48 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 



to be large, vertical, fan-like, and well carried over 

 the back a distinction which continues to be very 

 apparent in the first cross with any other breed. The 

 flesh, even of the yellow-legged, yellow-skinned breeds, 

 is justly, in high repute ; their eggs, also, are much 

 prized for the table, but my own palate is not suffi- 

 ciently discriminating to detect their particular supe- 

 riority to the eggs of other hens. They are compara- 

 tively small, contain a somewhat larger proportion of 

 yolk, are generally tapering, unequally elliptic, and 

 mostly, though not always, tinged with buff. 



Another general merit of the hens, is their excel- 

 lence as incubators and nurses ; a virtue in them which 

 is no new discovery. " Florentius," says Aldrovandi, 

 " is the authority, that in the Alexandria which faces 

 jiEgypt, certain hens, from which the fighting cocks 

 are produced, are called Monositae, (that is, one-mealers, 

 or such as eat only once a day,) and that these will 

 go on sitting for the second or third time, in conse- 

 quence of their chicks being smuggled away as soon 

 as hatched and brought up elsewhere. It thus happens 

 that a single hen may hatch forty, and even sixty or 

 more, at one sitting." When they are at length per- 

 mitted to receive their reward in the shape of a brood 

 of chicks, nothing can exceed their admirable conduct. 

 The very young hens, with their first clutch, are apt 

 to be over-anxious, and not at all forbearing to other 

 fowls that come in their way ; but that is a fault on 

 the right side, and if the feathers of intruders are now 

 and then made to fly abroad, they must grow again. 

 The delicate proportions of the game hen adapt her to 

 take charge of even the most fragile gallinaceous 

 birds ; Awhile her courage and determination render 

 her equal to the most robust. Every breeder or experi- 

 menter should have a nursery of game hens. 



" The nest for the hen," says the same anonymous 

 writer, referred to above, " should be made of sweet 

 and clean straw, and should be placed in some warm 

 corner, out of the way of disturbance from any other 



