10 -; 

 THE HEN. 



The Hen is inferior to tlie Cock in some of the properties and superior in othen, 

 Vphich I shall endeavour to shew ; and it is with the Almond Tumhler as with moat 

 other birds, that the male is more impudent and audacious, coarser in his looks, 

 beak, and wattle , the Hen is more delicate, finer in her beak and wattle, and 

 though generally a more spare appearance, comes very little short in shape or 

 carriage. She is smaller than the cock, which is an advantage. The cock and 

 hen are equal as regards the eye ; that is to sav, the eye of the male is not more 

 wicked than the females ; but with regard to feather, the cock has a. deal more 

 ground, more break or variegation in his flight and tail feathers ; although there are 

 hens equal in feather to the cocks, they are very few, they are the exception 

 to the rule. Should it so happen that two birds possessing the five properties, 

 namely, head, beak, eye, carriage, and feather, equally alike, I have no hesitation 

 in saying that the heu is worth double the money of the cock. There are hens in 

 feather that come up to the standard of the cock, but, as I observed before, they 

 are the exception, and not the rule, being very scarce and not quite so brilliant 

 in feather. 



MATCHING OR PAIRING. 



There are several things here to take into consideration ; the first would be, how 

 many pairs of birds you intend to matchup? What is the temperature of your 

 aviary or loft ? How are you circumstanced for room ? The reason why I ask 

 how many pairs you intend to match up is this, if you intend only matching a few 

 pairs, and have ample room for them, then match them by the beginning of March, 

 or should the place be warm, then the middle of February ; but if you match up 

 forty pairs, as I have done, and require the birds to keep the penns you assign 

 them, then match up the first of February, as y9u will experience much trouble 

 and it will take considerable time before you can get the birds steady to the places 

 you have assigned them. 



The first or second round of eggs, as it is termed by the Fanciers, seldom produce 

 anything, owing to their being thin-shelled, soft or lush eggs. Should they break 

 or destroy their eggs, it is necessary either to give them addled or bone eggs, made 

 on purpose, and make them set their time, if possible, and then it is absolutely 

 necessary to give them a young one to feed otf their soft food, which they will 

 generally do in a week or ten days ; there is a great difierence in their feeding, 

 some feed well, whilst others, comparatively speaking, will not feed at all. I said 

 it was absolutely necessary to make them set their time and feed off their soft 

 food, otherwise they will only lay soft shelled eggs, and that so frequently through 

 the breeding season, that you will ruin the constitution of the hens for ever. 



On the knowledge you possess of matching and shifting will depend your success 

 as an Almond Fancier; these are the two grand secrets or great facts — the first, 

 to produce it; the second, to raise. It is needless forme to tell you, that you 

 must first breed a good bird before you attempt to raise it, consequently I shall 

 endeavour here to assist you, how to breed a good bird. I stated in a former 

 part of this work, that you have no right to expect a Wonder or Nonpareil from 

 inferior birds. Fanciers widely difler in their attempts to breed a good bird; 

 there are some Fanciers that would sacrifice every other property in a bird to obtain 

 head and beak, by matching the two best head and beak birds in the aviary or loft, 

 while there are others, sacrificing the other properties to obtain feather, this is 

 the cause of our observing such good head and beak birds, but running from 

 feather ; on the contrary, those Fanciers who sacrifice every thing for feather^, 

 breed birds with beautiful feather, but they run out in head and beak. Fanciers, 

 in looking at good head and beak birds, will tolerate the bird and overlook feather ; 

 but if it was the best feather possible to obtain and ran out in the head, thin-faced 



