376 GUINEA FOWLS. 



never would eat more, were food not forced down their throats, 

 by which operation they may frequently be recovered; but the 

 little Guinea Fowls give no notice of this faintness, till they 

 are past all cure ; and a struggle of a few minutes, shows that 

 they have indeed outgrown their strength, or, rather, that the 

 material for producing strength has not been supplied to them 

 in a degree commensurate with their growth. 



A dry sunny corner in the garden will be the best place to 

 coop them with their Bantam Hen. As they increase in 

 strength, they will do no harm, but a great deal of good, by 

 devouring worms, grubs, caterpillars, maggots, and all sorts of 

 insects. By the time their bodies are little bigger than those 

 of sparrows, they will be able to fly with some degree of 

 strength ; and it is very pleasing to see them essay the use of 

 their wings at the call of their foster-mother, or the approach 

 of their feeder. It is one out of millions of instances of the 

 provident wisdom of the Almighty Creator, that the wing and 

 tail feathers of young gallinaceous birds, with which they re- 

 quire to be furnished at the earliest possible time, as a means 

 of escape from their numerous enemies, exhibit the most rapid 

 growth of any part of their frame. Other additions to their 

 complete stature are successively and less immediately deve- 

 loped. The wings of a Chicken are soon fledged enough to be 

 of great assistance to it; the spurs, comb, and ornamental 

 plumage do not appear till quite a subsequent period. 



When the young Guinea Fowls are about the size of 

 thrushes, or perhaps a little larger, (unless the summer be very 

 fine,) their mother Bantam (which we suppose to be a tame, 

 quiet, matronly creature) may be suffered to range loose in 

 the orchard and shrubbery, and no longer permitted to enter 

 the garden, lest her family should acquire a habit of visiting it 

 at a time when their presence would be less welcome than for- 

 merly. They must still, however, receive a bountiful and 

 frequent supply of food ; they are not to be considered safe 



