Proceedings of tee Farmers' Club. 547 



tlie hen only utters the well known cry of " come back." The note 

 or wail, for it is mournful, of the male bird is totally different. He 

 also runs on tip-toe with a mincing gait, which the hen never 

 imitates. 



Mr. A, B. Crandalh — A word might fittingly be said just here of 

 the Guinea fowls, which, it is believed, merit more regard than they 

 are accustomed to receive. A chief objection, as has been intimated, 

 is that tliey are too noisy and intolerant. Barnaby Googe mentioned 

 them three centuries ago as " outlandish birds." This spirit and 

 consequent neglect, said the late lamented C. N. Bement, is very 

 undeserved, as they are, of all known birds, the most prolific layers 

 of excellent eggs. Week after week and month after month sees no, 

 or very rare, intermission of the daily deposit. Even the process of 

 moulting is sometimes insufficient to draw off the nutriment the 

 creature takes, to make feathers instead of eggs, and the poor thing 

 will often go about half naked in the chilly autumnal months a fowl 

 that has escaped from the cook to avoid a pre23aration for the spit, 

 unable to refrain from its diurnal visit to the nest, and consequently 

 unable to furnish itself with its winter clothing. Thus the body of a 

 Guinea hen is a most admirable machine for producing eggs out of 

 insects, vegetables, grain, garbage, or whatever an omniferous crea- 

 ture can lay hold of. 



Tegetmire says the Guinea fowl was well known to tha Komans, 

 and bore a high value at the public and "private feasts at the time 

 when the luxury of the empire was at its height ; . and Martin says 

 that like all the gallinaceous birds, this Guinea fowl is esteemed for 

 its flesh and for its eggs, which, though smaller than those of the 

 common fowl, are very excellent and numerous, the hen commencing 

 to lay in the month of May and continuing during the entire 

 summer. After the pheasant season, young birds of the same year 

 are on the table, by no means unworthy substitutes for that highly- 

 prized game. They are not unprofitable birds, as they are capable 

 of procuring almost entirely their own living ; still they are neglected 

 by many on account both of their wandering habits, which give trouble, 

 and their disagreeable voice, resembling the noise of a wheel turning 

 on an ungreased axletree. Another English writer of large practical 

 experience says that, by a little coaxing and regular feeding with 

 other poultry they may be rendered quite tame even to the extent of 

 perching with them at night in the same roost. Even their continu- 

 ous clamor for " buckwheat, buckwheat," and theii' incessant cry of 



