PAIRING AND SITTING 



109 



ing illustration. Each compartment is 

 three-jjarts filled with bran, than which 

 there is no better or more suitable material 

 for the purjiose ; it is soft, and the eggs lie 

 securely in the little impressions or dents 

 made in the surface of the bran with the 

 tip of the finger. A lid to the tray lessens 

 the possibility oC injury to the eggs. As 

 the eggs are laid we transfer them to the 

 tray, placing them in the compartment 

 bearing the corresponding letter or number 

 to that on the front of the cage. Each 

 morning the first thing we do is to turn all 

 the eggs in the tray, then go round and 

 take all those laid that morning from the 

 nests, placing them alongside those already 

 in the tray corresponding with the letter or 

 ninnber on their respective cages. 



We keep a breeding record as well, in 

 which we write a description of each jmir of 

 birds, number of nests taken and of eggs 

 laid, with the number hatched, and a 

 description of the young. Some fanciers 

 indicate the fact of a hen having laid by a 

 chalk-mark on the front of the cage, and 



Aaa-aaaaa/ 



Az^^A:A:AA-A'Aim 



NUMBERED EGG TRAY. 



post up their record from these chalk-marks, 

 in which they believe most devoutly. The 

 book is for detailed items, but the chalk- 

 marks show the whole state of aifairs at once 

 in a thoroughly jiractical way which we will 

 explain. We will suppose the fancier 

 going into his room between eight and 

 nine o'clock in the morning, by which time 

 his hens will all have laid. If he have any 

 method in him, he will begin at the be- 

 ginning and go steadily through. The 

 information given by the marks on a few 

 cages will suffice to explain what we wish. 

 Here is a cage without a mark. The hen 

 was expected to lay this morning, and has 

 done so ; we put the egg in its place in 

 the tray and chalk the cage. Here is one 



with a single mark, or two marks, as the 



case may be ; that means we may look 



for more eggs, which we do. and add a 



mark to those already on the cage. We 



pass on to a third, the chalks, bear in mind, 



telling at a glance, without any reference 



to a book or comparison between it and 



the tray, just where we have to look, 



and what we may expect to find when we 



do look. In the next cage, which has two 



marks, we anticipate finding the third 



egg, but we do not. We know from the 



marks that it oiigfit to be there, and that 



it is not ; so we add a cross or a cipher, 



or some such distinguishing mark, which 



tells us the hen has missed a day, and if 



the third egg be not there to-morrow we 



shall not sit her on the two she has laid, but 



give one to each of two hens on tiie other 



side, whose marks indicate that they are 



likely to stop at three, as they have not 



laid on the fourth or fifth morning, and are 



sitting close to their nests. 



A hen that has laid but two eggs rarely 



sits out her time. Some do not attempt 



to sit at all. others sit close 



5. "/V for two or three days, then 



Clutches 1 , , , , 



suddenly desert the two eggs. 



and commence to build again on the 

 ti)]) of them. The cause is easily under- 

 stood. The hen has only laid part of 

 a clutch ; something unseen temporarily 

 checked Natvu'e's progress ; the machinery, 

 so to speak, has now righted itself, the 

 other eggs are coming along, and the hen 

 is busying herself for the happy event. 

 The eifect of this is temporarily to destroy 

 all tendency to brood the eggs previously 

 laid. She may now lay another three or 

 foiu", when she will settle down to brood 

 them in right earnest in the normal way. 

 But the two previous eggs, having been 

 partially sat on, would be useless unless 

 they were transferred to another hen as 

 soon as deserted. It is, therefore, much 

 better to transfer such eggs at once to 

 another hen which has just started sitting 

 on a small clutch. A very good plan is 

 to mark the two eggs transferred with a 

 small spot of ink so that it may be known 

 by this mark whether the eggs have hatched 



