Mule Breeding. 97 



befel me; for, a few days afterwards, the mother of them 

 died also. I was now left with nothing but the two hens, as 

 I had previously parted with the others ; and in one of these 

 I must confess my expectations were very limited. They each 

 laid about a week after the first-named hen, but both their 

 eggs were barren ; so I exchanged the goldfinches, and the 

 following nests proved fruitful. I set them both together, as 

 they laid on the same day ; but before the period of incubation 

 had expired, I thought it prudent to exchange their nests, as 

 the young hen I bred myself was not a good feeder, and it 

 was with difficulty that she had managed to rear one bird 

 from her first brood; whereas the other hen had proved herself 

 to be thoroughly reliable in this respect. 



As their time for hatching drew near, my anxiety and anti- 

 cipations increased, and culminated one morning when I entered 

 my bird-room and heard a low chirping sound familiar to the 

 ears of old experienced fanciers proceeding from the corner 

 in which the cage containing the two hens in question was 

 hanging. I made straight to the spot without a moment's 

 delay, and listening with an eager and attentive ear, I soon 

 discovered that both of them had hatched. I proceeded at 

 once to give them the usual viands as quickly as I could, and 

 made my exit rather abruptly, as I was afraid to disturb the 

 hens any more than I could help on this occasion. My desire 

 to have a peep at the little strangers, the produce of the hen 

 I had bred, became more intense as each day passed by ; but 

 when the fifth day arrived I could not restrain my curiosity 

 any longer, so I ventured to poke the hen off her nest, 

 which I took out of the cage and conveyed to that part of 

 the room where I got the most light. A minute inspection 

 followed, and although I found them fairly good mules, I 

 must confess they were not so good as I had expected; so I 

 returned them to their foster-mother more disappointed than 

 pleased. On the following day I was feeding my birds, as 

 usual, when I casually noticed the other hen which had charge 

 of the other mules off her nest ; and, singularly enough, 

 about these I had felt no matter of anxiety, and very little 



H 



