42 ATTENTION DURING INCUBATION. 



the year, to their emaciation or almost destruction : 

 in others, the desire is so slight, that they will pro- 

 bably sit but twice, or even once in the season, and 

 then not steadily. It is for the skilful breeder to 

 take advantage of this variation of quality, the one 

 kind furnishing plenty of eggs for the other to sit 

 upon. 



It is proper to place CORN and WATER beside the 

 sitting hen, whenever it may appear necessary, with- 

 drawing them as soon as she is satisfied, not only to 

 encourage steadiness of incubation, but to support 

 the constitutions of those, in which the natural ex- 

 citement is so powerful, that they will remain seve- 

 ral successive days upon the nest, at the risk of 

 famishing. I have had instances of hens of this de- 

 scription fainting outright, and appearing as dead, 

 on their final leaving the nest with the chickens, 

 in a state of total emaciation, having, probably, not 

 eaten or drank more than once in three or four days, 

 during the TERM of their incubation, TWENTY-ONE 

 DAYS. The plan of feeding on the nest should be 

 invariably pursued with all frequent sitters. 



In a Memoir read to the Academic Royale des 

 Sciences at Paris, by M. Tessier, it is stated that 

 several TURKEYS having sat on the eggs of hens, the 

 duration of the sitting was from seventeen to twenty- 

 seven days ; the same on ducks' eggs, twenty-seven 

 days ; the same on turkeys' eggs, from twenty-six to 

 twenty-nine. 



HENS sat on ducks' eggs, from twenty-six to thirty- 

 four days ; on those of their own species, from nine- 

 teen to twenty-four days. 



