GUINEA FOWLS. 375 



tites, or would be stolen by sparrows, &c. ; but it should be 

 frequently administered to them in small supplies. Feeding 

 them three, four, or five times a day, is not nearly often 

 enough; every half-hour during daylight they should be 

 tempted to fill their little craws, which are soon emptied again 

 by an extraordindry power and quickness of digestion. The 

 newly-hatched Guinea Fowl is a tiny creature, a mere infini- 

 tesimal of the full-grown bird ; its growth is consequently very 

 rapid, and requires incessant supplies. A check once received 

 can never be recovered. In such cases they do not mope and 

 pine for a day or two, like young Turkeys under similar cir- 

 cumstances, and then die ; but, in half an hour after being in 

 apparent health, they fall on their backs, give a convulsive 

 kick or two, and fall victims, in point of fact, to starvation. 

 The demands of nature for the growth of bone, muscle, and 

 particularly of feather, are so great, that no subsequent abund- 

 ant supply of food can make up for a fast of a couple of hours. 

 The feathers still go on, grow, grow, grow, in geometrical pro- 

 gression, and drain the sources of vitality still faster than they 

 can be supplied, till the bird faints and expires from inani- 

 tion. I have even fancied that I have seen a growth of quill 

 and feather after death in young Poultry which we have failed 

 in rearing. The possibility of such a circumstance is sup- 

 ported by the well-known fact of the growth of hair and nails 

 in many deceased persons. 



This constant supply of suitable food is, I believe, the great 

 secret in rearing the more delicate birds, Turkeys, Guinea 

 Fowls, Pheasants, &c.; never to suffer the growth of the Chick- 

 (which goes on, whether it has food in its stomach or not,) to 

 produce exhaustion of the vital powers, for want of the ne- 

 cessary aliment. Young Turkeys, as soon as they once feel 

 languid from this cause, refuse their food when it is at last 

 offered to them, (just like a man whose appetite is gone, in 

 consequence of having waited too long for his dinner,) and 



