2S 



TiJE Illustrated Book or Povltry. 



poultr}', it is true ;" but these men have spent their hves in stud\'ing the manac^cment of fouls, 

 and what they find best for birds worth a score of pounds each will also be best for commoner 

 fowls, such as can be bought for a few shillings. Therefore, we repeat, let the breakfast be mixed 

 with boiling water, and akuaj's given icarni. 



How the soft meat is given will depend on circumstances. Supposing a yard to be tolerably 

 dry and clean, and that the proprietor or his servant can spend a few minutes over the fowls, it will 

 be best to scatter it freely over the ground. Properly mi.^ed, very little dust or dirt will adhere 

 to it, and every bird will get its share. But if the weather be very wet this will hardly do, neither 

 will it if the birds are confined in the shed, floored as this is with loose dust or sand. In such 

 cases any common dish will do to put the food in, the quantity which the fowls will cat with 

 proper appetite having been found by previous observation. A large garden saucer will answer ; 

 but if a dish can be procured with straight sides (as in the sketch Fig. ii) it will be better, as the 

 fowls cannot then turn it over when they step on the edges, as they are apt to do with a dish 

 wider at the top than the bottom: they cannot also rake the food out so readily with their 

 beaks. The feeding "cages" usually sold are too heavy, cumbersome, and expensive for general 

 use; but some years 'ago we gave in the "Practical Poultry Keeper" the annexed engraving of a 

 loose, light cover we had contrived, of zinc or tin and wire, for preventing the fowls from walking 

 upon or scratching earth into their food, which has since been manufactured for general use. 



Fig 



Fi". i: 



and will be found useful where they have to be altogether confined and fed upon a floor of dry 

 nibbish, but for fowls fed with proper appetite in open yards, will not be needed. The front 

 wires should be about eigiit inches in height. 



The best and most generally useful vessel for feeding poultry is one we first saw in the yard 

 of Mr. E. Jones, the celebrated Spanish breeder of Bristol, England, and was, we believe, his own 

 contrivance ; so that we have always found it had to be specially made (which is readily done in 

 quantities of a dozen) at the nearest pottery. These dishes are circular in shape, and of the section 

 represented, thus presenting a saucer at both top and bottom, the size being about eight inches 



For Food. 



Fig '3 



For Water. 



across, and five inches deep. If the wide face be placed on the ground, the saucer with upright 

 sides contains the soft food (which cannot be scratched or raked out), stands perfectly firm and 

 steady even if perched upon, and is sufficiently raised to prevent dirt being scattered into the food. 

 When turned the other way it forms a water-vessel, also raised from the ground, and which, from 

 the slanting sides, does not touch the combs of Spanish or other large-combed breeds, for which the 

 ordinary poultry-fountain is not suitable on account of the size of that appendage. It was, in fact, 



