WILD FOWL. 141 



he was obliged to become an agriculturalist or 

 starve. To 'save his life, man dug and tamed. 

 He would not have done it had he not been 

 compelled. 



Man's necessities compelled him to catch and 

 confine the wild fowl, to improve their power of 

 laying eggs, and also their power of putting on 

 in a short time a quantity of white flesh. 



If man wanted a good table fowl he " set " 

 the eggs laid by those of his hens that looked 

 like making rapid growth, fine white quality of 

 flesh, and a large amount of meat on the breast. 



If man wanted a large quantity of eggs he 

 simply " set " the eggs laid by those of his hens 

 which had laid him the greatest number of eggs 

 in a given amount of time with the least inclina- 

 tion to sit. And so he went on, selecting and 

 selecting in this manner, till, in the course of 

 time, we possess a race of hens that have lost a 

 mother's instinct, and do not offer to sit. 



This race of hens has been bred mostly around 

 the Mediterranean Sea, Ancona Andalusians, 

 Leghorns (Italian), Spanish, Houdans (French). 



But most keepers of poultry require a strain 

 that will lay a fair amount of eggs, and chickens 



/ oo 



that will grow quickly, on the smallest amount 

 of food, into fine tender birds for eating ; a 

 fowl that will sit close to her eggs and make a 

 good and faithful mother ; and so for general 



