184 CLASS AVES. • 



inhabitants of the country in general, that these birds offer 

 real advantages ; they should in some measure be abandoned 

 to their chance, and left to provide for their own subsistence, 

 if any profit is intended to be derived from them ; no pro- 

 prietor should keep on his domain, a greater number of hens 

 than he can feed abundantly with the refuse of his com. 



To preserve these birds in health, and make them contri- 

 bute to the greatest profit of the proprietor, it is necessary to 

 chuse for them a well constructed roost, placed as near as 

 possible to a coach-house or stable, and, still better, above 

 them, to preserve them from the excessive cold of winter, for 

 hens cannot support great cold, or abundant snow. Humidity, 

 and marshy grounds, intersected by too much stagnant water, 

 are equally injurious to them. The want of proper care in 

 their establishment will soon show itself by the small quan- 

 tity of eggs, the irregularity of the broods, and the languish- 

 ing state of the chickens. 



In large parks, hens may be entirely left to themselves, 

 without meddling at all with the care of their subsistence, or 

 any thing else relating to them. Their flesh in this semi- 

 wild state, acquires a very delicate taste, and exquisite 

 flavour. In Germany, many men of rank suffer the hens 

 thus to multiply, in the preserves, where they keep their 

 pheasants, giving them only from time to time some food 

 in certain parts of the forest, particularly when the earth for 

 any length .of time is covered with thick snow. These birds 

 lay their eggs, and bring up their young in the woods. These 

 last soon acquire a still wilder nature, and are always inferior 

 in size to cocks and hens that are entirely domestic ; they do 

 not grow so fat, but their flesh is far more agreeable. The 

 plumage also, after some generations, is affected by this demi- 

 savage state ; the feathers are in general less broad, the tufts 

 and tail not so well furnished ; the latter is less round, and its 

 form approaches considerably to that of the wild species, 



