CHAPTER IX. 



THE POOD FOR OLDER BIRDS, AND MOVING INTO THE 

 COVERTS. 



Who taught the natives of the field and wood 

 To shun their poison, and to choose their food. 



POPE (Essay on Man, Epi. III., line 09). 



(OMMENCE the process of teaching your 

 youngbirds to eat cracked corn when they 

 have attained the age of three weeks is quite 

 soon enough to commence by placing 

 a little for the old hen to deal with just outside her 

 coop. She will soon introduce it to the notice of her off- 

 spring; and when you see that they are beginning to eat 

 it, you can then spread it out a little wider trom the 

 coop, and leave it to themselves to pick up and devour 

 each grain. It is advisable to keep on the soft food 

 as well ; indeed, one meal a day of soft food should 

 always be given for some time to come. The corn 

 should be boiled in the rice strainer just enough to 

 swell it, but not sufficient to make it sticky. You can 

 keep on mixing your food rougher and rougher during 

 this period, until, when the birds are from seven to 

 eight weeks old, it is not even necessary to take the 

 husks out of the food. This process must be carried 



