THE BARN DOOR HENS. 15 



of broody mothers, which certainly sit quiet enough 

 for a day or two, and then suddenly, apparently 

 without rhyme or reason, chuck the whole thing up, 

 and shortly after, to the unfortunate keeper's unmiti- 

 gated horror, commence quietly to lay eggs again. 

 For why? Because madame, astutest of agriculturists, 

 has taken away their young ones just hatched, put the 

 chicks under other hens which have just hatched out 

 also, kept the bereaved mothers sitting on in their old 

 nests on an addled egg or two, which they will 

 continue to do without repining for a day or more, 

 and in this state hands them over triumphantly to her 

 victim, at a cost perhaps of 3.9. or 4^. apiece ; the 

 price to which broody hens run in a neighbourhood 

 depending very much on the amount of game 

 preserving within the district, and not seldom upon 

 the gullibility of the nouveau riche, who is going in 

 for beating Lord So-and-So's " big day " last year. 

 The denouement, and the language of the deluded 

 keeper, who has fallen a victim to this rustic 

 confidence trick, may very well be left to the 

 imagination. But if you do buy hens from farm 

 houses, be careful to find out what particular kind of 

 food has been supplied to them, and stick to it, if 

 you want to keep your purchases in a good humour. 

 Hens that have been accustomed to scraps, the 

 pickings of a farmyard, or some particular kind of 

 diet, whatever it may be, often decline to eat maize, 

 and suffer in condition accordingly. 



