122 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



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 lavers were the latter and my barren and nearly 

 barren ones, the first mentioned. My atttention was next forc- 

 ibly called to this by seeing a long row of dressed pullets and 

 hens in a butchering establishment. Noticing the great differ- 

 ence in the formation I secured the privilege of numbering the 

 hens and having the entrails, as they were removed, left by the 

 side of each bird. In every instance I found my suspicion veri- 

 fied; 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 



Cut No. 2. This is a Hen of Medium Development. It is a Fair Layer. 



together at the points and unyielding to pressure, hard, thick 

 and rounded in. This experiment was tried again and again, 

 with different breeds, but never with different results. 



