CUINEA-FOWIvS. 103 



ders their noise will arouse the neighborhood. They 

 are great rovers and foragers, destroying many insects 

 and weed seed, but doing little damage to crops. For 

 making a gamey pot-pie no other domestic fowl equals 

 the guinea. They lay many small but rich eggs and 

 have a habit of secreting their nests in the fields and 

 along fences, seldom ever laying near the farm build- 

 ings. In the hennery they are pugnacious and abusive 

 toward other fowls, and their unceasing chatter is 

 annoying to some people. Their good traits over- 

 balance their bad ones and a few should be in every 

 farm-yard. 



One male is sufficient for a flock of six to ten 

 females. It is well to set the eggs under a chicken 

 hen. Reared in this way they are more domestic. 

 They will follow the mother-hen, to her great annoy- 



A FLOCK OF PEARL GUINEAS. 



ance, until they are full-grown. The young are quite 

 hardy and require no special treatment or care differ- 

 ent from chickens or turkeys. The plumage of 

 the Pearl Guinea, the most common variety, is a 

 groundwork of blue sprinkled with pearl dots of 



