138 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



bones and surrounding portions of the body, particularly of the 

 former. Some I found nearly closed up, hard, and unyielding; 

 others barely admitting one finger between these points; while 

 a very few would easily admit the ends of three fingers between 

 the tips of the pelvic bones, and these were generally thin, 

 tapering, and elastic. With this clue, I was not long in finding 

 that my great layers were the latter and my barren and nearly 

 barren ones the first mentioned. My attention was next 

 forcibly called to this by seeing a long row of dressed pullets 

 and hens in a butchering establishment. Noticing the great 



CUT No. 4 Showing a convenient method of holding fowls 

 when testing them. 



difference in the formation, I secured the privilege of num- 

 bering the hens and having the entrails, as they were removed, 

 left by the side of each bird. In every instance I found my 

 suspicion verified; the indications of large numbers of eggs 

 and ample machinery to go with them, with the wide, pliable 

 pelvic bones; and just the opposite condition with the narrow 

 ones, the very least, or no egg indications whatever, with the 

 bones very close together at the points and unyielding to 

 pressure, hard, thick, and rounded in. This experiment was 



