DOMESTIC POULTRY, 



SECTION I. 



General View of the Various Species. 



UNDER the term DOMESTIC POULTRY, in this coun- 

 try, are generally understood the Chicken or Fowl, 

 Turkey, Duck, Goose, Pea and Guinea Fowl; to 

 which, perhaps, may be added the Swan. The 

 wild varieties of the above species, of the duck 

 more especially, are objects of pursuit to the sports- 

 man, and to those inhabitants of the sea coasts, and 

 of the vicinities of lakes and rivers, where wild fowl 

 are taken in decoys for market. 



CUSTOMS. 



IN Britain, where a greater quantity of butcher's- 

 meat is consumed than probably in any other part 

 of the world, poultry has ever been deemed a 

 luxury, and consequently not reared in such consi- 

 derable quantities as in France, Egypt, and some 

 other countries, where it is used more as a necessary 

 article of food, than as a delicacy for the sick, or a 

 luxury for the table. In France, poultry forms an 

 important part of the live stock of the farmer, and 



B 



