FOOD OF POULTRY. 159 



this end in view, M. Reaumur extended his experiments to 

 other sorts of grain, by not only offering the fowls each sort in 

 different compartments of their feeding-boxes, but also by put- 

 ting a mixture of grains in each box. He put, for example, a 

 measure of wheat and another measure of oats into the same 

 box, and mixed them. A cock and a hen, to which this mixture 

 was given, exhibited a greater liking to the wheat than to the 

 oats, for there remained at night in the box a portion of the 

 oats, as much as a fourth or a sixth part of the whole quantity, 

 but there was not left a single grain of wheat. From a sub- 

 sequent experiment, however, it appeared that it would have 

 been too hasty to draw a general conclusion from the taste of 

 these particular birds. On the same day there was given to a 

 hen, kept alone under a basket coop, a measure of wheat in 

 one compartment and a measure of oats in another, of the same 

 feeding-box. In the course of the day, this hen devoured the 

 whole of the oats, but left almost half of the wheat. A meas- 

 ure of rye was given to her next day, and she preferred eating 

 that rather than the portion of wheat which she had left the 

 day before. To the same hen was given a measure of wheat 

 and oats, mixed in equal quantities. At first she was seen to 

 eat both sorts of grain, but as she continued to feed, the oats 

 began to disappear, and the wheat to predominate, till at 

 length every grain of oats was consumed, and about one sixth 

 of the wheat was left untouched. 



On another occasion, M. Reaumur gave to a cock and a hen, 

 kept in the same hutch, three different sorts of grain, namely, 

 Indian corn, oats, and buckwheat, each put separately in three 

 different compartments of the feeding-box. The cock came first 

 to the corn, and after eying it for a time, he finally refused to 

 touch it, but turned to the buckwheat, of which he picked up 

 a few grains, and then went to the oats. He continued for 

 some minutes to taste, alternately, a little of the one and the 



