THE CALL OF THE HEN. 121 



The method enables one: 



1. To easily and without error weed out all the worthless birds 

 from a flock; those that do not lay at all," also those that lay so little that 

 it is a loss to keep them. This alone means millions to this country. 



2. To separate just as unerringly all pullets before they begin to 

 lay; indicating the coming great layers, the fair layers, the very poor, 

 and the barren. The latter will be found in nearly all flocks. 



3. To tell those not liable to lay when disposing of old or other 

 hens for the table or market or for other reasons. 



CUT No. 2 This is a hen of minimum development. She is a fair layer. 



Beginning my investigation, as I was compelled to, with birds 

 selected wholly without egg- record, I was soon greatly impressed with 

 the dissimilarity of formation of the pelvic bones and surrounding 

 portions of the body, particularly of the former. Some I found nearly 

 closed up, hard, and unyielding; others barely admitting one finger 

 between these points; while a very few would easily admit the end of 

 three fingers between the tips of the pelvic bones, and these were generally 

 thin, tapering, and elastic. With this clue, I was not long in finding 

 that my great layers were the latter and my barren and nearly barren 

 ones the first mentioned. My attention was next forcibly called to this 

 by seeing a long row of dressed pullets and hens in a butchering estab- 

 lishment. Noticing the great difference in the formation, I secured the 

 privilege of numbering the hens and having the entrails, as they were 

 removed, left by the side of each bird. In every instance I found my 



