THE POULTRY KIND. 133 



cease to lay, there being no new ones generated 

 within." 



The hen seldom clutches a brood of chickens 

 above once a season, though instances have been 

 known in which they produced two. The num- 

 ber of eggs a domestic hen will lay in the year 

 are above two hundred, provided she be well fed, 

 and supplied with water and liberty. It matters 

 not much whether she be trodden by the cock or 

 no; she will continue to lay, although all the 

 eggs of this kind can never by hatching be 

 brought to produce a living animal. Her nest 

 is made without any care, if left to herself; a hole 

 scratched into the ground, among a few bushes, 

 is the only preparation she makes for this season 

 of patient expectation. Nature, almost exhaust- 

 ed by its own fecundity, seems to inform her of 

 the proper time for hatching, which she herself 

 testifies by a clucking note, and by discontinuing 

 to lay. The good housewives, who often get 

 more by their hens laying than by their chickens, 

 artificially protract this clucking season, and 

 sometimes entirely remove it. As soon as their 

 hen begins to cluck, they stint her in her provi- 

 sions ; if that fails, they plunge her into cold 

 water : this, for the time, effectually puts back 

 her hatching, but then it often kills the poor 

 bird, who takes cold and dies under the opera- 

 tion. 



If left entirely to herself, the hen would sel- 

 dom lay above twenty eggs in the same nest, 

 without attempting to hatch them ; but in pro- 

 portion as she lays, her eggs are removed ; and 



