256 THE GAME FOWL. 



chicken-house. It is contra naturam. Incubation may be 

 prolonged, but not hastened."* 



Passages of the following letter from Mr. Taggart I have 

 incorporated in other parts of the book. I have concluded, 

 however, to submit it in full to the careful reader ; and also a 

 briefer epistle from the same hand, correcting one or two tri- 

 fling errors in former communications, and adding to some 

 views previously herein expressed. 



DR. J. J. KERR : 



Dear Sir: Your very flattering letter of Wednesday, in- 

 duces me to resume my pleasant undertaking. I regret that 

 I have not more leisure to do justice to my friend, myself, and 

 the subject. 



You express some little surprise at the minuteness of my 

 observations. But please, remember, that from my earliest 

 boyhood, I have been a devoted, constant, and intense admirer 

 of nature's live-stock. This disposition has grown with my 

 years, and will follow me, I trust, unaltered and undiminished, 

 to the grave. Menageries, Cattle Shows, and, most especially, 

 Poultry-yards, have always been my delight. When six or 

 eight years old, I knew almost every Cock and Hen in the vil- 

 lage. And, though my own stock sometimes numbers two or 

 three hundred, I can individualize, nay, give the age, history, 

 and genealogy of every Chicken. Thus much for your friend's 

 experience, and his reliableness as an observer. 



In these hasty and ill-digested sketches, it must of neces- 

 sity happen, that many things are written which will neither 



* I have had Chicks to hatch out on the evening of the 18th day ; 

 having been set early in the morning of the first day, of course, the 

 period of incubation was some ten or twelve hours over 18 days. My 

 friend, Mr. Cope, had one or two Chicks to hatch out on the 27th day; 

 none have come out with myself later than the 23d day. ED. 



