402 AGRICULTURE ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 



We keep cats about our houses to kill and scare away 

 rats and mice, but they are very useful in catching 

 gophers, field mice, and other small pests. As house- 

 hold pets they are not altogether safe, for they will bite 

 or scratch even on slight provocation. Cats easily 

 become wild when they hunt birds, and on the seashore 

 they will also catch crabs and other shellfish. 



Domestic fowls. The most familiar is the common 

 hen and cock (or rooster). The original home of the 

 wild fowl was in southern China and Malaysia. It 

 spread over the world in early days, as is shown by the 

 mention of the cock crowing in the time of Christ. The 

 " barnyard fowl" is met with in all countries where 

 agriculture is practiced, and is valued both for eggs 

 and meat. 



As in the case of all domestic animals, breeds of chickens 

 have been developed for special uses. We must add also a 

 third, the fighting cock, which corresponds to the extreme 

 type of the race horse, good only for sport. The small, 

 slender fighting cock is most similar to the original wild 

 fowl. But from eastern Asia we have also received the 

 Brahma, Langshan, and Cochin fowls, the largest and most 

 fleshy of all. They are grown mostly for their meat, and 

 1 lay few but very large eggs. Since, however, eggs are sold 

 by the dozen, and not by size or weight, we usually use 

 smaller breeds for egg-laying, especially the Leghorn, called 

 so from the city in Italy whence they first came. The Leg- 

 horns will not often sit long enough to hatch their own eggs. 

 So we must get other hens, or incubators, to hatch them. 

 Almost any common hen of mixed breed will do this, but not 



