THE GAME FOWL. 259 



*;han a passing notice ] and surely they are sufficiently remark- 

 able to deserve greater attention. I do not mean that the Creep- 

 ers are very distinctive in any other feature than their short 

 legs ; for I have seen them of all colours ; with combs double 

 and single, legs yellow, black, blue, and white ; with crests, 

 and without them : and *so of the other sort. Nay, I have 

 seen Fowls that were both "Creepers" and "Bunties." In 

 crossing the first-named with long-legged Chickens, if I re- 

 member correctly, the Hybrid had either the short legs of the 

 one, or the long legs of the other no half-and-half a full 

 Creeper, or no Creeper at all. While, in mixing the Bunties, 

 you will sometimes get one sort, and sometimes the other 

 but generally an ugly-looking monstrosity, with a piece of a 

 tail, pointing towards the ground. But these are small mat- 

 ters, and you can notice them or not, as you like. 



I do not remember writing to you of a very careful dissec- 

 tion my friend, Dr. Robt. B. McCay, and myself made of a 

 young Turkey, suffering with gapes. It was very small and 

 stunted from its birth. It had great difficulty in breathing. 

 Its lungs and other viscera seemed sound, but the windpipe 

 was almost filled with a number of double, and sometimes 

 triple-headed worms, which adhered with the utmost pertina- 

 city to the sides, raising, at the point of contact, an excrescence 

 or rough swelling. The worms were an inch in length, and 

 of this fashion : V^^^"\ . The extra heads, or necks, are 

 much more slender than the main trunk, and colourless, while 

 the other is dark. I have very frequently found them in 

 Chickens, while in others that manifested the same external 

 symptoms, there were none to be found. Whether this parasite 

 is the cause of the disease, or one of its effects, I am unable 

 to say without further experiments. 



I have seen it stated somewhere, that a Hen, if allowed to 

 raise her own brood, will sit but once in a season. This is a 

 very gross error. I have known Hens to incubate three 



