434 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 



when, uttering a peculiar clucking and spreading her wings, she 

 sits upon her treasures, and covers them with so much perseverance 

 as sometimes to forget to eat or drink, unless food is brought her. 

 During twenty-one days the eggs are maintained at a uniform 

 temperature of about 40 Centigrade. At the end of that time 

 the young chickens burst their shell. The Hen fulfils the duties 

 of a mother with incomparable devotion and tenderness ; she follows 

 her young brood step by step, calls them to her when they stray, 

 and seeks nourishment for them, thinking little of her own wants 

 till theirs are satisfied. Against all aggressors, with every feather 

 bristling and angry eyes, she warns them, protects them, and de- 

 fends them. If a bird of prey appears, she hastens to meet it, 

 and assumes such a menacing attitude, that few will not imme- 

 diately take to flight. The chickens develop rapidly. At the 

 end of a month the crest of the males shows itself ; at six months 

 they have acquired the vigour necessary for reproduction ; females 

 begin to lay about the same time. At the age of three months 

 transforming them into capons and pullets is performed names 

 given to those individuals which have been deprived of the sexual 

 organs. In this condition they are fattened, and acquire a superior 

 flavour and delicacy of flesh. Pullets and capons, in losing the 

 generative faculty, lose also the inherent characteristics of their 

 sex. The temper of the male becomes so mild that he has been 

 made to perform maternal duties when a Hen has deserted her 

 chickens to recommence laying, by plucking out feathers from 

 his stomach, and then rubbing the part with nettles ; the chickens 

 gliding under, allay the pain which the stings have caused, and 

 thus the bird derives pleasure from his wards, and soon attaches 

 himself to them. The departments of Sarthe and Ain are cele- 

 brated for the pullets there raised. 



Hatching is sometimes performed by artificial incubation. In 

 olden times the Egyptians had recourse to this means to increase 

 the production of poultry. The method which was used, and 

 which is still employed in modern Egypt, consists in placing the 

 eggs in a furnace maintained for twenty- one days at a uniform 

 temperature of 40 C. By this means a hundred millions of Fowls 

 are annually produced in Egypt. Simple as this operation appears, 

 it is not without difficulty, or the climate of Africa assists, for 



