BEHAVIOR OF CAPONS WHEN BROODING CHICKS 321 



treading a hen. The orgasm is soon over; the struggling chick 

 is released and the capon resumes his role of caretaker. Some- 

 times, though not often, the act is repeated two or three times 

 with the same or different chicks within a short time— ten or 

 fifteen minutes. On one or two such occasions, I have seen him 

 employ a trick used by the cock in getting a hen indifferent to 

 his attentions within reach. This trick consists in uttering the 

 food call, at the same time standing with head down, repeatedly 

 pretending to pick up and drop an imaginary bit of food, but 

 at the same time with an eye on the hen. When she comes 

 within reach, he attempts to seize her. A hen with chicks 

 calls them to the food but in a different way. The capon's 

 behavior toward the chicks leaves little room for doubt that he 

 is attempting to tread them. Though hens have since been 

 kept in the same pen, this capon has not been observed treading 

 them. This capon reared all the chicks given him. 



In the second instance the capon was a Brown Leghorn, hatched 

 June 29, 1913, and caponized by the writer August 8, 1913. The 

 same procedure was adopted with the Brown Leghorn as with the 

 Rhode Island Red. The hen-hatched chicks were accepted just 

 as readily as before. However, he was extremely wild, so that 

 whenever anyone approached he promptly attempted to escape 

 from the coop or yard in which he was confined. He made no 

 attempt to fight off an intruder but promptly deserted his charges 

 for the far corner of the pen. As soon, however, as the intruder 

 withdrew he returned to the chicks. This bird clucked very 

 little, even when he had a tidbit to offer. His movements were 

 very quick. After a little he learned to fly out of the pen, and 

 as the meshes of the wire were coarse, the chicks were able to 

 follow him. . Only two of the four originally given him survived 

 beyond the first few days. The trio kept together all summer 

 until the capon moulted. Soon after his new feathers were 

 about two-thirds grown he was observed at several different 

 times on top of a post, crowing. In appearance he is as typical 

 a capon as any other. 



The third instance was a Rhode Island Red capon of similar 

 history to the first. The chicks used were incubator-hatched. 

 The bird was shut up in the evening of July 12 and two chicks 

 placed beneath him. He took them readily. The following night 

 the rest of the hatch, some twenty-five in number, was placed 



