MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS. 83 



necessary for thriftiness as food. Even in Italy, it was recom- 

 mended by Columella that "Fowl-houses ought to be placed 

 in that part of the farm which faces the rising sun in winter : 

 let them be joined to the oven or the kitchen, so that the smoke 

 may reach the birds, it being particularly healthy for them." 

 Modern amateurs have thought it would be a good plan to 

 have an Arnott or Dean stove erected in their fowl-house, 

 which could be lighted an hour before the Cocks and Hens 

 went to roost. Sharp weather is always a sufficient excuse 

 for the unproductiveness of Hens; but it may be suggested 

 that there are cases in which Fowls do lay, without their 

 owners being much the better for the eggs. This, however, 

 is less likely to happen in an aviary, if I may be allowed so 

 to term it, than in the farm, or the unenclosed poultry-yard. 

 It is an unfortunate fact, that in the country, where Fowls are 

 allowed unlimited range, choice specimens are remarkably apt 

 to disappear; and if they do not, their eggs do. The proprietor 

 is sure of just as many of the select kinds as he can himself 

 lay hands upon. He may often have the satisfaction of buy- 

 ing in a neighbouring village a fine brood of chickens, hatched 

 from eggs purloined from himself, and be thus considerately 

 saved all trouble of rearing them. These agreeable tricks are 

 played by a set of rascally half-poaching pilferers, who are 

 connected with the lowest class of dealers. If any fear of 

 detection arises, the "fancy" birds are immediately forwarded 

 to the metropolis, or some other large town at a distance. 



The curiosities and absurdities of the literature of poultry- 

 breeding are inexhaustible. One " Ornithologus" states, on 

 the report of his people, that, in order to obtain all female 

 chicks from a setting of eggs, it is only necessary to set the 

 Hen while the moon is in the full, and to prefer such eggs 

 for the purpose as have been laid when the moon was at the 

 full," and also to contrive that they be hatched at ' the full 

 moon; but Aldrovandi, who quotes him, remarks, that it 



