MANAGEMENT OF SITTERS. 127 



and one at the center, by painting each division a special 

 color the center black, and the ends respectively red 

 and blue. The contrast assists the fowls very much in 

 determining their places. 



No more than three pairs of sitters should be allowed 

 to each division, or eighteen clutches on each side of the 

 building. The six birds belonging in the middle divi- 

 sion remember their places very readily, because they are 

 so far from either end. To prevent those at the ends 

 from making mistakes, as soon as the laying season com- 

 mences, one end wall of the room is covered with straw, 

 or evergreen boughs, and the other left bare. A few 

 yards of cheap cotton cloth or some old newspapers will 

 do to mark a distinction. All birds, wild or domesti- 

 cated, possess a keen sense of locality, and a few neigh- 

 boring objects enable them to recognize their nests. The 

 nests that are used for hatching are numbered by affix- 

 ing movable labels, and every sitter is distinguished by 

 having a feather or two painted, the color showing her 

 division, and the position of the mark, upon her head, 

 body, or tail, signifying a number corresponding to that 

 of her nest. This enables the attendant to correct mis- 

 takes of the birds (which will, however, be rare) before 

 fastening them in daily. The colors show distinctly 

 upon the white ground of the feathers. This plan 

 appears somewhat whimsical, but it is simple and con- 

 venient. Figure 40 shows the numbers on the side of a 

 room, arranged as if for eighteen clutches, the nests not 

 numbered being for the use of laying fowls in the mean- 

 time. The shading represents the three different colors 

 of the divisions. The sitters are assigned places two by 

 two as above stated, and each of a pair of nests and each 

 of the occupants receives the same number. Only three 

 numerals are necessary to designate three dozen nests 

 in all, in one house. 



The incubating hens should be fed early in the morn- 



