314 THE LARK-CRESTED FOWL. 



These neglected varieties are well known to the itinerant 

 Fowl-dealers, who traverse the country in search of Chickens 

 to be fatted for market. From them they may easily be ob- 

 tained at a reasonable price. The best way would be to order 

 a random lot of a score or two, select the best for stock, and 

 consume those which remain. These people value Fowls en- 

 tirely according to their age, size, and weight. Almost the 

 only exception is, that they will now and then give a trifle 

 more for a handsome, showy, adult Cock Bird, particularly if 

 he exhibit marks of Game blood. But the most amusing 

 speculation is to purchase Eggs in country towns, from the 

 wives of those small farmers who bring their own produce to 

 market, and take the chance of whatever may be hatched from 

 them. By keeping ten or a dozen sitting Hens, and obtaining 

 Eggs from different localities, a sufficient number of various 

 Chickens may be obtained in one season to afford the breeder 

 a good opportunity of exercising his discriminating judgment. 

 A very little experience will soon point out which are mere 

 half-breds of well-known sorts, and which show symptoms of 

 belonging to a distinct race; and that long before they have 

 attained their full growth sometimes as soon as they have 

 issued from the shell. In a harmless lottery like this, some 

 prizes are sure to turn up ; the only blanks being addled Eggs. 



