from this source alone. In selling them, they do 

 not count them, but measure them by the bushel, 

 like grain. Though there are always some 

 smothered, this process saves the trouble of sep- 

 arating them according to quality and size. In 

 attempting to ascertain the origin of this practice 

 of artificial incubation and to explain its success, 

 two facts should be noticed ; first, that it was 

 exceedingly useful to multiply the amount of food 

 as healthy as that furnished by the flesh of birds ; 

 and second, without some such process fowls of all 

 kinds would have become very scarce, for the 

 reason that the heat is so great in the laying season 

 that the pullets abandon their eggs for the society 

 of the cocks. Finally, geese, ducks and other fowls 

 are also multiplied by incubation." 



The Egyptians of to-day are extensive raisers of 

 all kinds of poultry, and as hens do not sit well in 

 that or any other hot country, most of the birds 

 are hatched in artificial hatcheries or incubating 

 houses, which, on account of their necessarily large 

 size and consequent expense of building and man- 

 agement, are not built upon the farms of the 

 poultry raisers, but are owned principally by 

 Copts, who make a business of hatching for the 

 farmers and villagers on shares or for a stated 

 price, the eggs being carried to them by the poultry 

 keepers, who receive the birds, or their share of 

 them, when hatched and ready to remove. 



Notwithstanding the fact that they cling to their 

 primitive style of incubation, the Egyptians are 

 among the most successful in artificial hatching, 

 6 



