THE BARN DOOR HENS. 17 



between black-red game and the small yellow Cochin 

 China ; the next best are the same game with small 

 dark Brahma Pootra ; in default of either of these, 

 the common barndoor will generally do very well. 

 Breed your hens for sitting upon pheasants' eggs 

 after June 15; when bred late they come shorter in 

 the leg and smaller in the bone than the early pullets. 

 Late birds never also attain such a large size as the 

 early ones, which is a distinct advantage. As with 

 jockeys keep the sort as small as you can. 



One great advantage that the cross between game 

 and Cochin hens possesses, when employed for sitting 

 on pheasants' eggs, is that they have only four toes 

 on each foot. This renders the trampling of the 

 young birds to death in the nest or the break- 

 age of eggs much less likely to occur than with the 

 breeds boasting of more toes than nature has any 

 necessity for The Dorking, for instance, which has 

 ten toes, and is therefore to be most particularly 

 avoided. The cross with game produces heat, and is 

 therefore strongly to be recommended ; but the pure- 

 bred game are too shifty, too long in the leg and 

 quarrelsome to be trusted. Therefore, always provide 

 yourself with a cross, and avoid the " silky" tribe, so 

 much cracked up in some quarters, for hatching out 

 pheasants' eggs. They have no bodies to produce 

 warmth, and, after a fortnight's work, the heat all 

 goes out of them, as mothers they are no longer of 

 any use, and you will have to provide a new 



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