Breeding and Management. 75 



A sweating - hen should always be supplied with a large 

 nest; if a wooden box be used the bottom should be covered 

 with perforated zinc. I have often thought that a nest made 

 entirely of open wire work a sort of skeleton frame covered 

 with some thin material inside would be very advantageous 

 in such cases; but whatever might be used for a lining it 

 would have to be light and porous, such as muslin or 

 calico, and would to a great extent obviate this serious 

 difficulty, for young birds which are exceedingly sweated are 

 much weakened and rarely feather properly. 



When the young birds are from twelve to fourteen days 

 old, the hen will be desirous of going to nest again; she 

 must, therefore, have another nest given to her for this pur- 

 pose, and likewise a little moss, or material of this kind, to 

 build with; for although a hen may have a well-made arti- 

 ficial nest, she has the instinctive desire to build one herself; 

 and during the period of pairing she will work assiduously in 

 carrying the material to and from the nest. Nevertheless, 

 she often throws it all out just before she lays; but if she 

 bas not something to build with she not unfrequently pro- 

 ceeds to pluck her progeny, and when hens once commence 

 this vicious practice they seldom forget it. At such times 

 I have seen hens pluck their young brood to such an extent 

 (when the above rules have been neglected) as scarcely to 

 leave a feather upon them, and I have seen the poor nude, 

 miserable, semi-devoured wretches so horrified at their brutal 

 and unnatural parents that hunger alone could induce them 

 to approach the parent birds. 



PLUCKING OF YOUNG. Prevention is better than cure, and 

 the means above recommended will be found to answer in 

 nineteen cases out of twenty. When they do not, place the 

 young birds in an open wire cage, and tie it on the front of 

 the breeding-cage where the parents are; bend the wires back 

 a little, here and there, in both cages, taking care that the 

 corresponding wires are bent and placed opposite each other 

 before the cage containing the young birds is secured, so as 



