THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



135 



peculiar line, and all prizes have been awarded accordingly, 

 the hen has been bred largely and prizes awarded her almost 

 wholly for feather and markings, the judges seldom or never 

 deeming it important to know whether she was capable of 

 laying at all or not. 



The writer was amazed to find this state of things when, 

 some years ago, he turned his attention from managing woolen- 

 mill interests to trying to manage a poultry-yard. But, in 

 spite of the fact that he was wholly unable to find bird or 

 strain that were known to be exceptional egg- producers, he 

 succeeded, within six years after starting, in building up a 

 flock that averaged annually considerably over 200 eggs per 

 hen. 



Before deciding to publish this work, I found, after 

 diligent inquiry among the leading poultrymen of the United 

 States and Canada, and some correspondence reaching to other 



CUT No. 1 A Leghorn hen showing this development has the 

 egg-laying instinct at its maximum. 



