46 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap. li. 



be justly inflicted — the delinquent should be 

 immediately removed and replaced by a bird 

 of more amorous and gallant propensities. 



It must however be confessed, that the cock 

 himself not unfrequently takes a dislike to one 

 or more of his hens — particularly if they are 

 advanced in years — and which he treats with 

 great cruelty : the only remedy for which is, 

 for peace sake, to separate them. He also 

 occasionally singles out one of his youngest 

 consorts, to which he pays more marked at- 

 tention than to any of the others : scratching 

 up food for her separately ; enticing her into 

 some corner in which he shakes up blades of 

 straw with the apparent intention of making a 

 nest for her exclusively ; perching on the nest 

 in which she lays, and continually loading her 

 with fondness, which she evidently returns 

 with the same partiality : yet as this — extra- 

 ordinary as it may appear to our fair readers 

 — never occasions jealousy among the others, 

 there is no occasion for depriving him of his 

 favourite. 



Notwithstanding what we have already said 

 of the petulance of the hen, she is, generally 

 speaking, all gentleness and timidity. The 



