INCUBATION. 229 



slowly, and their long legs, like stilts, carry them above the 

 wet grass. Chickens which feather rapidly must be kept per- 

 fectly dry and warm, however strange it may appear, or they 

 will die ; while naked chickens, as they are called, or those 

 which feather at a more advanced age, and very slowly, seldom 

 suffer from the cold, from the fact that their down is very warm, 

 and their blood is hotter, and circulates more rapidly, as their 

 food principally goes to blood, and flesh, and bones, and not 

 to feathers. 



In the hatching of poultry, nature is the best guide, and all 

 arrangements made for the accommodation of the hen should 

 conform as far as possible to the example which nature sets 

 before us. " Hens in a state of nature make their nests on the 

 ground. This method, however, cannot at all times be acted 

 upon, unless the nest be properly secured from vermin, partic- 

 ularly from rats, as these animals will frequently convey away 

 the whole of the eggs from under a hen. 



The mode of making the nests of sitting hens of moss or 

 heather, as practised in her Majesty's poultry-houses at Wind- 

 sor, offers a medium between the natural habits of the hen 

 and the dryness of a wooden box filled with straw. The 

 heather also affords the hen an opportunity of freeing herself 

 from those insects which are frequently so troublesome to hens 

 when sitting. As, however, it may not always be convenient 

 to have boxes filled with heather, the nests for the sitting hens 

 may be made in baskets or wooden sieves, and lined with such 

 warm and clean materials as are most conveniently obtained. 



The desire to sit is made known by a particular sort of cluck- 

 ing, which is continued till the chickens are full grown ; and a 

 feverish state ensues, in which the natural heat of the hen's 

 body is very much increased. The inclination, or, as physi- 

 ologists term it, the storge, (ffTo^yi?,) soon becomes a strong and 

 ungovernable passion. The hen flutters about, hangs her 

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