THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



their foot must be put through the middle of a 

 bit of leather in a round shape ; they become 

 as quiet as men who are fettered at their hands, 

 feet, and neck. 



The cock loves cleanliness ; he is careful of 

 his coat ; you often see him busy in combing, 

 polishing, and stroking his feathers with his 

 bill. If, like the robin and the thrush, he has 

 not the ambition of excelling in his note, one 

 may at least think that he is particularly jeal- 

 ous in showing that he has a very loud, shrill, 

 and powerful voice. In fact, when he has crow- 

 ed, he listens to know whether he is answered ; 

 or, should he hear another, he begins again di- 

 rectly, and he seems to defy him to raise his 

 roice above his own. Often of a dark night, 

 this crowing, repeated by every cock in the vil- 

 lage, has reached the ear of the benighted trav- 

 eler, and has enabled him the better to direct 

 his steps. 



CHOICE OF THE HEN. 



The good qualities of hens, whether intended 

 for laying or for breeding, are of no less im- 

 portance to be attended to than those of the 

 cock. The hen is deservedly the acknowledged 

 pattern of maternal love. When her passion of 

 philoprogenitiveness is' disappointed by the fail- 

 ure or separation of her own brood, she will 

 either go on sitting, till her natural powers fail, 

 or she will violently kidnap the young of anoth- 

 er fowl, and insist upon adopting them. But 

 all hens are not alike. They have their little 

 whims and fancies, likes and dislikes, as ca- 

 pricious and unaccountable as those of other 

 females. Some are gentle in their manners 

 and disposition, others are sanguinary; some 

 are lazy, others energetic almost to insanity. 

 Some, by their very nature, are so mild and fa- 

 miliar, and so fond of the society of man, that 

 they can scarcely be kept out of his dwelling ; 

 others seem to say, " Thank you, but I'd rather 

 be left to myself." 



SELECTING AND BREEDING. 



In the selection of breeding stock, whatever 

 variety preferred, avoid, if possible, near rela- 

 tionship, or breeding from birds produced from 

 the same parents. Pullets for breeding should 



be selected annually from early spring birds; 

 and they will then begin to lay in the spring of 

 the following year. These birds, if then put 

 with a cock a year or two their senior, will pro- 

 duce finer and more vigorous chickens than old- 

 er hens. Every second year the patriarch of the 

 yard might be disposed of, and his successor 

 I introduced from a different strain. If he is a 

 special favorite, then must the pullets be ob- 

 tained elsewhere. No cock should be kept 

 more than three seasons, nor a hen more than 

 four, if it is intended to keep them in the high- 

 est possible perfection and efficiency. We re- 

 peat, avoid relationship in your breeding stock 

 wherever possible. In a state of nature these 

 evils would not have manifested themselves; 

 but in the highly artificial condition in which 

 poultry are now presented to us, the case is to- 

 tally different, and the remedy must be sought, 

 as with cattle, sheep, and swine, in the con- 

 stant infusion of fresh blood the best that may 

 be attainable. 



When for the infusion of fresh blood, another 

 cock is to be introduced into the yard, it should 

 be during the autumn, that the hens may be- 

 come accustomed to him before the important 

 operation of spring commences. 



The poultry-yard is a place where the stu- 

 dent of natural history will see many things 

 to amuse and instruct. The plumage of birds 

 has always formed an object of pleasing con- 

 templation. The God of nature has shown by 

 it his love of spreading beauty over all his 

 works, and opening up every source for the pure 

 enjoyment of man. The splendid coloring of 

 many of our domestic fowls is not necessary 

 in itself, and must have been bestowed as a 

 means of pleasure to the beholder. 



"If people," says M. Keaumur, "are affected 

 with the kind of pleasure so transitory to the 

 enthusiastic florists, who procure it but for a 

 few days, by a world of care and toil, continued 

 through a whole year ; if they are affected by 

 the variety and fine combinations of colors in 

 their favorite flowers, the poultry-yard, when 

 well managed, may be made to offer them end- 

 less pleasures of the same description." 



The greater number of cocks, even of the 

 most common kind, are beautifully penciled. 



