THE DOMESTIC COCK. 55 



table by the Poland, and the common dunghill. The 

 Bantams are good for laying, and will hatch the eggs of 

 pheasants, ducks, and other birds. One of the best of 

 the laying kind is the every-day hen. A good hen, well 

 tended, will rear one or two broods of chickens, and lay 

 upwards of one hundred and forty eggs in the course of 

 a year. A large proportion of those consumed in Eng- 

 land are imported from foreign countries : 60,000,000 

 of eggs per annum are supplied by France, and about 

 4,000,000 more are received from the Netherlands, 

 Germany, and Denmark. Eggs may be kept sweet for 

 three or four months if they are set on end, packed with 

 straw, or, saw-dust, which is better, and the air care- 

 fully excluded. 



The anxiety of a hen to sit, and all her after-move- 

 ments, are very remarkable. The writer remembers a 

 nest being provided for one, and the eggs being all duly 

 arranged, when, as if perfectly aware of what had been 

 done, she walked to it, and covered the brood with 

 evident pleasure. Often did he look at her, and think 

 she felt her occupation to be important, while only now 

 and then did she leave the nest for a short time. 

 It was pleasing also to mark the bustle that followed 

 the hatching of the brood, the gathering of them at a 

 well-known signal around a few crumbs or grains of 



