CHAP. IS.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 211 



insects and seeds to satisfy their hunger during 

 the day, and then it will be sufficient to feed 

 them morning and evening ; but they should 

 never be allowed to become poor in flesh. 



They should have a constant supply of the 

 purest water given to them in some vessel 

 which will not allow them to wet themselves : 

 they should not, therefore, be permitted to 

 approach any spot where that could happen ; 

 neither should they be allowed to go out in 

 rainy weather ; nor until the dew is off the 

 grass in the morning. 



They are subject, when two or three weeks 

 old, to a dangerous disease called the " Pip."* 

 They will also continue delicate until well 

 feathered, and require great care during the 

 first two or three months of their existence ; 

 yet if attentively managed, and more espe- 

 cially if sedulously guarded from wet, they 

 will, probably, get through their chicken- 

 hood with very little loss, until they throw 

 out those granulated pips, or nipples, with 

 which their head and neck are covered, which 

 then become of a scarlet colour — provincially 

 termed " shooting the red" — and is the most 



* See Chap. XIV. 



p2 



