FLORIDA POULTRY. 289 



conceal their eggs, and later on their ''large and interest- 

 ing family of small children " from the wanton cruelty of 

 their cannibal father. 



So you see there is naturally a good deal of the savage 

 in the old turk, and the worst of it is that he does not 

 always lose it by domestication, and, for that reason, it is 

 as desirable to know the precise character borne by a cock 

 before purchasing it as it is to inquire into the past of a 

 new inmate in one's household. If he is of a peaceable 

 disposition, kind to the chicks and setting hens, you are 

 all right, but if the reverse, then ''look out for squalls!" 



The old turk's wife is very prudish and bashful when 

 setting, and only those persons with whom she has become 

 familiar should ever go near her at such times, since, in 

 her agitation, she is more than likelv to break some of the 

 eggs ; she is a very faithful setter, so much so that, unless 

 she is daily removed from the nest, she will continue on it 

 until she literally starves to death. Such a catastrophe is 

 not uncommon where her peculiarity in this respect is not 

 known or heeded. 



Certainly, both Mr. and Mrs. Turk have their " queeri- 

 ties;" while, as we have just said, the latter will rarely 

 leave the nest voluntarily, she frequently makes up her 

 perverse mind that those who removed her may take her 

 back again, if they wish her to go at all, for go she won't 

 of her own accord ; consequently, her offended ladyship 

 must be watched and, if needs be, forcibly invited to re- 

 turn to her maternal duties after a recess of not more than 

 twenty minutes. 



Two days before the little ones are due — in from twenty- 

 six to twenty-nine days, not thirty-one, as often alleged — 

 the hen should be bountifully fed, and the nest carefully 

 cleaned during her absence, powdered lime sifted in the 

 bottom, or insect pow^der among the straw; then, seeing 



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