18 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



grams each. These pretty little pullets are raised 

 rather as ornaments to the poultry -yard than for the 

 sake of their diminutive eggs." 



" These little fowl," observed Louis, "look from 

 their size like the primitive kind." 



"Yes, it was about like that they looked when man 

 took it into his head to tame the wild. fowl. In the 

 poultry-yards of those times lived, not the large spe- 

 cies of our day, but birds as small in body and as 

 quick on the wing as the partridge. I leave you to 

 imagine what care and vigilance were necessary in 

 order not to frighten these timid little fowl and cause 

 them to go back to the woods that they still remem- 

 bered." 



"It must have been as much trouble," said Louis, 

 "as it would be for us to tame a covey of partridges. 

 Such an undertaking would not be easy. We are a 

 long way from those first attempts at domestication 

 with our hens of to-day, so tame, so importunate 

 even, that they come boldly and pick up crumbs under 

 the very table." 



"The common poultry, that which stocks the 

 greater number of farms, belongs to the medium- 

 sized breeds. Its plumage is of all colors, from 

 white to red and black. Its head is small and orna- 

 mented with a red comb, sometimes single, some- 

 times double, coquettishly thrown to one side. The 

 cock, for its proud bearing and magnificent plumage, 

 has no equal among the other species. The common 

 fowl is the easiest to keep, for its activity permits 

 it to seek and find for itself, by scratching in the 



