BOOK VIII. 11. 6-8 



chickens. For it is by attention to these points and 

 management that the business of poultry-keeping, 

 which the Greeks call 6pvi6orpo(l>ia (bird-rearing), is 

 carried out. 



Two hundred head are the limit which should be 7 

 acquired fully to employ the care of one person to 

 feed them, provided, however, that an industrious 

 old woman or a boy be set to watch over the fowls 

 which go astray, so that they may not be carried off 

 by the wiles of men or of animals which lie in wait 

 for them. Further only the most prolific fowls 

 should be bought. They should have red or darkish 

 plumage and black wings ; and, if this is possible, 

 they should be chosen of the latter colour all over 

 and of the nearest colour to it. Failing these colours, 

 white hens should be avoided ; for, while they are 

 delicate and not very long-lived, it is also not easy to 

 find white fowls which are prolific : also, being con- 

 spicuous owing to their remarkably light colour they 

 are rather often carried off by hawks and eagles. Let 8 

 your brood-hens, therefore, be of a red colour, square- 

 built, big-breasted, with large heads, straight, red 

 crests, white ears ; they should be the largest obtain- 

 able which present this appearance and should not 

 have an even number of claws. Those are reckoned 

 the best-bred which have five toes ° but without any 

 cross-spurs proj ecting from their legs ; for a hen 

 which has this masculine characteristic is refractory 

 and disdains to admit the male to intercourse 

 and is rarely prolific, and, when she does sit, 

 breaks the eggs with the sharp points of her 

 spurs. 



" I.e. four claws and one spur on each leg. 



dedignatur Sac : dedignatam A. 



327 



