MANAGEMENT OP FOWLS. 87 



afterwards was as good a layer as any other Hen. But 

 although I could not myself find any fault with my execution 

 of the above surgical operation, the Hens her companions did, 

 and were so anxious to unlace her boddice, and otherwise ill- 

 treat her, that I was obliged to keep her away from them. 

 Some weeks after the operation, the cotton with which I sewed 

 her up came away from her; but before that time she lived 

 with the rest, and never, except on the day she took the poison, 

 showed any symptoms of illness. She is at present alive and 

 well, and yclept Susannah." G. P. S. 



The gapes is an inflammation of the respiratory organs, 

 causing Chickens to gasp for breath, and generally proving 

 fatal. Various forms and degrees of inflammation of the lungs, 

 accompanied by fever, are the great scourge of the young of 

 gallinaceous birds. Some attribute the fever to their being 

 overpowered by too much heat, but I cannot believe such to 

 be the cause of the symptoms. " Some of my Chickens, about 

 ten days old, have died lately of a sort of low fever, growing 

 thinner and thinner in spite of the best attendance and most 

 nourishing food. I cannot find out the cause, except their 

 being too much expoa&d to the meridian sun, and have obviated 

 it accordingly." II. H. But a wetting in a sudden shower, 

 a run through long grass before the dew is off, an insufficient 

 or irregular supply of food and drink for a single day, are any 

 of them sumcient to produce a similar disappointing result. 

 With Chickens at a more advanced age, one very likely cause 

 is, the Hen being permitted to go to roost, leaving them to 

 take care of themselves during weather that is too cold for 

 them to do without the warmth of their mother, instead of her 

 being confined with them all night in the coop. Or, when the 

 eoop has been left abroad in a garden or on a lawn, I have 

 known the family to be attacked by a rat or weasel ; the Hen 

 has given the enemy a warm reception, and the little ones 

 have escaped for the time by squatting in strawberry beds, and 



