64 THE CALL OP THE HEN. 



other party mates up the same type of birds and does not get 

 a chick. 



The reader may smile, but this is no dream., A number 

 of such cases have come under my observation. One case was 

 that of a professor in one of the Southern California public 

 institutions. He had a pen of twelve Black Minorcas, headed 

 by a splendid looking cock bird, also a pen of twelve Andalus- 

 ians. He said there was something peculiar about these hens 

 and he wanted to know if I could detect it. I tested all the 

 Andalusians and told him they should average 140 eggs their 

 first laying year and I would expect twelve eggs out of every 

 thirteen to be fertile. After testing the Minorcas I told him 

 they would average about 160 egg type, but if they were mine 

 I would not set any of their eggs while they were mated to 

 the present cock bird, because I would not expect them to 

 hatch and if any did hatch they would be degenerates. He 

 said, "This is the second season I have bred from the birds. I 

 always get good hatches from the Andalusians, but although I 

 see the rooster serve the hens, I have never been able to hatch 

 a chicken from the Minorca pen." I replied, "He serves the 

 hens out of sympathy." 



Another case was a Barred Rock hen, the only one a 

 neighbor had in a small flock of Houdans. He called me one 

 day, saying he had a remarkable pullet at his place and he 

 wanted me to call over and tell him how many eggs she would 

 lay her first laying year. She had been laying two months and 

 he was keeping her record. I went with him, tested the hen 

 and told him she might lay 250 eggs, but I did not think that 

 any of them would hatch. After her first laying year was up 

 he showed me her record. She had laid 258 eggs and al- 

 though he had a good Barred Rock cock bird with her and had 

 set a number of settings under hens he failed to hatch a single 

 chick. I could cite a great number of such cases. 



In the first of these cases the fault wfes with the male bird. 

 In the last case the fault was with the hen. In both cases the 

 trouble was caused by a lack of Prepotency (amativeness) 

 and not through any defect in the anatomy of the birds. Every- 

 thing in the universe is governed by certain immutable laws. 

 If we understand these laws and can discover a way to control 

 them we may be able to use them to our advantage. Does the 

 reader ever stop to consider these matters? What in your 



