142 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



Trap-nesting will, if persistently followed the entire year, give 

 nearly the exact individual record, which is not material tp one 

 egg man in a thousand. It cannot be exact, however, as a 

 shut-in and otherwise disturbed hen never does her best. 



This method applies to other birds as well turkeys, for 

 instance. Last fall I bought two turkeys for experiment; one 

 was SMALL, with LARGE egg-development; the other 

 LARGE with SMALL egg-development. ' The small bird has 

 laid and hatched out two litters of fourteen each the present 

 season, and has at this date laid twenty-three eggs towards a 

 third litter. The large one laid and hatched fourteen eggs 

 early in the season, and has shown no signs of laying since, but 

 has 'taken on much more flesh than the laying turkey. This 

 would, in addition to indicating laying turkeys, also show what 

 to breed if large birds only are desired as would nearly alw r ays 

 be the case with turkeys. 



The absolute surety of never killing a bird for market or 

 home consumption that is laying, about to begin laying, or is 

 liable to lay in the near future, is another decided advantage 

 over the trap-nest, and one of the quickest available ad- 

 vantages of the system. 



Again, the process requires no investment in patent nests, 

 leg-bands, or other fixings, which amount, in trap-nesting, to 

 many times the first and only cost of this method. For ac- 

 curacy in all the advantages claimed for this method, we will 

 most gladly submit to a test with the greatest expert trap- 

 nester that can be selected, if it can be so arranged that some 

 high authority in poultry matters or some Government Ex- 

 periment Station shall have charge of it. This unconditional 

 offer we make to the world. 



How TO SELECT. 



As the basic principle of this method of identifying 

 capacity for egg-production is the width and relative condi- 

 tion of the pelvic bones and surrounding construction, it is 

 obvious that exact measurements cannot be given, unless a 

 distinct breed be designated. A Cochin lays a large egg, and 

 is built accordingly; a Bantam lays a small egg, and its pelvic 

 development in inches is correspondingly smaller. It would 

 be manifestly misleading to apply the same measurements 

 to the two birds. 



