58 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



a serious matter that is very easily remedied by breeding 

 only from birds witH the straigh test pelvic bones; especially 

 looking after the male birds, as one male bird with crooked 

 pelvic bones will transmit this defect to all of his daughters. 



When I came to Petaluma, I found whole flocks of 

 thousands of hens with crooked bones; now they are very 

 rare. The poultry-breeders soon caught on to my straight- 

 and-thin-pelvic-bone idea; and I think the Society for the 

 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals should recognize my services 

 in relieving millions of hens of the agony of parturition. 



The reader will please bear in mind that Fig. 34 repre- 

 sents 100 per cent pelvic bone and holds the same relation 

 to pelvic bones in general that a bird that scores 100 in the 

 show-room holds to all other high-class birds. 



A 250-egg type cock bird or cockerel with pelvic bones 

 like Fig. 34 would be of inestimable value. The writer has 

 cock birds like the above that he would not part with for any 

 money, for the reason that it would take several years' breed- 

 ing to produce their equals. 



If the reader has male birds whose pelvic bones are far 

 enough apart that he can grasp the ends with thumb and finger 

 when measuring the thickness, he should be satisfied until he 

 can do better. 



So long as the pelvic bones are comparatively straight 

 after leaving the frame and do not curve abruptly toward 

 ^ the ends, the birds may be used as breeders, with the assur-. 

 ance that some pf the offspring will show a wonderful im- 

 provement in this respect. Figs. 32, 33, and 34 are extreme 

 cases. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE FIRST LAYING YEAR. 



What is meant by "the first laying year?" All old 

 poultrymen know what the above means, and I have no 

 doubt some of my readers may be impatient with me for ex- 

 plaining little things that are so familiar to them; but they 

 will remember that poultry parlance is not all contained in 

 the dictionary, and a great deal of the contents of this book 

 may be Greek to the beginners in the poultry business who 



