ORNAMENTAL FOWL. 75 



gives it a very peculiar air, while its restless gait, and odd, chuck- 

 ling sound, distinguish it sufficiently from all other birds. They 

 are natives of Africa, and consist of several varieties. Among 

 the common sort, we sometimes find a white and pied variety, 

 produced by domestication. It is rather pugnacious, and un- 

 pleasant in a poultry- yard. There is a difficulty in distinguishing 

 the cock from the hen. The wattles of the cock are of a more 

 intense red than those of the hen, and stand out more from the 

 beak ; the wattles of the hen are darker in colour, and more pen- 

 dulous. There is likewise a difference in their voice and call 

 the hen only using the call-note, "Come back! come back!" 

 They are an excellent substitute for game, in the spring season, 

 and are better of being kept for some days before dressing. Not- 

 withstanding their long domestication, they retain some of their 

 original wildness, and stray at a distance, to drop their eggs, 

 which are smaller than those of a common hen, and very abun- 

 dant. The common hen will be found an advantageous nurse for 

 their chicks, as not possessing the wandering propensity of their 

 true parent. The eggs require thirty days' hatching ; the chicks 

 are very tender, and should not be brought out too early in the 

 spring, lest the inclement season destroy them. I would recom- 

 mend the same food for them as for turkey chicks. 



In many parts of their native country they are seen in vast 

 flocks together, feeding their young, and leading them in quest 

 of food. All their habits are like those of the poultry kind. 

 Their eggs, like their bodies, are speckled. An experiment has 

 been tried to naturalize them, on our Dublin mountains, which 

 proved successful for a time, being able to procure abundance of 

 food during the summer season, but they were found unable to 

 sustain themselves during our winter months, and entirely dis- 

 appeared. 



THE CRESTED GUINEA FOWL 



Is not so large as the common species: the head and neck are 

 bare ; of a dull blue, shaded with red upon the head ; and instead 

 of the casque, it has an ample crest of hairy-like, disunited 

 feathers, of a bluish-black, reaching as far forward as the nos- 

 trils, but in general turned backwards. The whole plumage, 

 except the quills, is a bluish black, covered with small, grayish 

 spots, sometimes four, sometimes six on each feather. The quills 

 are pale yellowish brown, and the edges of the secondaries pure 

 white, appearing very conspicuous, from the contrast with the 



