THE GAME FOWL. 255 



were eight weeks old, they had so stripped the onion-beds that 

 not a top was to be seen. It no doubt benefited them greatly. 

 With a later brood, I was not so fortunate : I raised but the 

 half of them, and they are stinted and puny. On the whole, 

 Turkeys may be set down as tender birds, and their rearing 

 attended with very uncertain results. 



Great mistakes are sometimes committed by writers on 

 Poultry, in regard to the various periods of incubation of 

 Hens, Ducks, Turkeys, etc. I have taken some pains to as- 

 certain the true time of each, and I will give you the result : 



A Hen, under ordinary circumstances, sits 20 days, 



A Guinea Fowl 25 " 



A Duck 26 " 



A Turkey 27 " 



A Goose 29 " 



A Musk Duck 32 or 33 days. 



From these figures you will find but small and infrequent 

 variations. I never knew but one very decided exception. 

 Early in last March, I got a neighbour to set one of his Hens 

 for me. She was extremely poor, and her nest was in a bleak, 

 open, and empty hay-mow. March was a very cold month, 

 and the winds played all around her, above her, and under her. 

 She sat almost on the bare boards. About the 22d day, I be- 

 gan to think it was u no go/ 7 and broke one of the Eggs. I 

 found, to my surprise, a live Chicken, which still lacked four 

 or five days of perfection. On the 27th day, she brought out 

 eight rather puny Chicks. Some of them I was able to raise. 

 As the Hen began to keep her nest several days before the 

 Eggs were given to her, there can be no mistake as to the time. 

 I always note it down. 



It has been asserted that Hens' Eggs have been hatched in 

 eighteen days. But this, you may depend, never happened 

 since the first Hen brought forth her first brood in Adam's 



