IXTRODUCTORY. 3 



tion, since it has, by the late invention of labor-saving 

 machinery, been made more feasible than previously, 

 while the art of artificial incubation has also been per- 

 fected. Modifications of both the intensive and exten- 

 sive systems will be fully described to suit the varying 

 needs of localities as diverse as those in our country of 

 magnificent distances, while the false and unnatural 

 plans which have ended in ruin during the twenty years 

 that have seen the principal progress in poultry affairs, 

 will be treated but briefly and as a warning. 



In managing animals of any kind, we must follow 

 nature, for she w r ill neither follow us nor be driven. 

 The domestication of animals was only possible at the 

 outset by proceeding on a natural groundwork. To 

 illustrate : Man domesticated dogs that, when wild, fol- 

 lowed one of their own number as a leader, by installing 

 himself as leader instead so naturalists state and the 

 cat will never be domesticated in such a way as to fol- 

 low her master when he changes his abode, because 

 originally a solitary animal. Just so the domestication 

 of fowls was effected by building upon an original foun- 

 dation. In understanding the nature and needs of 

 poultry, it will assist if we investigate the condition and 

 habits of the wild parent stock in India, for the nature 

 of all animals remains essentially the same for long 

 periods. The transfer of our domesticated birds from 

 forest to farm has affected their life and most important 

 habits surprisingly little. The tame fowls have the 

 same cries of warning to each other, and other language, 

 that observers have found them to use in their native 

 jangles ; they still hide their nests in some corner, just 

 as if they were selecting a nook in a thicket; and they 

 are attached to the premises where they live, as they and 

 all other gallinaceous birds are to some small district, 

 when wild. The wild jungle fowl is by no means for- 

 eign to our subject ; and in attempting to manage poul- 



