GENERAL VIEWS. 



35 



and when exposed to the play of the sun's rays 

 exhibit the brightest hues, almost rivaling the 

 gorgeous coloring of the rainbow. The hens 

 are sometimes spotted with great beauty and 

 regularity; some white and silvery, others by 

 their bright orange tints appearing golden, and 

 there is of the most common kinds an almost 

 endless variety. In their colors they embrace 

 the opposite extremes of light and shade, and 

 all the tints that lie between them. 



These colors are sometimes submitted to very 

 remarkable changes in the same individual, at 

 different stages of their existence. When new- 

 ly hatched, the acutest poulterer could not pre- 

 dict of what precise color they would become, 

 for it is not found invariably to run in the blood. 

 After moulting, some fowls have been known 

 to turn out a different color from what they 

 were. Even without moulting the feathers of 

 the white have been tipped with black as sud- 

 denly as the hair of some men has in the course 

 of a night been turned into gray. 



The changes of color which some of the do- 

 mestic fowls undergo in the process of moulting 

 are most singular and inexplicable. M. Reau- 

 mur gives the following instance of change of 

 color, amoilg many others : " One of my hens, 

 readily distinguished by a crooked claw, had 

 feathers of the ruddy-brown color mixed with 

 brown, so common among barn-yard fowls. A 

 year after, she was observed to be almost black, 

 with here and there a white spot. At the sec- 

 ond moulting, black was the predominant color, 

 and only a few white patches of the size of a 

 half-crown could be perceived. At the succeed- 

 ing moult all the black disappeared, and the 

 hen became pure white." In another case of 

 a cock presented to M. Reaumur as a curios- 

 ity, the following changes occurred : in the first 

 year he was of the common ruddy brown mixed 

 with white ; in the second, he was all over ruddy 

 brown, or rather red without white ; in the third, 

 uniformly black ; in the fourth, uniformly white ; 

 and in the fifth, white feathers mixed with chest- 

 nut and brown ; while at the next moulting he 

 again became a pure white. 



A similar case lately occurred within the 

 knowledge of the author. Passing by a neigh- 

 bor's yard in the month of July, I observed a 



beautiful cock of the Poland variety. His color- 

 was red and black, beautifully combined, with 

 a splendid top-knot of white feathers. Wishing 

 to obtain him, I called there in January follow- 

 ing, and on inquiry, he was shown to me per- 

 fectly white; I objected to him, observing to 

 the owner, that it was a speckled fowl I wished 

 one which I saw there in the summer. 1 

 was then informed that he was the identical 

 fowl, that he was the only cock which had been 

 on the premises, and that when he moulted in 

 the fall his color changed by degrees until ever} 1 

 dark feather disappeared. 



Dickson, in his work on poultry, with regard 

 to color, relates the following : " I have, at pres- 

 ent, a hen of*the Spanish breed, which has been 

 of a uniform black for two successive moults, 

 but has now her neck, wings, and tail feathers 

 tipped with pure white. I have another which 

 was all over a silver gray, but has now her head 

 and neck coal black, with a ring of fine white 

 at the base of the neck, while the rest of the 

 body is finely speckled with black and snow 

 white. It is remarkable, also, that this change 

 took place in a few weeks, without any obvious 

 moult, so as to cause her to appear any where 

 bare of feathers." 



Mowbray says, "A turkey cock, which was 

 black in 1821, became afterward perfectly white. 

 This extraordinary change took place so gradu- 

 ally that in the middle of the moulting the bird 

 was beautifully mottled, the feathers being black 

 and white alternately." 



MANAGEMENT. 



It is best to intrust the management of fowls 

 to some trusty person, who can be depended on ; 

 and no other person, except the keeper, whpm 

 the fowls know, and the voice and sight of 

 whom rejoice them, must go into the hen-house, 

 for fear of scaring or disturbing the hens busied 

 in laying. 



The proper persons, or those who generally 

 understand the art of rearing poultry, are fe- 

 males, who, accustomed from their infancy to 

 look after the poultry, are acquainted with ev- 

 ery particular of rearing, the different processses 

 it requires, and the alterations which circum- 

 stances compel to bring forward. 



