626 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



a long name out of the copious vocabulary of our chicken dialect, 

 a form of speech which always amazed those who chanced to over- 

 hear it. We counted it one of the least of our duties to keep ac- 

 curately informed concerning all changes of rank, and to know at 

 any time just how many others every fowl on the farm could 

 " boss," and how many, in turn, " bossed " it. From the old sultan, 

 who acknowledged no rivals, to the forlorn " scrub " of the youngest 

 brood of chicks which had fought out their station, there were no 

 exceptions. These facts, which might easily be multiplied, will 

 suffice to account for the exceptional observations of our long ex- 

 perience as poultry-lovers. 



We early learned that our pets had striking individuality. In 

 this broad fact we found ample reason to note with interest rather 

 than surprise the after-discoveries of almost human traits which 

 made them a never-ending delight. There were young roosters 

 all fuss and bluster from the first, while others were singularly 

 quiet and wary, just as some hens were solitary and suspicious, 

 and others were trustful in the extreme and wretched without 

 much company. These traits were not only inherited, but could 

 be discerned very early. Two or three of the bravest hens on the 

 farm would always, after " stealing a nest," with our permission, 

 bring out a brood of young fighters as much like their mother in 

 habits as in appearance. We could only guess at the descent in 

 the male line. In one case of this kind, where a fine hen was left 

 with but a single chick after the casualties of the first few days, 

 we managed to make the little fellow so conceited and pugnacious 

 that he would fight chickens twice his size, and more than once 

 before he was weaned he tried to whip his mother. This we did 

 by throwing food to a larger chicken, beginning with one which 

 we knew to be cowardly, in such a way that it would get the 

 morsel while its tail was turned toward our little champion. Im- 

 mediately another tidbit, dropped in front of the victim, would 

 make it appear to be running away at the very time that it was 

 getting all the food the other wanted. He soon showed his dis- 

 gust by pecking the retreating form of the hungry chicken, and 

 we never let the object of his wrath turn until he was very sure 

 that it was afraid of him ; then, if it showed too much pluck, we 

 could always tempt or drive it away in time to make our little 

 pet think it was really conquered. The tiny victor was as proud 

 as if he had been four times as big, and got his fill to eat as his 

 reward. By a long course of this sort of training his audacity be- 

 came only less remarkable than his courage and fierceness in fight- 

 ing. With other young roosters, until they were nearly half- 

 grown, the same tactics usually succeeded in bringing on a fight. 

 Often we started a " feed " with one, the confident master, and the 

 other, the uneasy but intimidated subject, and ended it with the 



