dissolved in pure water and tincture of myrrh, by means of a camel-hair pencil, two or three times a- day. When chickens are ill with the pip, Dr. Bechstein recommends keeping the fowl in a warm place, and a mixture of butter, pepper, garlic, and scraped horse radish, to be given to it, without stripping the tongue; and, when the nostrils are obstructed, to. pass a small feather, dipped in oil, up them. M. Buc’hoz recom- mends clean water. GAPES, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE WINDPIPE. Tuts is a disease to which all our domestic gallina- ceous birds are subject, and which often occasions great mortality among them. Wet, ill-feeding, and, ill-ventilated fowl house confinement, or a spot or plot of ground tenanted year after year by fowls, with- out attention to cleanliness, to renovation of the soil, and a proper allowance of gravel, ashes, fresh vegeta- bles, &c., are the proximate or remote causes of this, as well as many other complaints of our domestic fowls. At the same time, let it be borne in mind, that the “‘gapes” is an epidemic disease. 264 DISEASES OF POULTRY. In the first instance, it appears to arise from a croupy or catarrhal affection, which is indicated by running at the nostrils, watery eyes, alteration of voice, and loss of appetite and spirits. If the trachea, or windpipe, be examined, it will be found replete with narrow worms, about half an inch in length, imbedded in slimy mucus. This singular worm consists of a long and short body united together; the long one is the female, the short one the male, each, were it not that they are permanently united together, being an animal distinct and perfect in itself. Whether these parasitic worms are the cause or consequence of the disease, it is not easy to say, nor do we know how they become introduced into the tra- chea; this, however, seems certain, that their removal is requisite to give the feathered patient a chance ot recovery. This can be done by means of a feather, neatly trimmed, which is to be introduced into the windpipe and turned round once or twice and then drawn out; it will dislodge the worms and bring back many of them adhering to it with the slime. This plan requires great dexterity and some knowledge of the anatomy of the parts; a slow unskillful operator may kill the already half-suffocated bird, instead of curing it. Another mode of destroying these worms, is, by putting the birds into a box, and making them -inhale the fumes of tobacco, thrown into it through the stalk of a tobaceo pipe. Some recommend the forcing of tobacco smoke down the bird’s throat, and - others that the mouth be crammed with snuff. Martin, in his “ Farmer’s Library,” recommends the application of a grain of calomel, made up with bread into a pill, or two or three grains of Plummer’s pill, (pil, hydr. submur. co., London Pharmacopezia,) after which let flower of sulphur be administered, with a little ginger, in pultaceous food composed of barley meal. Indian meal will do as well. In the meantime let the bird be kept in a dry, warm shed or room, apart from the rest of the fowls, as it is believed DISEASES OF POULTRY. that the’ disease is infectious. Let the mouth and beak be washed with a weak solution of chloride of lime. INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS, Fowns, in a state of health, rarely breathe through the mouth as we do, but almost always through the nostrils, which are comparatively Jarge, and communi- cate backward with the top of the windpipe. The windpipe itself is composed of stiff rings of cartilage, united by strong membranes ; and such is the elasticity of these, that the tube is enabled to preserve its cylin- drical fovm, even when it receives considerable pres- sure, and thereby affords free ingress and egress to the air in breathing. , ‘When the windpipe descends into the chest, it di- vides into numerous branches called the “ bronchial tubes,” which gradually becoming smaller, at length terminate in perforations, but neither these branches nor the cells are so small in fowls as in other animals. It is these branchings of the windpipe, however, which, together with numerous blood vessels, make up the substance of the lungs, the interstices being filled with a fine membrane that serves not only to unite them, but likewise to give a uniform appearance tothe whole mass. The perforations in which the branches of the windpipe terminate, ‘lead into large air sacks com- municating with all parts of the body, and forming an accessary lung. With reference to a not uncommon disorder among fowls, it is important to mention that the lungs are covered with a fine delicate membrane called the pleura, on every part of which a watery fluid is secre- ted, for the purpose of preventing a cohesion of the arts, : Inflammation of the lungs, including the bronchial tubes, is not uncommon in fowls. Its symptoms are quick breathing, often with a rattle, or rale, very 12 266 DISEASES OF POULTRY. audible, dullness, disorder of plumage, vacancy in the eye, and indisposition to stir. Death is not to be pre- vented by any remedy we can point out. Human patients can explain their feelings, cattle to a certain degree indicate them ; but birds give little indications by voice or manner leading to what the medical man calls a diagnosis. Besides, how are we to bleed a bird? The skin of most birds is very thin, it is un- supported by a thick mass of cellular tissue, and the vessels which ramify upon it are minute, none presenting a fair chance for successful venesection. To cut and wound a bird at random for the purpose ot obtaining a flow of blood is barbarous. OBSTRUCTION OF THE NOSTRILS, Fow.s, as already remarked, do not in general breathe through 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 “pip,” as before mentioned and it is also a very common consequence of the wounds received in skirmishing and fighting, the blood from the lacerated comb 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 o1 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 mosi 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 witl sweet oil or fresh butter. DISEASES OF POULTRY. 267 ROUP, OR INFLUENZA. Tue term “roup,” isin common speaking very indefi- nite, being applied to the quite dissimilar disorders of poul- try, such as to obstruction in the rump gland, the “ pip” already described, and to almost every sort of catarrh. The word is supposed to be a corruption of “croup,” which appears to be applicable to the “gapes,” or in- flammation of the windpipe. It will be most advisable, I think, to confine the term to ahighly dangerous disorder, caused partly, if not altogether, by cold and moisture, but usually ascribed to improper feeding, uncleanliness, and confinement. ; The symptoms most prominent in the roup, is difficult and noisy breathing, beginning with what is termed the gapes, as in the pip. The eyes afterwards become much swollen, and the eyelids livid, with decay of sight, and even total blindness. There is a considerable dis- charge from the nostrils, and even from the mouth, at commencement, thin and limpid but afterwards becom- ing thick, purulent, and fetid very similar to the glanders in horses. As secondary symptoms, the appetite is all but lost except for drink, the crop feels hard to the touch, and the feathers are staring, ruffled, and without a healthy gloss. The fowl sits moping and wasting in corners always apparently in great pain. Moubray says, that 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 affect a fowl for two years. When any fowls or other poultry are observed to be infected with roup, they ought to be kept warm, and have plenty of water and scalded bran, Indian-meal dough, or other light food. The most effectual remedy is said to be antimonial powder or calomel, in grain doses, made into a pill with bread. When it becomes chronic, change of food and of air, if convenient, will be advisable ; such as confining the diet to earth worms 268 DISEASES OF POULTRY. fora week, and then keeping wholly to grain for another week, and again to hot mashed potatoes for a third week. Cleanliness is no Jess 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 inj 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 vemperature than they otherwise would be; by being closely confined in soops 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 ducks, which he found, conformably to general experience, no less susceptible of catarrhal disorders than fowls; proving that it is not altogether a change of climate which causes such susceptibility. M. Flourens being in the country in the month of DISEASES OF POULTRY. 269 May, his attention was called to a duckling of a brood newly hatched, which was reported to have swallowed something that stuck in its throat, appearing to be on the point of suffocation, continually 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. Another duckling of the same hatch was pointed out to M. Flourens, which had been suddenly seized with symptoms similar to the preceding ; and while he was examining this, a third was struck so suddenly with op- pression of the chest, that it stood motionless, gasped for , breath, had violent palpitation of the heart, left off eat- ing and drinking, and died in two or three hours, as did the second one. He opened both, and found the same inflammatory engorgement of the lungs which he had observed in the first. The disorder indeed was evi- dently acute inflammation of the lungs. The terrace where he found the ducklings thus seized, and which was badly situated for rearing poultry, had , a northern aspect, and the sun scarcely reached it. It was consequently cold, and cold alone seemed to be the cause of the pulmonary inflammation in the ducklings. To try the effect of a warmer exposure, M. Flourens caused the remaining ducklings of the hatch, seven in number, to be removed to a poultry yard, having a southern aspect, and perfectly exposed tothe 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 abrood 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 DISEASES OF POULTRY. chickens, among which were four females and two males, were affected with consumption of the lungs; but one died of a disorder of the eyes, and another lost an eye. : Of eleven chickens which he kept constantly in the poultry yard with a southernly, aspect, all, except two, a hen and a cock, died before the end of December, of consumption of the lungs, having first passed through all the stages of this disease. Those chickens, which, at the end of October, were still lively and gay, lost by little and little their strength “and vivacity ; they trailed their wings, ruffled up their feathers, their flanks fell in, they chirped almost inces- santly, their voice changed progressively, becoming first hoarse and at length aphonous; they scarcely ate, they grew extremely emaciated, with the'skin dry, and as if it were glued to the bones; they endeavored to get in doors for shelter, and when they did get in, they were observed to approach as near as they could to the fire, to sit down even on the cinders and even upon the dogs and cats around the hearth. On the death of these creatures, M. Flourens found their lungs in different stages of inflammation and of sup- puration, For the most part, the larynx, all the wind- pipe, and its ramifications through the lungs, were filled with purulent matter of a greyish color like mud, and of a fetid smell. This matter was sprinkled all over, (par- semée,) 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 pulfmonary 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 DISEASES OF POULTRY. 271 than the others, but they remained dwarfea and feeble. There remained six chickens more out of the twenty- three on which he had begun his experiments. The following is what he did with these :—He left them at first with the eleven in the poultry yard till they exhib- ited symptoms, not to be mistaken, of pulmonary con- sumption more or less advanced. He then took them to the place kept at a mild temperature, where, after marking them with bits of stuff tied to their legs, he united them with the six already there. Two of these chickens, which would certainly have died the same day or the next, if he had left them in the poultry yard, after having appeared at first to regain a little strength, died, one in about five and 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 whieh reproduction might have on a pulmonary con- sumption when cured ; but his return to Paris prevent- ed him from putting his design in execution. 272 DISEASES OF POULTRY. From these observation, M. Flourens concludes, with respect to the effects of cold upon fowls, it follows, 1. That in these creatures, cold exercises a constant and determined action upon the lungs. « 2. That this action is more sudden and more serious in proportion as the creature is of tender age. 3. That when cold does not produce a pulmonary inflammation, acute and speedily fatal, it produces chronic inflammation, which is in fact pulmonary phthisis. 4. That warmth uniformly prevents the access of pul- monary phthisis, and as uniformly suspends its progress when this has commenced; and sometimes even stops it entirely, and effects a complete cure. 5. That this disease, at whatever stage it may have arrived, is never contagious. The chickens affected with phthisis were not only the whole day with the healthy chickens, but roosted at night in the same bas- kets, without ever having experienced the slightest in- fluence from a communication so intimate and pro- longed. A long series of observations made upon man has unquestionably proved that cold is the most terrible scourge in producing chronic inflammations of the lungs ; while heat, on the contrary, is the most efficacious rem- edy. The experiments above detailed confirm, in a di- rect and decisive manner, both the pernicious effects of cold and the salutary effects of heat. In showing this last evidence, accordingly, both where the source of the the evil lies and where is the source of the benefit, the results may not be entirely useless to humanity. -Again, sudden very hot weather produced bad 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 ; for 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 cure of these disorders in fowls, as well as in man, the most inert and unphilosophical remedies have been recommended. Dr. Handel, of Mentz, for ex- ample, recommends, for the pulmonary consumption of fowls, the juice of the white turnip to be given for drink, instead of water, which, of course could have no more effect in curing the corroded lungs, gorged with pus and studded with black points, in chickens, than balsam of hoarhound, pectoral elixir, and all the farrago of stuff lauded for consumption in man. M. Flourens was too sound a reasoner to dream of trying nostrums on his chickens, since temperature alone seems to be the dom- inant principle to which all attention ought to be paid. After perusing the preceding observations, poultry keep- ers need not be recommended to take care that their poultry be well sheltered during the colder seasons of the year, and if any appearance of cold or inflammation be observed, to remove them, at least, for a time to some well-sheltered place, or even into some artificial tem- perature. ASTHMA. Tuts is a very common disease among fowls, charac- terised by their breathing short, opening their beaks of- ten and Jong, as if to gasp for air, with heaving and panting at the chest, more particularly when agitated or frightened, ; There seems to be two species of the disorder. In the first, it frequently happens that, when the action of the blood vessels of the lungs has been increased to a great degree, and the inflammation produced terminates without suppuration or gangrene, phlegm is frequently thrown into and plugs up a part of the air cells, which prevents them from performing their proper functions ; and the fowl, not being able to take in the usual quan- tity of air, is obliged to inspire twice in the time which before only took up one inspiration, causing a double heaving of the chest. The capacity of the lungs being, Q74 DISEASES 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. ; n 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 between, causing the panting and gasping already mentioned. Confirmed asthma, caused by the bursting of air cells or blood vessels, is of course incurable, though it is not always fatal—fowls so 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. Tue 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 froma 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. DISEASES OF POULTRY. 275 In a case of highly inflammatory fever in a chicken, noticed by Mr. Dickson, supposed to have been caused by sudden hot weather, in May, so that it burned the hand like hot water, a dose of nitre, in milk and water, at night, produced so great a change, that the chicken was cool and brisk in the morning. The dose was re- peated, and brought on a cold fever fit, like ague, which, however, changed to an intermittent, and the chicken completely recovered. THIRST. ImmopERaTE thirst is a symptom of fever, though it may also occur when there is no fever, from a long con- tinuance of dry food, and particularly when the crop and gizzard have been distended by over-eating. When fowls are much persecuted by their companions, which is an every-day occurrence in the poultry yard, they may accordingly be observed to drink almost insatiably, for a day or more at a time, eating very sparingly, and sometimes not at all. This appears to operate as a cure for the fever into which they have been thrown. When immoderate thirst is observed to affect a num- ber of fowls at the same time, they ought to have a good supply of green or moist food, such as cabbage or let- tuce leaves, soaked bread, or boiled potatoes, mashed with skimmed milk; taking particular care that this milk be perfectly sweet. When the thirst arises from fever caused by fighting, the fowl may be soused into a pail of water, in summer 5 but in winter, this must only be done if there be con- venience to let it dry itself near a fire or a stove. PAIRING AND HATCHING FEVER. Tue most decidedly feverish symptoms, very frequently ubserved 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 itis 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 . 276 DISEASES OF POULTRY. the blood, and consequently abate the fever. Others, very improperly plunge the hen several times into cold water, or, let water fall on her from a pump, or other- wise. But what is found to be the most effectual, is cooping the hen up for a few days and nights, on the cold ground, or shutting her out from the nest at night, and compelling her to roost in the yard. A feverish state also takes place about the time hens be- gin to lay, but is of little consequence to fowls otherwise healthy, though it will be certain to increase any other disorder which may have previously affected them. If they appear very hot and restless, they may have plenty of green food, Indian-meal dough, scalded bran, or soak- ed bread, or in more extreme cases, they may be plunged into, or sprinkled with, water to allay the heat. VORAOIOUS APPETITE, Fow1s 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. Wnuen the food of fowls is suddenly changed, such as from dry to boiled barley, or Indian meal, or to mashed potatoes, they may often be observed to feed badly, and to lose flesh in a surprisingly short space of DISEASES OF POULTRY. 277 time. It will tend much to prevent this, if care be tak- en never to give them the boiled barley or potatoes in a cold state, the difference of effect of warm, instead of cold food being quite wonderful; fowls enjoy a hot dinner, and dislike a cold one, (dry grain or meat ex- cepted,) as much as an alderman would enjoy hot, and dislike cold turtle. But, although change of diet may often produce such temporary fits of indigestion, these are seldom of serious consequence, and usually disappear in a day or two. It is very different, when an individual fowl is affected with indigestion or want of appetite, of some continu- ance. In that case, the causes ought to be investigated, and remedies given accordingly. A hen of the Spanish breed, about five years old, noticed by Mr. Dickson, was the particular favorite of a cock, which had been con- fined in consequence of his savage behavior to another hen. From this time, the favorite pined, kept constantly beside the coop of the prisoner, and at length, left off feeding almost entirely. When the cock was liberated, it was supposed the favorite would recover her spirits and appetite ; but though the cock was as gallant to her as before, she continued to mope, keep away from the rest, and never took to feeding with any appetite, but only gathered up a few grains of corn, now and then, in a listless manner, as if she cared little about it, and finally in a week or two-died. It is not improbable, however, that if she had had active medicine given her, such as pepper Or iron rust, mixed with mashed potatoes, or had been well purged with mashed carrots or boiled cabbage, she might have recovered. Moubray mentions a hen which sat about in corners, and did not eat, drink, nor evacuate, and yet looked full, and not diseased. Her crop being totally obstructed, on an incision being made from the bottom upwards, a quantity of beans was found, which had vegetated there. On the wound being stitched up, it immediately healed, and little inconvenience remained. Tron 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 DIBEASES OF POULTRY. when there is any atrophy or loss of flesh observed. It ought of course to be combined with good barley, oats, Indian meal, or ground malt, and occasionally some good ale, milk warm, to drink. The ale has a very great ef- fect in improving what may be termed the “ condition” of fowls. : COSTIVENESS. Ir 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 fow! continue costive, not- withstanding these means, a little sweet oil may be in- troduced into the anus, by w4y 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 DIARRHGIA. Wuen 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 thé end, it prove fatal, as not unfrequently happens when it is neglected. The worst DISEASES OF POULTRY. 279 symptom is the voiding of a white calcareous matter, (urate of ammonia,) sometimes streaked with yellow, like the yolk of a stale egg, which sticks to the feathers round the anus, and being very acrid from the ammo- nia it contains, 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 €ny acid that may be present or to soften any acrid matter. Some people pull out the vent and tail feathers, and then rub the parts with fresh butter ; though this is not only a very cruel opera- tion, but one very little likely to prove effectual. Dr. Handel, of Mentz, in France, in cases of chronic, or long-continued looseness, prescribes water in which the rust of iron is diffused, mixed with milk, for drink, and says, it seldom fails to effect a cure. Great care must be taken, however, to have the milk perfectly sweet. The sulphate of iron, or what appears still better, alum, might perhaps be tried with success, dissolved in water, in such proportions as to make it taste a little rough to the tongue. ‘ As looseness may be caused in fowls by an excessive discharge of urine from the kidneys, which, if discovered, must be attacked by giving dry food, such as whole wheat, oats, bran, Indian corn, or buckwheat, and by supplying water sparingly. Boiled rice and milk, which is strongly diuretic, as well as the rust water, will then be improper. BLOODY FLUX. Fowts are but rarely affected with this complaint, which not unfrequently proves fatal to parrots. Boiled rice and milk, and mild ale, warm, with a little chalk or ‘ magnesia, should be given. Fat broth or sweet milk, warm, should be their only drink. 280 DISEASES OF POULTRY. INFLAMMATION AND ULCERATION OF THE EYES. One of six of the twenty-three chickens which M. Flourens shut up, so as to guard them against cold, was stated in a preceeding page to have died of a disorder of the eyes, and another to have lost an eye. The disor- der consisted of small abscesses which were formed on the cornea, containing:a whitish sort of pus. Some- times the inflammation extended to the whole globe of the eye, the eyelids swelling to an enormous size, and then accumulating under them a coagulable albuminous matter, similar to the white of 4n egg. The cornea subse- quently sloughed off, and the eye was consequently emp- tied of its humors, and vision was destroyed : forever, causing in one blindness, and in another death, while in a third, the abscess healed spontaneously. This disorder of -the eyes was no doubt owing to the concentrated vapors of the place where the fowls had been shut up; but it is also oftén produced in a manner not less distressing, by cold, and particularly moist cold. “ During the rains in the winter of 1826 and- 1827,” says M. Flourens, “the poultry yard which furnished my observations was much below the level of the soil, and constantly flooded with water. The greater part of the hens, and particularly the young ones, were affected with abscesses of the cornea, and inflammation of the globe of the eye, to the degree that many of them lost their eyes. The effect of the humidity and cold did not stop here. Along with the abscesses of the cornea, enor- mous tumors frequently appeared on the head; these tumors broke, and discharged most copiously a sort of sanious pus ; and almost uniformly the fowl fell a victim to the disorder. Many fowls were, at the same time, seized with acute rheumatism and sciatica.*” RHEUMATISM. Turs affection is often caused by plunging the fowls into cold water, for the hatching fever or for weaning them from sitting. The treatment is the same as that * Annales des Sciences, Septembre, 1829. DISEASES OF POULTRY. 281 for “consumption,” such as warmth and cooling, open- ine food. GOUT. Tus disorder is less common among fowls than it would be, were it not that they are seldom allowed to live long enough for it to make its appearance, since it rarely attacks any except those which are rather old. It manifests itself by swelling of the joints, but it is, in mast cases, not worth while to attempt a remedy. Sul- phur, mixed with scalded bran, or soaked bread, may be given with advantage. OBSTRUCTION OF THE RUMP GLAND. Ir has ‘already been mentioned, under the head of “roup,” that this term is sometimes applied improperly to obstruction of the rampgland. Even Moubray says, “jmposthume upon the rump is called roup.” Before giving the correct view of this gland, it may be as well to state the common and very erroneous notion of it from Clater. “It is well known,” says he, “that there is a little tubercle, or projection, on the rump of every bird, and which is filled with oily matter. Its use is to smooth and give a glossy appearance to the feathers, and more particularly to make them water-tight. When rain is coming, every bird is diligently employed in squeezing out the greasy fluid, and rubbing it over the whole surface of his feathery coat, and then the drops of rain trickle off without penetrating through, or in the slightest degree inconveniencing him.” In order to prove the inaccuracy of this popular and plausible notion, it will scarcely be requisite, as M. Réaumur justly remarks, to show how little the quan- tity of oil that may be daily supplied by the rump gland is, in proportion to the extent of surfaces resulting from the assemblage of the numberless feathers with which a hen or a duck is covered; nor how long a time would be necessary to enable the gland to supply a quantity of the oil sufficiently to besmear the surface of only one of these feathers. In order to explode a notion so uni- 282 DISEASES OF POULTRY. versally believed, it is enough to state, that the feathers of the variety of fowls called “rumkifs,” 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 thé beak could never press out a quantity of oil sufficient to render itself greasy. “So long,” gays M. Réaumur, “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 eat effected in a very small quantity on the rump of owls.” . 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. Réaumur 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 minks, rats, and the like, attack- ing them at night, serious wounds are sometimes pro- duced, which, if neglected, may canker and produce foul ulcers not easily healed. : ' In all cases of such injuries, the first requisite is clean- liness. The wound ought to be cleared of all sand or DISEASES OF POULTRY. 283 dirt, bathed with warm water and milk, and the fowl shut up so as to prevent the others abusing it; for they are always ready to peck at any wound and increase the injury. If it do not readily heal, but go on to ulcera- tion, it may be bathed with alum water or with ointment of creosote, which will be almost certain to heal it, even should it show fungous or “proud flesh.” FRACTURES AND DISLOCATIONS, Wuen 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. Birps of all kinds, both wild and tame, are liable, from some unknown causes, to be attacked, as Herod the Jewish tetrarch is said to have been, with a particular sort of lice which are generated on them,in myriads. In some instances, their feathers are so completely covered as to hide their natural color, and in many places the point of a pin cannot be put down without touching some of the vermin. In the new edition of Clater, it is said, that “ vermin are often exceedingly annoying to the poultry, and ma- terially prevent their growing and fattening. They are usually to be traced to evident neglect in the manage- ment of the poultry yard. The fowls are half starved, or the place is all over filth, or there is no dry corner ‘ 284 DISEASES OF POULTRY. with plenty of dust or ashes in which the birds may roll themselves.” All this is in direct opposition to expe- rience and observation; for the individual fowl infested with vermin rarely communicates these to the rest of the flock in the same yard, though they be fed and lodged alike—unless there bea constitutional dispositian in some of the others to become infected, or chickens receiving them from their mothers as soon as they are hatched. As well mightit be maintained, because indi- vidual humble bees and dung beetles are often found infested with lice, that it is owing to starvation or con- finement, though all the other bees in the same nest, and consequentlf 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 strawe, 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 pryvet 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 DISEASES OF POULTRY. 285 Spanish chickens, and the day after they were hatched, TY happened to take one in my hand, and was much struck by observing on the top of its poll five or six large full-grown lice, evidently caught from the mother. I then examined the whole brood, and found them all similarly affected. Knowing that they would not thrive until I had dislodged or destroyed the enemy, the next day I attempted to pick them out; but I found that, having only been left one night, the whole poll was covered with nits, and I could not git rid of them from their hanging so tenaciously to the down. 1 procured some white precipitate powder, and, with a small camel- hair pencil, powdered them over. On examining them the next day, | found the parasites had all disappeared, nor could | 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 brvods the same, and have never lost one from sickness. All hens are affected with these parasites, and as they do not dust themselves so fre- quently during the time of incubation, they are more liable to them. I have ascertained from observation, that as soon as the chickens are hatched, these pests leave the parent for the young, and if they are not destroyed, they weaken the chicken so much, that if any complaint comes on, the poor little thing has not strength to contend with it. The best time to apply the precipitate is when they are two or three days old, and at night after they are gone to roost; but the hen must | not be touched with it; as, in pluming her feathers she draws them through her beak, and the precipitate being a strong poison, would no doubt prove fatal to her. In fact, there is no occasion for it; as I could never detect them in her; they had no doubt left her for the young. A very small quantity should be used; as one penny- worth, purchased at a chemist’s, is sufficient for several broods.” A slight application of spirit of turpentine and water, in trifling cases, answers the same purpose, and is pre- ferred by many persons who have a natural dislike to the use of poison. 286 DISEASES OF POULTRY. There are some startling facts on the subject of para- sitic insects, to be found in the “ Monographia Anoplu- rorum Brittannie,” by the late Henry Denny, a work which, although with a dog-latin title, that has doubtless limited its circulation, is written in such plain and truth- ful English, as to make the flesh creep on one’s bones. It is not 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 friends for entering upon the illustration of a tribe of insects whose very name was sufficient to create feelings of disgust. ‘ Why not take up some more interesting or popular department of entomology?’ has been the frequent remark made to him. He considered, however, that if he wished to render any service to science, he must not consult popular taste or ephemeral fashion, but must take a page from that part of the great ‘ Book of Nature,’ less generally read, and consequently less understood and appreciated by the world at large.” The number and variety of species given is frightful ; some of those which infest poultry are, “ Goniocotes hologaster (Louse of the Domestic Fowl). “ Goniodes falcicornis (Louse of the Peacock).—This beautiful (!) parasite is common upon the peacock, and may be found, after the death of the bird, congregated in numbers about the base of the beak and crown of the head. During the year 1827, three or four specimens ot Pavo cristatus having passed through my hands, upon each of which I 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, to ascertain whether great diversity in size or ap- pearance existed between the parasites of different species orgenera. This I soon found to be so consider- able, that I resolved upon forming a collection, and ascertaining what was written upon the parasitic tribes. “ Goniodes stylifer (Louse of the Turkey).—Common upon the turkey, frequenting the head, neck, and breast ; a very beautiful species. The males of this and all the DISEASES OF POULTRY. 287 other species of goniodes use the first and third joints of the antenne with great facility, acting the part of a finger and thumb. “ Goniodes dissimilis (Louse of the Domestic Fowl). —TI suspect this species is of rare occurrence. “ Lipeurus variabilis (Louse of the Domestic Fowl). —Common on the domestic fowl, preferring the pri- mary and secondary feathers of the wings, among the webs of which they move with great celerity. “ Lipeurus 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 Fow)). —Found in great abundance on poultry, running over the hands of those who are plucking fowls, and difficult to brush off, from the smoothness of their bodies.” Those who are desirous of fuller information should consult the work itself. LOSS OF FHATHERS. Ir has been observed, that all birds kept in a state of confinement, are particularly subject to an extensive loss of feathers, rendering them naked and deplorable. This is altogether different from moulting, inasmuch as the fall of the feathers in the latter is occasioned by the new ones, shooting out from the skin, and pushing the old ones off, as is the case when young animals shed their teeth. In the disordered state in question, on the other hand, where the feathers fall, no new ones appear, or if they do, they seldom push far 288 DISEASES OF POULRY. above the surface of the skin, but remain as mere stumps arrested in their growth. It is a disorder apparently similar to that which, in horses, is termed “ out of con- dition,” when the hair becomes shaggy, rough, and star- ing, and is constantly coming off. ‘ As the disorder, termed “ loss of feathers,” is evidently a constitutional, and not a local affection, it would be in vain to seek for remedies in external applications, though stimulants might perhaps aid the operation of internal medicines. Amongst the latter, such as are known to act on the skin, particularly sulphur and antimony muy 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, A.tTHoucH moulting is a natural and annual occur- rence, it rarely passes without more or less disorder, and not unfrequently proves fatal, so that fowls require to be carefully attended to at the time of their moult. It is most dangerous and most frequently fatal to young chickens, particularly those of late broods, during the occasional cold and rainy weather at the close of au- tumn, their being late hatched throwing the time of moulting late ; whereas, those that are hatched early in spring, moult in the warm days of July and August, and on that account are not so apt to suffer. The summer moult is for the most part gradual, a few feathers falling at atime, 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 by a loss of flesh, nature DISEASES OF POULTRY. 289 points out that they ought to have an additional supply of food till all danger is over. Warmth is no less necessary than abundant and nourishing food ; and when the later broods of chiekens fall off, in their appetite, appear moping and inactive, their feathers staring and falling off till their rumps, sides, and thighs show the naked skin, they must be prevented from getting out in cold mornings too early, and not permitted to be abroad after four o'clock in the afternoon. M. Chomel, of France, advises, further, to put some sugar in their water, and to give them millet and hemp seed. After the third year, it has been observed, that fowls begin to moult later every succeeding year, so that it is frequently as late as January before the older fowls come into full feather, and the weather being then cold, they are not in a laying state till the end of March, or later. The time of moulting continues, according to the age and health of the fowls, and also with reference to mild or cold weather, from six weeks to three months. CHANGE OF COLOR. A REMARKABLE peculiarity in the colors of fowls, is, that they frequently change in a very surprising man- ner, from the time when the chicks cast their down to ‘the annual moult of the full-grown birds. This change, although it may be regarded as a species of disease, in some cases, is, no doubt, the regular process; at least after the second and third moults, as the colors, then, generally continue much the same. In the physiology of birds, there is, perhaps, nothing more curious than the laws which influence the colors of their feathers. It is asserted, for instance, that, “it is by no means a rare occurrence among game fowls, ‘blacks,’ ‘blues,’ and ‘reds,’ to change their plumage, and become spangles and whites.” In the “American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine,” it is stated that, in 1807. a case occurred of a milk-white cock, raised by Mr. Phillips, of South Hampton. Virginia, the colors of which cnanged the next spring to a red spangle. An- other instance occurred with Mr Allen J. Davv, well 12 290 DISEASES OF POULTRY. known among the agriculturists and sportsmen of the south, who bred a game cock, in Madison county, Vir- ginia, which, in 1821, was a bluish-grey. In 1822, he was still grey. In 1823, he was milk-white, or “smock,” as the English term it. In 1824, he had changed to sky-blue. We are told by M. Réaumur, that one of his hens which his poultry woman distinguished from the rest by a crooked claw, when her coat began to be’ taken notice of, had feathers of a ruddy color mixed with the brown so common among dunghill fowls. A year after- wards, this hen was observed to become almost black, with here and there some large white spots. After the second moulting, black was the predominant color on every part of the body; but strange to tell, upon the succeeding moult, white was the predominant color, and only a few black patches about the size of a dollar could be observed. Upon the succeeding moult, all the black spots disappeared, and the hen became uniformly of a pure white like that of aswan. As she was at this time 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. Réaumur 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. Réaumur 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 feathers, they were mingled with ruddy ones. During the summer vacation, at Paris, M. Réaumur 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 fairred. Here, then, was a transition from white to a light-brown, indicating that the whiteness of his feathers was not owing to the number of his years. It has been remarked by several scientific observers, .that hen birds of various species, but more particularly hen pheasants, put on, under certain circumstances, the plumage of the male. Hunter, in his work on “ Animal Economy,” is of opinion that “ this change of character _ takes place at an advanced age of the animal’s life, and does not grow up with it from the beginning.” Mr. Butler, another English physiologist, expresses a similar opinion still more strongly, namely, that “all hen phea- sants, as well as common fowls, would assume the plumage of the cock, to a certain degree, if they were kept to a certain age.” Though this, however, to 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 the name of “albinos,” I think, with propriety, may be classed among the diseases, as their characteristics appear to arise from a deficiency ot 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 leuceethiopic 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 puoils mark the same’ deficiency of coloring matter. APPENDIYX. APPENDIX. COMPARATIVE MERITS OF DIFFERENT BREEDS OF FOWLS. Havine hastily examined the proot sheets of “The American Poultry Yard,” written by Mr. D. J. Browne, | which you put into my hands, with a request that I should add something from my own experience, I am 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 everything he had intended to say on the subject under discussion, by the speakers who had gone before him; and that nothing was left for him to say which had not already been said. The application is obvious in the case before me. The breeding of fowls, with many, is more a matter of fancy than of the intrinsic value of the different kinds ; and the safest way of giving advice on this subject is to say, let each individual select that variety which he likes best, breed and compare the merits or demerits of each until his judgment is well founded upon actual ex- perience, holding rigidly to the principle of not crossing different breeds for permanent use, but keeping them, if 296 APPENDIX. possible, entirely distinct ; for, in no other way, will the test be a fair one. _ : But, in respect to the comparative merits of the exist- ing varieties of fowls in this country, I have but little to say. The Cochin-China, Shanghae, great Malay, jago, and other monstrous breeds produced by crossing with one another, in my humble opinion, are not the most de- sirable kinds for general use ; as their legs are very long and Jarge, 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. Ihave 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 isa difference in the number and. quality of eggs laid by different hens, I believe is conceded by all. Of these, the Polands stand first in public estima- tion ; but to say or believe, that even these are “ ever- lasting layers,” is a great mistake. They are less in- clined to sit, to be sure, and it is on this account that they have obtained the reputation of great layers; and for this reason, if I wanted eggs, only, and not chickens, ] 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 difference in the bulk of those in the same basket or cask. ’Tis not the largest eggs, however, that are the most profitable to the buyer, as the flavor differs not only in the different APPEN; IX. 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 pets within doors, where the climate is severe. If their apartment be kept warm, they will lay abundanly during the winter and spring, producing delicious eggs, though small In size, at a time when other hen’s eggs are scarce. The Dominique Fowl is another breed becoming more and more in favor, as they are universally pro- nounced as being hardy, good layers, careful nurses, and affording excellent eggs and flesh. Besides, their beauti- ful appearance, when in full plumage, is quite an acqui- sition to the farm yard or the lawn. As to the common Turkey, Ihave 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 white, which are decidedly less hardy, smaller in size, if they are not even inferior in other respects. But of all domestic fowls, if not interfered with, the Guinea Hen is the greatest layer, the most faithful nurse, and the best adapted to get its own living when left to herself. These birds are not profitable to keep, how- ever, where there are gardens or cultivated fields, as, they will often devour or destroy, in a few hours, more than their eggs and carcasses are worth. | The most showy and magnificent bird of the farm 298 APPENDIX. yard is the Peacock, which is of no use, except for admir- ing eyes to look upon. I need not describe the brilliancy of its plumage, the color of its various dyes, nor the un- surpassing elegance of its form. These are familiar to all. To use the words of a writer in the second volume of the “ American Agriculturist,” it is “idle and vagrant in its habits, mischievious in its propensities, and of little utility either in its carcass or its eggs; it is tolerant alone for its gorgeous display of plumage, and the showy splendor of its attitudes. I have kept them many years, and every year of my observation, only confirms in my mind the truth of the ancient proverb applied to the bird. ‘It has the plumage of an angel, the voice of a devil, and the maw of a thief.’ They are destructive in the garden, vindictive and quarrelsome among other poultry, without éither 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 Ducks—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 cqckles, mussels, weeds, &c., it is doubtful whether they afford much if any profit. Besides the common varieties, I APPENDIX. 299 think the Muscovy or Musk Duck may be kept with some advantage to cross with them. Their offspring grow to a larger size, and when properly fattened, they are good for the table. Moreover, these birds, from their singular habits and unique appearance, are quite an acquisition to the poultry yard or farm. It has been said that the Common Swan 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 years past by Mr. Roswell. L. Colt, of Paterson, New Jersey, who has, by the by, a fine pond and every other ac- commodation necessary for rearing them. Having written to Mr. Colt, a few days since for information on this subject, I have just received ai this moment, the following reply :— Paterson, December 31st, 1849. Dear Si, You ask me what success I have had with my swans. I got them from France four years ago last spring. The first year, they did not lay. I suppose they were young: ones. The second year, I had two eggs which did not hatch. The third year, I had five eggs, four of them hatch- ing out in thirty-nine days. The fourth year, (that is the last summer,) I had six eggs, all of which hatched out on the third of June, also in thirty-nine days. The swan lays an egg every other day, and begins to lay here towards the last of April. I have lost two young ones; but on examination could not discover any cause for death. Swans must have an abundance of clean water to swim in. I feed mine with Indian corn, rye, oats, and buckwheat, put at the edge of the pond, close to the water, as they like to wash down their food as they partake of it. When the cygnets are young, I give them Indian meal, mixed with water and boiled potatoes, broken up. I throw into the water some clover, green leaves of Indian corn, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, besides 300 APPENDIX. - the corn, oats, &c. They also come out and eat grass like geese. In fact, they may be fed as you would a favorite goose, and with a fresh, clear pond of water, you will succeed. : Truly yours, R. L COLT. To Samvuet ALLEN, Esa., 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 thei, 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 esiab- 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- Ca APPENDIX. 301 lished, will not bear the close scrutiny .of those who have attempted the business on a large scale. Ido 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 tv be relied on, for practical purposes, than would the ship owner’s ac- count of the whale fishery, if it made no allowance for bad luck—the loss of time of the crew, the cost of pro- visions, and other outfits—worth $30,000; to say nothing ‘of wear and tear, and the widows of drowned whalemen to assist.” Nothing is more likely to mis- lead the novice whose experience is insufficient to judge of their incompleteness, leaving error out of the question. Thus, one writer in the London “ Agricultural Ga- zette,” of Sept. 23, 1848, tells us that, by adopting the regimen advised by one good Mrs. Doyley, hens may be made to sit four times in the season. Each 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 eggs, which is considered a low estimate, this gives eighty chickens per annum from each hen!! or four hundred in the course of the year, for the expense of maintaining five hens, and, it is sup- posed, one cock, (though the poor fellow is not men- tioned,) or more than one chicken per day!!! But, alas! for such extravagance. Hens are made of flesh, blood, bones and feathers—not of wood, hot water, India rubber, sheepskins, nor iron; and if their incu- bating powers are overtasked, they will invariably suffer for it afterwards, which will often take them the whole autumn and winter to recover, if they ever recover at all. Accounts like the above, which we often see going the “rounds” in agricultural papers, it is almost needless to say, deserve only to be treated with ridicule and dis- respect. I clip the following egg-laying story, fram the fourth wolume of the “ American Agriculturist,” as having oc- 302 APPENDIX. * curred on the farm of Mr. Gerard Carpenter, of Pough- keepsie, New York. He commenced on the first of January, 1844, with sixty-seven hens and three cocks. Out of the flock, were sold and lost, by the Ist 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 :— Eggs January, . : 2 : é 191 February, . ‘ : . 400 March, . ; i F : 892 April, . : : é : 1,037 May, . . : . 1,086 June, . « 700 July, ‘ : : : : 838 August, é A ‘ F . 740. September, . F . . 540 October, . : 2 . . 113 November, . F : : 21 December, . : 3 : . mone. 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 tould eat; the grain. being placed where they could get at it whenever they felt inclined. In the winter, they had a little meat. They were not confined at all, and had access to lime and gravel, while the ground was covered with snow. A correspondent, of Rahway, New Jersey, states in the fifth volume of the journal last named above, that he commenced 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 ee “. 6 turkeys, . . at 62heta . 3.75 tS “.Ageese . . . . ab62kcts. . 2.50 APPENDIX. 303 Carried up, $18.75 Jan 30. “* 22geese, . . . . at 50cts. . 11.00 Feb. 25. “ cash for 15 hens, . at 25cts. . 3.75 Aug. 14. “ 6 young ducks, . : ‘ . 1.00 Nov. 14. “ 5 common ditto, . ; . 1.25 es “ 1 pair Muscovy do. - ; . 113 Dee. 31. “ 614 bushelscorn, . at 62%cts. . 38.44 ‘“« Labor in picking geese, . . 0.83 Total cost, | , ‘ : . $76.20 1845. Cr. Dec. 31. By 3,660 eggs used or sold, . . $40.15 «© 26 chickens, ee 7 - 6.25 «© 3 turkeys, ee : - 2,25 «6 ducks, es *, 2.25 «23 geese, a . - 15.67 a. a - a 35 lbs geese feathers, a - 17.50 «16 bushels of hen manure,. ° . 2.00 «© 103 fowls on hand, valued at . 25.75 «© 7 ducks, “ah ge + 2.63 « © 4 turkeys, om oe «© A geese, Total proceeds, . ". $120.45 Deduct cost, . : < 76.20 Net profits, . . ‘ $44.25 eo \ .The geese, it is stated, were not the least profitable part of the stock. They were the large, white Bremen variety, weighing, when dressed,‘ from 10 to 15 lbs. each. They were confined in a lane, which afforded them access to the different fields, and in which there is a large artificial pond. Dr. H. 8. Chase, of Woodstock, Vermont, makes the following statement on the management and profits of poultry ;—On the 27th of March, 1848, I purchased four hens and one cock, and kept them until the 15th of November, when I killed them. During that time, I received three hundred and eighty-six eggs as the re- sult of their laying. I fed them on grain, | 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 182 cents per peck, . $1.31 1 peck oats, : ‘ : 0.12—1.43 Net profit of four hens for less than eight \ months, | 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‘sqld,,forty-six dollars and forty-eight cents. I have now, thirty-two fowls, which I call worth thirty dollars. 14 aye lifeckoned 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. $2.43 Eggs sold—1,300 : : ; ‘ . $27.97 Eggs not sold—581 at 15 cents per dozen, . 7.27 Fowls sold, é ; : ; : - 46.48 Value of fowls on hand over last year at this time, . . . . : - 10.00 91.72 324 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 APPENDIX. 305 the kind will prove profitless in the end. When geese can be kept in situations where they have proper for- age and water accommodation, undoubtedly money could be made on a more extensive scale from the sale of their feathers and flesh. An instance is said to have occurred within two or three years past, in the western part of Pennsylvania or Virginia, in which a farmer raised 2,000 geese in a year, from which he obtained a ton of feathers, valued at $1,000. Besides their yatural pas- turage and range of water, they were allowed lo 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. Unner the article “ Egg Trade,” in the “ Supplement ” to the English “ Penny Cyclopzedia,”, 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 1d. per dozen produced £34,000. Nine tenths of the foreign eggs are from France. , The departments nearest to England, from the Pas de Calais to La Manche, are visited by the dealers, and their purchases often produce a scarcity in the country markets. At most of the ports of these departments, from Calais to Cherbourg, some vessels are employed in the egg trade. The weight of 80,000,000 eggs, is not far short of 2,500 tons. In the last three years, the importation of foreign eggs were as follow :— Inis42,. . . . . 89,548,747 ae . .°70,415,931 » 1844,. . . . 67,487,920 * Mr. M'Culloch says, the price paid by England to Ireland for eggs and poultry may be estimated at from £200,000 to £300,000 a year, © 306 APPENDIX. “The consumption of eggs, at Paris, is estimated a 100,000,000 of eggs a-year.” Everywhere in 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 115} eggs per head, or 101,052,400. The consumption in other parts of France may be reckoned at double this rate, as in many parts of the country dishes composed of eggs and milk are the principal items in all the meals. The consumption of eggs for the whole kingdom, including the capital, is estimated at 7,231,160,000; add to this nttmber those exported, and those necessary for reproduction. and it will result that a eggs were laid in France during the year 35. “The exportations from France, in 1835, were as follows :— ToEnglind, . . «. . 76,190,120 “ Belgium, . : ‘ . 60,800 * United States, : 49,696 “ Switzerland, . : Z 49,260 4 “ Spain, . a ‘ 34,800 “ Other parts of the world, . 306,304 The total amount of the exportation of that year was 3,829,284 francs ($76,800). 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 stock upon them, especially as they will feed but few cattle. Around every farm house, troops of poultry are to be seen. They swarm every- where, and the markets of every town are abundantly supplied. Much breed does not exist in any of them, but in some parts considerable attention is paid to their rearing. There is a peculiar variety in the peninsula of Caux in great esteem. The fowls of this district are fattened, in the envions of Barbézieux, La Fléche, and especially Mons, for the tables of the luxurious. The following interesting statistical remarks are taken APPENDIX. 307 from a paper in the English “Penny Magazine for March, 1837. After premising that, in the year 1837, the number of eggs imported from France into England amounted to 69,000,000, the writer says, “These eggs cannot be obtained from much fewer than 575,000 fowls, each producing 120 eggs on an average, all beyond this number being required for domestic consumption. Assuming the grounds of this calculation to be correct, the 55,000,000 eggs which a writer in a newspaper printed at Arras states to be the amount supplied to England from the Pas de Calais, are the production of 458,333 fowls, each of which furnishes ten dozen eggs, imported at a duty of 10d., 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 com- prise a total population of 665,000, which is the popu- lation of the department, the superfices of which being 2,624 square miles. Over this extent of country must those who are engaged in the egg trade keep a vigilant eye, penetrating into every hamlet, and visiting the lone houses which are scattered in this part of France, per- haps more numerously than in any other departments. Some arrangements of a peculiar nature are obviously required to facilitate the transactions of the wholesale dealer, who probably resides at the port whence the eggs are shipped. The services of a subordinate class of dealers are, doubtless, called into activity; and as it would be a waste of time for each of these to visit every week, or at a stated period, every one of the 39,861 houses whence they draw the quantity required, other arrangements of a still more detailed character are necessary in order to bring the article within grasp.” The British census returns for 1841 present us with an ad-valorem estimate of the poultry, (of all sorts,) kept in Ireland, the pecuniary value of each fowl being 308 APPENDIX. reckoned at the small sum of 6d. This census, however, is only an approximation to the truth; for it is stated, on good 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 .jhe 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, ; . : . £2,550 Dublin, eee oe : : 2,859 Kildare, are? “ ; - 8,986 Kilkenny, . ‘ ‘ ; ‘ 6,962 King’s County, . i : . 5,077 Longford, . i F ; 4 3,943 Louth. . . . . «+ 8,885 Meath, <. : : : : 7,566 Queen’s County, . : : . 5,138 Westmeath, : 4 ie 5,343 Wexford, ; : ‘ ‘ . 6,389 Wicklow, - : F . y 3,045 £56,243 CONNAUGHT. Galway, ‘ : : . £10,753 Leitrim, . ‘ - ‘ ‘ 4,083 Mayo, . F : i ‘ . 8,457 Roscommon; ¥ : 7,814 Slig, . . . . « « 4,109 £35,216 MUNSTER. Clare, : : ; ‘ . £1,031 Cork, . — oe oe 23,647 Kerry, : . . z 7,864 Limerick, : : . : rel Tipperary, . . ‘ ‘ : 7 “Waterford, % : : . 14,907 — £62,830 APPENDIX. 309 ULSTER. Antrim, : ; . . . £3,998 Armagh, . . : . ‘ 3,829 Cavan, : . ‘ . 5 6,609 Donegal, . . , . . 5,744 Down, : ; ; ‘ . 6,992 Fermanagh, . ‘ 3 : 4,113 Londonderry, : 5 ‘ ‘ 4,027 Monaghan, ‘ f . ; 5,314 Tyrone, : : ‘i ; : 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 6d. 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 8,874; about the same number was shipped by the British and Irish Company, making a total of 17,148 boxes. Each contained 13,000 eggs, but occa- stonally large boxes are used, containing more than four times that number. This gives the result of 23,072,400 eggs as annually shipped for London. To Liverpool, were shipped 5,135 boxes, containing 25,566,500 eggs, making a total of the shipments from Dublin alone, during the years 1344-5, to the two ports of London and Liverpool, of 48,639,900, the value of which, at the average rate of 5s. 6d. per every 124 eggs, (the return made,) givesa sum amounting to about £122,500 as the annual value of the eggs shipped from Dublin alone; and, since this return, the export of ngs has enormously increased. Assuming the export of Dublin to be equal to one fourth of the exports of all Ireland, (a calculation reaching much above the mark,) we have very close on £500,000, or half a million, as the value of this branch of commerce to Ireland, showing also an increase of 310 APPENDIX. fourfold since 1835.” The same writer adds, in-a note, “ By the same returns, I have ascertained that the ex- port of eggs is now nearly doubled, bordering on a ‘million sterling.” From the small rocky islands off the coast of La- brador, considerable traffic is carried on by a class of persons called “eggers,” who follow principally, or ex- clusively, the avocation of procuring the eggs of wild birds, with the view of disposing them at some distant port. Their great object is to plunder every nest when- ever they can find it, no matter where, and at whatever risk. They not only gather all the eider down they can find; yet so cruel and inconsiderate are they, that they kill every bird that comes in their way. The eggs of gulls, guillemots, and ducks are searched for with care ; and the puffins, and several other birds, they massacre in vast numbers merely for the sake of their feathers. The business is generally carried on with small dirty, cabinless shallops, of a few tons hurthen, manned with eight hands, who lie and sleep in the hold at the foot of a tottering mast. “Much had been said to me,” says Mr. Audubon, from whose work the following graphic sketch is taken, “respecting these destructive pirates before I visited the. coast of Labrador, but I could not entirely credit all their cruelties until I had actually wit- nessed their proceedings, which were such as to inspire no small degree of horror. But you shall judge for yourself. “ There rides the filthy thing! The afternoon is half over. Her crew have thrown their boat overboard ; they enter and seat themselves, each with a rusty gun. One of them sculls the skiff towards an island for a century past the breeding place of myriads of guillemots, which are now to be laid under contribution. At the approach of the vile thieves, clouds of birds rise from the rock and fill the air around, wheeling and screaming over their enemies. Yet thousands remain in an erect posture, each covering its single egg, the hope of both 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 all the sitting birds rise and fly off affrighted to their companions above, and hover in dismay over their assassins, who walk forward exultingly, and with their shouts mingling oaths and execrations. Look at them! See how they crush the chick within its shell, how they trample on every egg in the way, with their huge and clumsy boots. Onward they go, and when they leave the isle not an egg that they can find is left entire. The dead birds they collect and carry to the boat. Now they have regained their filthy shallop; they strip the birds by a single jerk of their feathery apparel, while the flesh is yet warm, and throw them on some coals, where, in a short time, they are broiled. The rum is produced when the guillemots are fit for eating, and after stuffing themselves with this oily fare, and enjoying the plea- sures of beastly intoxication, over they tumble on the deck of their crazed craft, where they pass the short hours of night in turbid slumber. “The sun now rises above the snow-clad summit of the eastern mount— ‘Sweet is the breath of 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. Mark them, as with clumsy fingers they clear away their drowsy eyes! Slowly they rise on their feet. See how the filthy lubbers stretch out their arms and yawn; you shrink back, for verily, ‘that throat might frighten a shark.’ “ But the master, soon recollecting that so many eggs are worth a dollar or a crown, casts his eye towards the 312 APPENDIX. rock, marks the day in his memory, and gives orders to depart. The light breeze enables them to reach another harbor a few miles distant, one which, like the last, lies concealed from the ocean by some ether 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. e « With a bark nearly half-filled with fresh eggs, they proceed to the principal rock, that on which they first landed. But what is their surprise when they find others there helping themselves as industriously as they can! In boiling rage, they charge their guns, and ply their oars. Landing on the rock, they run up to the eggers, who, like themselves, are desperadoes. The first question is the 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. POULTRY STATISTIOS, To the Report of the “Committee of Supervision” of the New-England Convention of Domestic Fowl] Breed- ers, held in Boston on the 15th of November last, I am indebted for the following extract :— “ Until quite recently, the breeding and rearing of poultry, in this section of the country, has been con- sidered too insignificant an article of stock to require any, or very little notice. , “ The rearing of poultry, as will be shown, is certainly not the least important article of stock to the farmer; and the subject is now beginning to assume an import- ance which the committee hope may produce an honor- able competition at our fairs—for the best stock, that stock whichever it may be, that shall give the best fowl —those giving the greatest amount of meat with the least offal—and which shall at the same time give the largest number of eggs, or return in profit, for the amount invested. “ That the rearing of poultry for market can be made * profitable, the committee could produce facts from well- authenticated sources, which should convince the most incredulous; but they will omit doing sv 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 offal. “ Our convenience to the London markets, by the aid of steamers weekly, enables the farmer through the egg merchant, to make sale of his surplus eggs in that quarter. ‘ “The amount of sales of poultry at the Quincy Market. Boston, for the year 1848, was six hundred and 14 314 APPENDIX. bd seventy-four thousand four hundred and twenty three dollars ; the average sales of one dealer alone amounting to twelve hundred dollars per week for the whole year. The amount of sales for the whole city of Boston, for the same year, (so far as ohtained,) was over one mil- lion of dollars. “The amount of sales of eggs, in and around, the Quincy Market, for 1848, was one million one hundred and twenty-nine thousand, seven hundred and thirty-five dozen, which, at 18 cents per’ dozen, (the lowest price paid 113 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 hundréd 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 ws. more than the value of its sheep, the entire value of its meat cattle, and nearly five times the value of its horses and mules. : 4 pprnprx. 315 “The same authority exhibits the total valuation of poultry, in various states and territories of the Union :— Maine, . ‘ i » $323,171 New Hampshire, . : 97,862 Vermont, : 176,437 Massachusetts, . 540,295 Rhode Island, . , : . 61,492 Connecticut, . ‘ . % 176,659 New York, ‘ i ‘ - 2,373,029: New Jersey, . ‘ . F 412,487 Pennsylvania, . ‘ : . 1,033,172 Delaware, z ‘ i i 47,465 Maryland, . : : . - 219,159 Virginia, : ‘ . . 752,467 North Carolina, . é : - 544,125 South Carolina, .. : 590,594 Georgia, . : 5 . . 473,158 thi, = & & & -s 734,931 Kentucky, . : : . - 586,439 Tennesee, ‘ : ‘ 3 581,531 Louisiana, . ‘ : 3 - 273,314 Mississippi, . . - . 369,481 Alabama, . ‘ ‘ 5 - 829,220 Missouri, . : . ‘ 230,283 Indiana, : . ‘i - 393,228 Hine sy ewe Ce 335,968 Michigan, . : : : 5 82,730 2 Arkansas, : : : : 93,549 Florida, . j 3 . 61,007 Wisconsin, . . . : 16,167 Towa, . . . ' ; . 17,101 District of Columbia, . 3,092 Total. - «. « $12,176,170 “It is probable that, since 1840, the value of poultry has doubled.” Pa WEIGHT OF POULTRY. As the size and weight ascribed to various breeds of fowls is often greatly exaggerated, I insert for the benefit 316 APPEX DIX. 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 10lbs., 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— L i] N me Os Black Polish cock, three years old, Ditto hen, ditto, Ditto pullet, . : * Golden Polish cock, . Ditto hen,” . ‘ Another hen, . : Golden Polish pullet, Malay hen, : é . 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, . i)". Large dun hybrid it, : “ 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 —_ _ ~ _ WWWHOAWMNWWHWAWDWHWANH WOE APPENDIX. 317 the uae increase much in size and beauty the second moult Another fist kindly furnished by Mr. Alfred Whitaker, gives— a i} N CONNDMDOOWMAWHOO: Pheasant-Malay cocks, two years old, Average) Ditto cockerel, five months old, Ditto hen, ; Ditto pullet, seventeen months old, ‘ Ditto, (crossed with Dorking hen,) four years ol, Speckled Surrey hen, two a old, . Spanish hen, . . Two Dorking cocks, ‘each, Ditto hens, : ‘ Ditto, ditto, F Cock turkey, two years and a half old, Hen ditto, one year and a half old, Ditto, ditto, : Musk drake (moulting _ Mr. Dixon’s own poultry yard gave the following weights : — a = ee ei OWOONMAANTTNTT Ws 12 \ LBS, OZ, Turkey cock, sixteen months old, . : . 16 O Ditto hen, three or four year old, ‘ » « 8 6&6 White, China gander, six years old, . ‘ . 12 13 White, China goose, . 11 13 Common China goose, (cynoides, i" six years old, 10 10 Cochin-China cock, about sixteen months old, moulting, . : : : : . . 6 5 Ditto hen, ditto, ditto, 4 6 Malay cock, ditto, ditto, 6 14 Ditto hen, ditto, ditto, 4 8 : Pheasant-Malay cock, : ‘ : iy ge WDE) HE Ditto Malay hen, noulting, 3 8 . Game cockerel, about five months old, - 4 2 ' Golden ‘Hamburgh cockerel, just arrived from a long journey, about five months old, 3. 68 Ditto pullet, ditto, ditto, 2 4 ' Cochin-China cockerel, six months old, 4 14 _ Another, . ditto, F 4 133 : Silver Hamburgh cockcrel, after travelling, about ' five months old, 3 1 | Ditto pullet, ditto, “ditto, . 2 8 i 318 APPENDIX. te ws - ° aN Black Polish hen, moulting, Golden Hamburgh, ditto. : Andalusian cockerel, four months old Ditto pullet, ditto, 6} Black Spanish cockerel, ditto, Ditto pullet, ditto, 11 Silver Polish cockerel, four months and a half old, Golden Poland pullet, about five months old, White-crested golden Poland puyllet, ditto, . It will appear from the foregoing, that for a cock, of any breed, to reach 7} |bs., even live weight, he must be an unusually fine bird; but this has to be doubled before we can rival those Cochin-China specimens, in whose existence some persons appear to believe. SAMUEL ALLEN. Yovwnnwnwnw = _ o ev) To C. M. SAXTON. New York, January 2, 1850. INDEX. Albinos .... Allectorius . Animals influenced by Food and Climate "73 White ....... cece ec egee ec eees 292 « Inferiority of ...... 32, 92, 297 B Bankiva Fowl csc ccsixasnyae aes oi0'e4 « Jungle Fow! .. Breeding, Reinarks on Cc Caponising Fowls ..........-. 166, 251 Capons trained to hatch E 119 “ employed to nurse Chick 119 Cob (Male Swan) « 245 Cock, Dunghill, Selectio - 89 ee Character of . -» 90 DOVAN « casiaw rinse seco ve 49 TUNIC: «ozs caineiejaeis seas cine vie 19, 21 D Diseases of Poultry ............0-00055 259 Apoplexy ........- - 260 Appetite, Loss of . . 276 “ Voracious . « 276 Asthma ........6 » 23 Bloody Flux .. . 279 SW AR SSS aaa aleotumerened 268 Change of Color of Feathers. . 22 Conenceet Pulmonary ..... 268 Costiveness ... 278 Cropsick .. 276 Diarrhea . 278 Dislocations ..... Feathers, Loss of _“ Hatching and Pairing.. Fractures Diseases & Poultry Lungs ...... 265 “ Windpipe .. 263 Influenza + 267 283 Moulting - 288 Nostrils, Obstruction of » 266 Parasitic Vermin ...... « 23 Pip, or Thrush..... -» 262 Phthisis ...... - -268 Rheumatism - 230 Roup 267, 281 Rump Gland, Obstruction of .. 281 Scouring ...... 278 Thrush, ¢ or Pip. - 262 Thirst. ... + 275 “Uleers ... - 22 Wounds + WL Duck, Aylesbury « .. 197 Marsh occ sccesicsas - 197 Musk or ae 198, 298 Rouen, or Rhone . -.. 197 190, 298 “ Choice of varieties of. - 197 e “ Fattening of . - 206 “ Incubation of ..... -» 204 -“ Origin and History of...... 190 “ Range and Domestic Acco- modation of .....:.....4 Eccaleobion described Egg Cluster’ v.cjsccesscxees 100 Eggers, Labrador, describe 310 Egg-Hatching Machine, American 116 Egg Tr: © reer eect ee eee eee eee e eee 305 12, 114 320 INDEX. PAGES. PAGES. Quatities of ..........++ + +.94, 296] Fowl, Domestic, Ceopraphical Distribu- Preservation of for Cooking. Ssiacisa, 97! OF ses sp eeaisiaiieye 15 “« oa 98 Golden Hamburgh ec ‘ies for ee araiaie-sia'aia 97, 98 & Sexes Of .......ceeee eee coceeeee 95 6 Spancled « Structure of Great Malay .......... « Weight of..... ee Tomulabinty, of Species Everlasting Layers......-..0sceeeeeeee FAL Of naa eee e ese eee 105 Ineatadion of ......... 106 F Influenced by Food and Climate ........0.4- Fowl, Domestic, Anomalous Varieties of 81 ae of ae us Mothers in Rearing of.......... 120 Bantam ........... 7, 297 % lack........ 0 ce Creeper . Jumper .....- Ni Sebright ..... Bolton Bay ... “ Grey... Boob: Bre of Buck’s-County........ Caponising Chittagong ing and Crossing Classification of . Cochin-China Comparative Merits of. 203 Cuckoo 55 Experiments in Feed- ee of with botled’ ae Futening Food of, ees found. on the Pacifle Jago, or St. Jago Jerecy Binge dees 6 jungle ... Kulm ........-...-++- ing and Preparing for Market 1 Lark-Crested ......... a Soot, Charcoal, for .......605 , 87 Lost sot Variciiesof eieecteas 13 Malay .........0. 37 Mongrel Z O) c Negro..... 81 Nest Box 85 Nests of, not found in the Atlantic Isles, when discover- ed by the Moderns.. 8 not mentioned-in the Old Testament...... Go Old Sussex, or Kent .. 31 Origen and pen of. 5 Ostrich . .. 33, 78 Paduan . 60 Paring of ...... 92 Peneilled Dutch. . 51 easant ...... 40 ae Breed .. 40 Ay Malay 40 ‘Piymouth-} “Rock . eset 76 Poland, Polander, or Polish 60 Portugal... . 26 Range and Domestic Accommodation of.. 81 Rumwkin, or Rumpless. 81 monet or Pha 75 jpanish . 26, Topknotted, not men- ‘cients Weight of ... 30, 35, 76, 78, 79, 365 White Polish ....... 60, 63 leh) lacenueasne 51 INDEX. 821 PAGES, ‘ Fovl, Domestic, be tga of, Growth in Guinoa Fowl, Laying of ...........0.6- siefouiess Sisiasels Origin and Thistory of. “ oe to feed Pairing Of .....+.eueee 4 previous to Weuning 121 ‘ Young of, how to nurse 117 Fowl Houses Il Fowl, Wild .. B Hen, Domestic,,Char: acter Of ....+. scace O1 Classification of . 8 OICE Of cece eee eeeeee 91 Geography of .... 15 “ Laying Propensities of. 94 Javanese Jungle . 19|Hens, Relative Number to a Cock ..... 92 Jungle, Sonnerat’s 21|Hybrid between the Pheasant and Do- «Stanley's 21 mestic Fowl.........scsseccescnrs 4 South American .......... 15|Hybrid Geese .... 212, 218, aD, 227, 229, 298 Hydro-Incubator Mewin see ammnaciarensayeTsen 114 G I Game Cock, English ........- 45 Game Fowl ..........-.- 44 Incubation, Period of— “ Breeding of . 48 American Wild Gigs wanes DIE Geese, Sandwich-Island 18 China Goose...... - 27 Common Goos . 217 ea Swan 229 goof... Domestic Hen . 108, 114 Geographical Guinea Hen ...........00005 173 bution of .......... Musk Duck 200 “ Management of. . Pea Hen . 188 “ Migration of ......... Tame Duck « 205 « Natural History of ... 234 Turkey Hen......... . 158 “ Pairing of ........... 240 White, China Goose ........ 233 Bean .........6. 211] Incubation, Periods of, vary according to Bremen ........ - 298 Circumstances ..........66 Canada, described . 237 Mi viscaaawiswetar ste - 222 “ Breeding of. 226 J Domestic ...........0++ . 208 “ Fattening of .. 219| Javanese Jungle Cock ............. 19 se am of. 217| Jungle Cock............ QL « Laying of ............- 216 Fowl, Sonnerat’s 21 & Origin and History of.. 208 “ ~ Stanley’s ... 21 cf Pairing of .....-...++.+ 215 < Range and Domestic Accomodation of .... 214 K “ Young of, how to trea 218 | ae a aii Kulm Fowl.......... atest dteaamasene: OT Tey-legge Baltes cc 22 Hong-Kong . 222 L Laughing. 211 Spanish: ‘. ce Lengerily a ee setaatsanaee: sane eee seen seen ens ost Varieties of Fowls ....- White, China .. 228, 231, 298 f White Fronted ae 819 Laying Propensities of Fowls ... Wild ....... ee wnt ILDD Guinea Fowl] ........++-+++eeeeee+ 170, 297 M Carried from America to 186 Europe ....+---- essen DiREe batweont the: | Malay Fowl aacau vanvemedseutetey a 37 Cock and Hen......... 170| Meleagris of the Ancients, What ?.. 167, 169 Begs Of sc nessa senses nes 172 Reading and Management 174 N Nest Boxes for Domestic Fowls ......... 85 . Nests, Materials for making ........... 87 322, INDEX. oO PAGES, PAGES. Swan, Common, Feeding of . 247, 299 Ostrich Fowl ...... 33, 78 anagement 247, 299 Ovarium, or Egg Cluster of Fowls...... 100 ce MUG siesciniesereiniceinnitraenie 945 ce Natural History of .... M4 ‘6 Pairing of ......... wee 26 P Pea Paw). sess siciciaermmctieisjrcaiocaenices 277 Feeding and Management of. 188 T Geographical Distribution of . 181 Japan Laying and Brooding of Origin and History of . . Queen Victoria’s............ 1 Range and Domestic Accom- modation of..... Pen Birds (Female Swans) Pheasant-Matlay Fowl . ‘owl..... . 40 Breed. - 40 Polotokian ............. . 113 Poulardes, how to make . « 253 Poultry Raising, Profits of.. am LAUISHIES ecoresis, comets tials wine ins Weight of .30 35 76 78, 79, 142, ie > 249, 315 Q Queen Victoria’s Pea Fowl ........ sees 179 R Ruowkin, or Rumpless Fowl ........... 81 } Sonnerat’s Jungle a i weiinninceaiealaioinis 21 Stanley’s ‘ Swan, Chinese...... Common .... “ Distinction between eee 247 182 Turkey, Domestic . 8 Caponising of........ Choice of the Cock . Co) eee Fattening of. . Hieuballon of. aying 0 at Long-Island Dwarf .. Number of Hens toa Origin and History of 133 Range and Domestic Accommodstion of. 152 Selection of the Hen . 154 Should not roost with other Fowls ....... 152 i as Variety" aug of, in Persia . Young of, how to treat 160 ‘ injured Wet..... Weight of. . Turkey, Wild, described Crossed with Domestic Br 14 Eggs of ... 14 Geographical Distribu- tion of . Habits of .....- Honduras . Weight of..... When introduced Europe .. ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGES American Ege-Hatching Machine ......0cccccccesrecsecsceteeeeseseesnes «= 116 Wald GC O08- ssessins a0 sicigis-cromasoeraneiens cinadaas oa gienaareunina cern weeny Ler6 237 * Bankiva Jungle Cock On Frontispiece, and 19 Bantam! Cock js iciaseasmeraiscsiainaryagetosew sas oasetaiss wee eawaalee nem eaeiesemese 67 “ — Sebright Cock and Hen’ ee 68 Canula, for Caponising ....... .. 255 Chicken Coops ......- « «©1928 Chick in the Egg . ae . 109 China Goose ..... 23 Cochin-China Cock 33 “ FON. sersieritoricveeevscs 35 Cockerel, confined for Caponising . 256 Cee ere Se ee 122 Domestic Goose ..... 213 Dorking Cock and Hen ... 99 Duck, Musk, or Muscovy . 198 « “Pond and Honses 203 se J9L 100 45 Extracting Crystal from Capon 259 Forceps for Caponising ....... .. 255 Game Cocks ......-..++ . 44, 45 Goose, Canada wa U8F « China . 223 me Domestic 7 213 & Wild ......+0.c0 e+ 937 Great Malay Cock and Hen . 37 Guinea Hen ........-+++- 170 Hen Houses -..ccnever ccoescvensnsceesisicnwesian atennele nsw eseigusied cows aie ‘4, 85, 86 Jago Cock and Hen . On Frontispiece Javanese Cock ....... On Frontispiece,and 19 “ Jungle Cock ......-..-.- On Mrontesniece, and = 19 Kulm, or Great Malay Cock and Hen 37 Malay Cock and Hen ..... ss 27 Peacock .... : oe Poland, or Polish Tupnotted Cor and Men? -siesusrwiseanocncimnian cece mention Poultry Houses ........ 84, 85, 86, 122, 203 Retractor, fOr Caponisings 26.5 ais cewsercrewiereretecieuisie sob irsiavecticieaioronneigninwgneamenns Ee : ciaeipts eateiateateareaw oS ses 25 Sebheht Bantam Cock and Hen . sol 68 Sonnerat’s Jungle: Cock is sie sis sia iva sinsasasicrvrainies sveieis sivieingivinitderaeioaieeia ayaa are 21 Spanish Cock and Hen .... i Na 6 Spangled Hamburgh COCK tesa: sincaiars xinisceaianncicremioigie gine gs oer Sa cinslnaemmaniaaerat 58 Hen age 59 Spoon, for Caponising 255 Swan, Common, or M ute. 245 Turkey; Domestic aasratreae 151 Wild ...... 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PEE “The great enventee it possesses over all other books of the kind is, that the author has avoided Latin terms; this is what has brought Dr. Gunn’s work mtc such extensive family use.”—New Orleans Picayune. “Asa medical Vade Mecum, it has for years stood high; and now, since its re- ener (Raymond’s copy,) will take the lead of all similar works.”—Mobile Datly vertiser. “Tts extensive sa'e has established ‘ts worth, and stamped it as a standard and useful book.”—Kentucky Gazette. OG On the receipt of Taree Doitars, Dr. Gunn’s book wil) be sent, Sree of postage, to any part ofthe United States. _ Alt ioe must be addressed, (post-paid,) to C. M. SAXTON, 121 Fouron St New York. : ‘¢ Raymond’s Copy” is the only complete editien and isso marked on the bace THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST; A MONTHLY PERIODIOAL DWeslgued to (mprove the Harner, the Planter, the Stock-Ireeder, and the Morticulturist. A. B. 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Cannot he take the principles he has acquired, and apply them equally well in any part of America? Are not the blessed sunlight of heaven, the rain, the dew, the heat, and the frost, though sometimes differing in degree, of equal relative effect wherever they are felt, whether within the tropics or the polar circles, the eastern or western hemisphere? If the question were as to 4 choice between a good paper printed here or there, it were another matter. But througheut extensive regions this is not the case, and it is either a good paper or none + all; and even if there were one for every particular section of country, we te'gat still urge a general circula+on for our own ; for no one will embrace all that i is important to be known. THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER’S MANUAL. BY T. B. MINER. 350 pp. 12mo. 35 Eacravines. Price $1. PUBLISHED BY C. M. SAXTON, 123 FULTCN ST., N. ¥. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS, “The most complete work on the Bee and Bee-keeping we have yet seen.”— N. Y. 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Evangelist. a It _ sn excellent book and the best published on tke subject.”--Boston Olive inch, EVERY FARMERS 600K?! Ten Thousand seaheaie cnn printed in six Months! ILLUSTRATED TREATISE ON DOMESTIC ANIMALS, Being a history and description of the Horse, Mule, Cattle, Sheep, Swine, Bout try, and Farm Dogs ; with Directions for their Management, Breeding, Crossing, Rear ing, Feeding, and preparation for a profitable market. Also, thelr Diseases and' Remedies ; together with Full Direotions-for the Management of the Dairy, and the Com. parative Eeonomy and Advantages of Working Animals, the Horse, Mule, Oxen, &o., by R. Le ALLEN, Author of ‘ Compend of American Agriculture,” §c. The above work contains more than 40 Engravings and Portraits of Improved Animale Ulustrative of the different breeds and various subjects treated in it. The most minute as well as general principles for Breeding, Crossing, Rearing, Feeding, and M: of all D ic Animals, are herein given, to produce the utmost marketable value for the food and attention bestowed on them ; as well as to prevent disease, and save the immense losses whieh annually occur from this source. It can be sent aM Mail, in Cloth Biné+ Sng, for 75 Cents—Paper, 50 Cents. Published by C. M. SAXTON,, 123 Fulton st, Nv” York. For sale by all the Booksellers throughout the country. Agents wanted for every county in every state. Address, pos? P paid, the Publisher. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS, The Compactness yet oomplet will make ita favorite with agrioulturists.—Chronicle, hia. Its greatest worth is, as a complete farrier, showing the diseases of animals, their treatment, and cure.—Far. & Mec, mene portion which relates to the dairy alone, is worth the “cost of the book.— Worcester ‘anscript. Itis every way adapted to be serviceable in every household which has domestic animals.— D. Adv., Newark. We believe it a complete guide for the farmer and dairyman in the purchase, care, and use of animals.—Jeffersonian. Here is a work which should be in the hands of every farmer.— Highland Courier. We can confidently 1 recommend this work as a very ane instructive one to those petal in farm ing, raising stock, or husbandry.— North e author isa 3 practical farmer and stockeresdar;) and i is able to vouch for the correctness of dies for d of D Animals, as well as the best’ mode of managing them. — Ben O.R It costs but seventy-f five deieaiael and cannot fail to be worth ten times that amount to any far mer.—Summit S. C. B me is ss best of that giarcice we have yet seen ; no farmer should be without it.—Democrag, arlisle, Pa. This i i just such a book as every owner of stock should be possessed of—Easton Md Star. Here is a book which all—those who follow the plow, and those who direct it—can read 40 profit. It is a library of knowledge, presenting the latest improvements and discoveries, on all the topics treated of; and illustrated by a great variety of cuts. The “ Allens,” one of whom ig the author of the-work before ug, are quite famous in their especial role, so that what proceeda from them may be confidently oredited atallevents. The present book is a most interesting and instructive one, and must meet with a great sale.—Sciota Gazette. This work, to the farmer and stock Tansey will be usefal, instructive, and profitable, enabling them to i improve the breed of their stoc! Preserye them from sickness, and cure them when infected with disease.—Herald. Morrisoule: P Thetime has gone by when farmers can ae to succeed without giving some attention to Book Farming, and we trust they begin to see it for themselves. We should like to hear that this work was in the hands of every farmer in the county.—Mereury, Potsdam, N. Y. The title page of this work gives a good idea of its scope and intent. It is a comprehensive summary of farm operations, and will prove very acceptable to the great mass of our farmin population. We are informed that 3,000 copies of this work have been sold since the first & January. It is well printed and profusely illustrated —N. Y¥. Tribune. It is furnished with numerous illustrating cuts, and will form a complete “vade mecum” for the 5 nla al convenient for reference, and to be relied on when consulted.—Baltimore This is a practical book by a practical man, and will serve extensive practical ends. It is & companion which every farmer will feel that he cannot well be without.—WN. Y. Observer We cheerfully recommend this work to farmers.—Signal, Juliett, Ill. We anticipate an extensive sale for thia work.— Ohio Cultivator. This work ought to be in the hands of every planter.—N. O. Delta. e author is a gentleman of fine attainments, and who ranks as ono of the most accom- plished writers on agricultural subjects in the country.—Ala. Planter. Many a valuable animal is lost, every year, for want of the knowledge here conveyed.— Eagle: « Brattleboro, Vt. The author (Mr. Allen). is a teal mon and imo“-om his pen, on subjects con- who prefer matter of fact to A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE CULTIVATION.OF THE GRAPE VINE . ON OPEN WALLS. WITH A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PLANTING AND MANAGING ROOTS OF GRAPE VINES. BY CLEMENT HOARE. TO WHICH. IS ADDED, AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING REMARKS ON THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE VINE IN THE UNITED STATES. NEW YORK: C. M. SAXTON, 123 FULTON STREET. 1851. AN ESSAY ON MANURES, SUBMITTED TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR PROIMOTING AGRICULTURE, FOR THEIR PREMIUM. BY SAMUEL L. DANA. i ill ! From the New York Observer: Essay on Manures. By Samuer L. Dana This Essay contains much useful information for the practical farmer, in a small compass, in reference to the nature and management of manures imme- diately under his control ; the knowledge and practice of which will amply com- pensate for the expense of ascertaining its value. NEW YORK: C. M..SAXTON, 123 FULTON STREET. ALSO, STRINGER & TOWNSEND, H. LONG & BROTHER, W. F. BUR- GESS, DEWITT & DAVENPORT, WILSON & CO., DEXTER & BROTHER. BOSTON : REDDING & CO. PHILADELPHIA ; W. B. ZIEBER, LINDSAY & BLAKISTON. 1860. LECTURES ‘ ON THE GENERAL RELATIONS WHICH SCIENCE BEARS TO PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE, DELIVERED BEFORE THE NEW-YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. BY JAMES F. W. JOHNSTON, F.R.SS. L.&E. WITH NOTES AND ADDITIONS. NEW YORK: C. M. SAXTON, AGRIULTURAL BOOKSELLER, 123 FULTON STREET. THE FAMILY KITCHEN GARDENER; CONTAINING PLAIN AND ACCURATE DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL THE DIFFERENT SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF CULINARY VEGETABLES: BY ROBERT BUIST, AUTHOR OF THE AMERICAN FLOWER-GARDEN DIRECTORY, ROSE MANUAL, ETC, NEW YORK: C. M. SAXTON, 123 FULTON STREET, ALSO, STRINGER & TOWNSEND, H. ONG & BROTHER, W. F. BUR- GESS, DEWITT & DAVENPORT, WILSON & CO., DEXTER & BROTHER. BOSTON: REDDING & CO. PHILADELPHIA? W. ». ZIEBER, LINDSAY & BLAKISTON. 1850 THE AMERICAN BIRD FANCIER; CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO THE BREEDING, REARING, FEEDING, MANAGEMENT, AND PECULIARITIES CAGE AND HOUSE BIRDS. Illustrated with Engravings BY D. J. BROWNE, AUTHOR OF THE SYLVA AMERICANA, THE AMERICAN POULTRY YARD, ETC. NEW YORK: C. M. SAXTON, 123 FULTON STREET. ALSO, STRINGER & TOWNSEND, H. LONG & BROTHER, W. F. BURGESS, DEWITT & DAVENPORT, WILSON & CO., DEXTER & BROTHER. PHILADELPHIA : W.‘B, ZIEBER, LINDSAY & BLAKISTON,. BOSTON! REDDING « CO. GARDEN IMPLEMENTS Sor Lavies. A. B. ALLEN & CO.,, 189 AND 191 WATER STREET, NEW YORK. ; sk Sli) Tae subscribers keep constantly on hand and offer for sale, at their Agricultural Warehouse and Seed Store, the largest assortment of Agricultural and Horticultural Implements, Field and Garden Seeds to be found in the United States, among which are included the following :— Laprss’ Prunmc SHEARS. Fig. 1. denotes asmall pair of shears which are very useful for trimming box trees and bushes, as well as for many other purposes; Fig. 2. shows another pair of pruning shears with wooden handles, which are handsomely and finely made; they are very con- venient for trimming shrubbery, &c., that is too large to be cut by the scis- sors or hand shears. Fig 3. represents a pair of iron-handled shears, designed for pruning raspber- ries, rose bushes, &c. They have a sliding centre and spring, and make a perfectly smooth cut. hg represents a Triangular Hue; Fig. 6, a Garden Rake ; Fig. 7,a Proning Saw and Chis- el; Fig. 8, Garden Syringe ; Fig. 9, a Fork-backed Hos; Fig. 10, a Fruit Gatherer; Fig. 11, a Garden Trowel; Fig. 12, alight Garden Spade. . Fie, 10. Besides the foregoing, our Establishment embraces more than ONE HUNDRED different kinds of Plows, a great variety of Harrows, Cultivators, Rollers, Seed Bowers: Horse Powers, Threshing. Machines, Mllis, Corn-Stalk, Straw, and Hay Cutters, Corn Shellers, Shovels, Spades, Hoes, Scythes, Rakes, Knives, &c. 4 Also, Seeds For the Field and Garden.—Such as Improved Winter and Spring Wheat, Rye, R ga, Turnip, Cabbage, Bedt, Carrot, Parsnip, Clover, and Grass Seeds, &oe., &e. Fertilisers.—Peruvian and Patagonian Guano, Lime, Plaster of Paris, &c., &c. Fruit.and Ornamental Trees cnd Shrubs.—Orders taken for these, and executed from a choice of the best Nurseries, Gardens, and Conservatories in the United States, A. B. ALLEN & CO., 189 and 191 Water st. New York. The AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, a monthly publication of 32 pages, octavo ; with nu- merous handsome Embellishments, It is design: for the improvement of the Farmer, the Planter, the Stock-Breeder, and the Horticulturist. Edited by A.B. & R.L. Auten. Published wee. M.Saxron. New York. Price $1 a’year. Volume Ninth commenced January lat, . Back volumes for sale, handsomely and uniformly bound. Price $1.25. {ce Any ene procuring Cash Orders for goodsin the Warehouse, or Subscriptions for the American Agriculturist, willbe allowed a liberal commission,