THE RUMPLESS FOWL. 263 



in as good condition, on the body of one which has 

 no oil-gland, as on the body of one which is fur- 

 nished with it. This being really the case, I drew 

 the conclusion, that birds are not in the habit of 

 anointing their plumage with the contents of their 

 oil-gland. 



The history of the rumpless fowl seems to be 

 involved in much obscurity. Buffon tells us, that 

 most of the hens and cocks of Virginia have no 

 rump; and the inhabitants, he adds, affirm that, 

 when these birds are imported, they soon lose 

 the rump. Surely the inhabitants must mean that 

 the progeny of the imported birds lose the rump. 

 Monsieur Fournier assured the Count, that, when 

 the rumpless fowl couples with the ordinary kind, a 

 half-rumped sort is produced, with six feathers in 

 the tail instead of twelve. BufFon tells us, that 

 this bird is sometimes called the Persian fowl. 

 Perhaps it may be more common in that eastern 

 country than in France ; still, after all, I find, upon 

 investigation, that it is nothing more or less than a 

 variety of the common barn-door fowl ; and that it 

 can be produced by a male and female, both of 

 which are furnished with a rump, and of course 

 with a tail. 



Two years ago, in the village of Walton, a com- 

 mon barn-door hen, with a rump, laid eighteen 

 eggs under a hedge which separates a little meadow 

 from the highway. There was not a rumpless 

 male fowl in all the village, or in the adjacent 

 country. The mowers were cutting the grass just 

 as the old hen was hatching her young. She was 

 s 4 



