172 THE POULTRY-BOOK. 



feel that these remarks, the result of long observation, will 

 interest the naturalist as well as the mere poultry fancier. I 

 have also known a cock to take a dislike to a particular hen ; 

 and, in one instance, he did not desist from his persecution till 

 the poor thing died. This is a much more rare case than the 

 preceding, and I have no doubt of its cause ; it is this, when 

 a vigorous, healthy cock is mated with very few hens, he is very 

 persevering in his attentions to them ; when hens are in moult, 

 they will not accept of any such. In most instances of this kind, 

 I have found the hen thus victimized by her lord to have been 

 moulting, and to have incurred his hatred by a refusal of con- 

 jugal rights. The cock will sometimes fall upon a hen newly 

 introduced into your yard, especially if of a different color from 

 his other mates. This recently occurred amongst my own 

 fowl, they being chiefly black Spaniards, and the new hen, a 

 yellow Hamburgh. I tried the experiment of coloring the latter 

 black ; the cock no longer beat her, and he did not seem to 

 notice the subsequent gradual renewal of the yellow, as the 

 black wore off." 



The substances which may be used in poultry feeding have 

 already been described and particularized. But it is not advis- 

 able to feed fowls wholly upon one species of food ; nor is it 

 proper to confine them to one class of food. They require a 

 mixture of green food with hard food, as much as cattle and 

 horses do. As a general thing, dry grains are best for usual 

 aliment, because much of the nutritious matter which they con- 

 tain is lost by boiling. It is an advantage, also, to have the 

 grain swell in the crop of the fowl, rather than to have it swol- 

 len previously. When, however, green food is necessary, if 

 the birds are not so circumstanced that they can find it for 

 themselves, it must be provided for them. Richardson recom- 

 mends that cabbages, lettuce, &c., should not be chopped 

 small, on the ground of waste, but that they should be fastened 



