REPORT ON POULTRY. 67 



ing of those pallisades of painted shingles, which were kept 

 bristling about his dove-cot ? He knew very well that they 

 were no practical hindrance to his movements, as he could easi- 

 ly fly over them, but they were a sign of oppression, and he 

 had too much of the spirit of liberty to endure even the sem- 

 blance of bondage. [Applause.] 



Mr. Chittagong was glad to hear the patriotic sentiments 

 just uttered. Allusion had been made to the oppressions of 

 the man-power on the gallinaceous races. He could relate a 

 case of this unwarrantable oppression. One of his own female 

 companions, a gentle and amiable Bolton Grey, had been shut 

 up for weeks together, with her thirteen children, in a coop, 

 and all this without pretence of crime. Was not this oppress- 

 ive and unjust ? He believed it was more — it was unconsti- 

 tutional. 



Mr. Muscovy Drake asked where all these things would 

 end ? He said he could relate another aggravated case of false 

 imprisonment. When he was a juvenile duckling, he was ar- 

 rested by a young urchin, without even the forms of law, and 

 thrown into a water cistern, where he might have remained 

 until his death, had not a friend kindly come forward to bail 

 him out. He would like to know the value of the Habeas 

 Corpus and trial by jury, where such things are permitted. 



Mr. Turkey now rose, and wished to address the conven- 

 tion upon the subject of annual mortality among fowls. He 

 said he held the documents under his wing, to prove the alarm- 

 ing fact that the greatest mortality was at the healthiest part 

 of the year ! He thonght the only remedy for this great evil, 

 would be to abolish Thanksgiving. 



Mr. Capon suggested that Christmas should be included. 

 He related many facts in proof of the blood-thirsty character of 

 that annual festival, and said that he and his other bachelor 

 friends were always most liable to become its victims. He 

 hoped some plan would be adopted, to strike both those san- 

 guinary days out of existence. 



Mr. Plymouth Rock had long been aware of the evils com- 

 plained of, and it was a source of great mortification to him to 

 acknowledge that Thanksgiving had its origin at his own lo" 



