236 THE GAME FOWL. 



that continues down the back. They are hardy little things, 

 and easy to rear. How many degrees removed from the 

 Pheasant this breed may be, is difficult to say, (they are as 

 widely removed as the North from the South Pole, or Dogs 

 from Cats, as far as relationship is concerned,) but there is 

 evidently a strong family likeness. (True, if we regard natu- 

 ral affinity merely.) The Pheasants here have no objection, 

 at any time, to an occasional admixture (socially, we believe, 

 not amatively) with the Domestic Poultry, I imagine : and the 

 parties will often meet in our shrubberies, to partake of the 

 berries of the Symphonia racemosa, or snowberry, of which 

 they are both excessively fond, and will often jump up to some 

 height to procure them. This breed of the Game Fowl we 

 have found excellent and high-flavoured. 



" Some years since, I had a Game Hen sitting in a cow-crib, 

 with the usual quantity of Eggs. Long before any Chicks 

 could be making their appearance, I several times noticed some 

 living thing run from under the Hen on taking her up. This 

 I afterwards discovered to be a fine mouse, that repaired there 

 for warmth every day ; and it was a curious sight, on the day 

 the Chicks came out, to see it nestling among them, the Hen 

 looking on most complacently. She was, however, very savage 

 to human kind, and would peck your hand severely, if put into 

 the nest. 



"But Poultry, in general, enjoy mouse-catching, and will 

 often, when a rick is taking in, watch for and sieze them with 

 uncommon certainty, and then peck them to pieces and eat 

 them." H. H. 



In confirmation of which, here is another case : "I think'I 

 told you my Dorking and Spanish Hens are famous mousers. 

 When a stack is got in, they prowl about, and wo to any un- 

 fortunate mouse that escapes the men's hands: while making 

 off, they pounce upon it and eat it up. A few days since, 

 a boy in my yard saw a weasel very busy in a pea-stack, driving 



