GREAT LAYER TENDERNESS. 131 



hen pintado ; the manner and gait of the cock, however, 

 soon distinguish him. However long domesticated, 

 these birds retain some part of their original wild 

 habits, and will stray in search of a place in which to 

 drop their eggs, without any apparent solicitude as 

 to their security. They lay an abundance of eggs, 

 smaller than those of the common hen, speckled, re- 

 sembling wild, rather than common eggs. It some- 

 times happens that they are everlasting layers, in 

 which case, and indeed generally, it is most profitable 

 to hatch pintados under a common hen, which will 

 cover an additional number of those small eggs. The 

 chicks are extremely tender, and should not be hatched 

 too early in the spring ; a sudden change of the wind 

 in March, to the N.E., has destroyed many a brood 

 of them. 



G 6 



