1 HISTORY OF 



thrive without clutching. But it is otherwise 

 in our colder and unequal climate ; the little ani- 

 mals may, without much difficulty, be hatched 

 from the shell, but they almost all perish when 

 excluded. To remedy this, Reaumur has made 

 use of a woollen hen, as he calls it j which was 

 nothing more than putting the young ones in a 

 warm basket, and clapping over them a thick 

 woollen canopy. I should think a much better 

 substitute might be found, and this from among 

 the species themselves. Capons may very easily 

 be taught to clutch a fresh brood of chickens 

 throughout the year ; so that when one little 

 colony is thus reared, another may be brought to 

 succeed it. Nothing is more common than to 

 see capons thus employed ; and the manner of 

 teaching them is this : first the capon is made 

 very tame, so as to feed from one's hand ; then, 

 about evening, they pluck the feathers off his 

 breast, and rub the bare skin with nettles ; they 

 then put the chickens to him, which presently 

 run under his breast and belly, and probably rub- 

 bing his bare skin gently with their heads, allay 

 the stinging pain which the nettles had just pro- 

 duced. This is repeated for two or three nights, 

 till the animal takes an affection to the chickens 

 that have thus given him relief, and continues to 

 give them the protection they seek for : perhaps 

 also the querulous voice of the chickens may be 

 pleasant to him in misery, and invite him to suc- 

 cour the distressed. He from that time brings 

 up a brood of chickens like a hen, clutching 

 them, feeding them, clucking, and performing all 



