THB HEN FBVBR. 11 



"Indeed!" I exclaimed. " So you have made several 

 new breeds during one year's crossing, eh? That is 

 remarkable, doctor, certainly. I have never been able yet 

 to accomplish so extraordinary a feat, myself," I added. 



"Well, / have," said the doctor, — and probably, as he 

 was a practising physician of several years' experience, he 

 knew how this reversion of nature's law could be accom- 

 plished. I did n't. 



"Yes," he continued; "I have made a breed I call the 

 ' Plymouth Rocks,' — superb birds, and great layers. The 

 — a — ' Yankee Games, ' — regular knock-'em-downs, — 

 rather fight than eat, any time ; and never flinch from the 

 puncture of steel. Indeed, so plucky are these fowls, that 

 I think they rather like to be cut up than othervrise, — 

 alive, I mean. Then, I 've another breed I 've made — the 

 ' Bengal Mountain Games.' These are smashers — never 

 yield, and are magnificent in color. Then I have the 

 ' Favm-colored Dorkings,' too; and several other fancy 

 breeds, that I 've fixed up ; and fancy poultry is going to 

 sell well in the next three years, you may be sure. Come 



and see my stock, B , won't you ? And I '11 send you 



anything you want from it, with pleasure." 



I was then the editor of a weekly paper in Boston. I 

 accepted my friend's kind invitation, and travelled forty 

 miles and back to examine his poultry. It looked well — 

 very well; the arrangement of his houses, ^c, was good. 



