bicei:di>'q.] 



POULl KV. 



[UBEKUIRO. 



will to see to the rearing of numerous broods ; 

 if sho Ima also three or four rosy-cheekod sons 

 ami dauL^litera to assist luT in t\w ainusi'inent, 

 besides a boy and a maid to do tho lieavior 

 ^ork — then let one of tho often-incubating 

 breeds bo destined to people her barn-door 

 paradise with tho pliiloprogenitivo set of in- 

 habitants. Sho may honour tho Dorkings 

 and tho Surrey, or tho Game fowls, or tlu- 

 Cochin-Chinas, with her preference. There 

 cannot be a better sort for tho farmer than 

 the race of Surrey fowls, known as Cuckoo 

 fowls. They are somewhat dull and quaker- 

 like in plumage, and inactive in their move- 

 ments. So much the better : the fowl-stealer 

 cannot spy them out so well in tho dusk ; and 

 they fatten famously, besides being good 

 layers, sitters, and nurses ; and, in short, pos- 

 sessing every gallinaceous virtue. Game fowls 

 are more beautiful, and are equally good 

 parents ; their flesh, too, is delicious, but wants 

 the weight of tlie Cuckoos, and is apt not to 

 dress so white for market. The cocks, as they 



grow old and jealous, are very j)rone to kill tho 

 other male inhabitants of tho poultry-yard, 

 such as turkoys, guinea-fowl, and ovi'ii drakcH, 

 if they fancy tlR'niHi-lvea insultfd by tliem. 

 They aro more suited to tho lodge, tho dog- 

 kennel, tho coach-house court, or oven tho 

 cottage orn^, than they aro to tho farm-yard, 

 to which ([uiet place, when very good, they aro 

 apt to give a sort of sporting character. It 

 must bo confessed they aro often birds of 

 great beauty ; but tho Cuckoo fowls aro much 

 more business-like. Tho Cochin-Chinas, even 

 yet, are more in tho hands of wealthy ama- 

 teurs and exhibitors at poultry-shows, than 

 available for farmers as a main crop of fowls. 

 Tho prices asked for specimens that have been 

 cried-up by fanciers, aro altogetlicr unprece- 

 dented, and will bo quoted hereafter, in his- 

 tories of the present times, as instances of tho 

 lengths to which a popular mania will go. Still, 

 some farm-yards aro peopled with them ; and 

 the effect is good, whilst the result is highly 

 satisfactory." 



CHAPTER IV. 



SELECnON OF STOCK ; IXTERBREEDING ; EGG-BUYING; nATCIIING ; FEEDING; FATTENING; HOUSING. 



Among the earliest authorities we have on 

 the subject of the breeding and management of 

 poultry, is Columella ; but besides him, there 

 is something to be found in Cato, Pliny, and 

 Varro ; but all may, substantially, be considered 

 as entertaining similar views. Columella is, 

 however, the grand source of poultry antiquity ; 

 and, in our day, by the writers on this subject, 

 he is mostly quoted at second-hand. Gesner 

 made a collection of passages relative to birds ; 

 but Aldrovandi was, in his time, the exhaust- 

 less mine of all that was known on the subject. 

 Considering the immense mass of his ma- 

 terials, this ornithologist arranged his matter 

 in marvellous order ; but his discrimination 

 was much less than his patience ; and his judg- 

 ment was, perhaps, less than either. AVe are 

 not aware of there being an English transla- 



tion of him ; therefore his voluminous treasures 

 have not yet fallen into the coffers of every 

 literary artist. To the common fowl, alone, he 

 devotes one hundred and forty-six pages of his 

 folio, opening his subject with half a page of 

 preliminary matter, and then entering on his 

 ambiguities touching cocks and hens. Tlien 

 comes his Synomnia ; followed by his account 

 of the dillerent kinds ; which is again succeeded 

 by a general description of the cock and hen, 

 replete with learning. Amatomica is the head- 

 ing of the next section ; followed by the natural 

 history of their mode of increase up to hatch- 

 ing. This comprises the growth of the egg, 

 the progress of the chick during incubation, 

 &c., with a vast deal of mosaic work in the 

 shape of truth and falsehood, sense, and non- 

 sense, on the breeding of these creatures. "We 



i>-17 



