264 THE RUMPLESS FOWL. 
killed by a stroke of the scythe ; and two chickens 
were all that could be saved from the wreck. One 
of the mowers conveyed the two young birds in his 
hat to the villager who had owned the hen, and whose 
house was hard by. She brought them up at the 
fire-side. ‘They were male and female. The male 
was rumpless, and without a tail, whilst the female 
had a rump, and a tail of ordinary size. 
When the former had become a full-grown fowl, 
I introduced to it a rumpless hen, by way of com-— 
panion. She laid fourteen eggs, and sat upon them 
with great perseverance; but every egg proved 
addle. After this, she produced a dozen more in 
the course of the summer ; and she sat upon them, 
but with no better success. I then substituted a 
male fowl with a tail, in lieu of her rumpless para- 
mour ; and they soon became a loving couple. She 
laid well the summer following, and sat twice; but 
her repeated efforts to produce a family were of 
no avail. During her last sitting, a Malay hen, of 
prying habits, took the opportunity of her momen- 
tary absence from the nest, and laid an egg in it. 
This produced a chicken, which the rumpless step- 
mother reared with maternal care. 
It would appear, from these experiments, that 
the rumpless fowl is not prolific. But Cervantes 
tells us, that one swallow does not make summer. 
“Una golondrina, no hace verano.” Wherefore 
further investigation is absolutely necessary, before 
the affair in question can be set at rest. However, 
the testimony which follows tends to prove that the 
rumpless fowl is fully capable of producing its race. 
eT 
