174 THE GUINEA FOWL. 



of bird they were the offspring. Their orange-red bills 

 and legs, and the dark, zebra-like stripes, with which 

 they are regularly marked, from head to tail, bear no 

 traces of the speckled plumage of their parents. 



FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 



HARD-BOILED egg, chopped fine, small worms, mag- 

 gots, bread crumbs, chopped meat, or suet, whatever, 

 in short, is most nutritious, is their most appropriate 

 food. This need not be offered to them in large quan- 

 tities, as it would only be devoured by the mother 

 Bantam, as soon as she saw that her little ones had 

 for the time satisfied their appetites ; but it should be 

 frequently administered to them in small supplies. 

 Feeding three, four, or five times a day, is not nearly 

 often enongh ; every half hour, during daylight, they 

 should be tempted to fill their little craws, which are 

 soon emptied again by an extraordinary power and 

 quickness of digestion. The newly-hatched Guinea 

 fowl is a tiny creature, a mere infinitesimal of the 

 full-grown bird ; its growth is consequently very rapid, 

 arid requires incessant supplies. A check once re- 

 ceived can never be recovered. In such cases, they 

 do not mope and pine, for a day or two, like young 

 turkeys under similar circumstances, and then die ; 

 but in half an hour after, being in apparent health, 

 they fall on their backs, give a convulsive kick or two, 

 and fall victims to starvation. The demands of na- 

 ture for the growth of bone, muscle, and particularly 

 of feather, are so great, that no subsequent, abundant 

 supply of food can make up for a fast of a couple of 

 hours. The feathers still go on, grow ! grow !! grow !!! 

 in geometrical progression, and drain the sources 

 of vitality still faster than they can be supplied, till 

 the bird faints and expires from want of fullness. 



This constant supply of suitable food, it is believed, 

 is the great secret in rearing the more delicate birds, 

 turkeys, Guinea fowls, pheasants, &c., never to suffer 

 the growth of the chick, (which goes on whether it 



