THE CAKE OF POULTRY 3I 



is in our opinion specially adapted to similar experi- 

 ments, owing to its, shall we say, handier size, and 

 to its capability of great and speedy reproduction. I 

 beg leave to adduce two examples from personal ex- 

 perience, the first an accidental case, the second an 

 intentional experiment, not (by a long way) as final 

 proofs, but merely as links of a progressive chain of 

 evidence. 



In 1899, in the midst of the breeding season I 

 bought a fine Minorca hen. Not wishing to put her 

 into my breeding pen, whose members had not visited 

 any show since autumn, and were just in full lay, when 

 the introduction of a stranger generally causes a dis- 

 turbance of acquired conservative habits, I placed the 

 fresh arrival in a small pen. In the evening when the 

 inmates of the breeding pen had retired to rest, I took 

 out the male bird and put him into the run of the pen, 

 then turned out the stranger hen when he invariably 

 attended to her at once. From forty eggs laid by this 

 hen and set I obtained only pullets. Last year, pro- 

 ceeding on the same lines, I got iifo cockerels and 

 89% pullets. During the interval I did not do much 

 breeding. 



It is not so very difficult to arrange these matters 

 with our poultry as vigorous male birds are generally 

 pretty active throughout the day. Therefore place 

 your hens intended for cockerel breeding into the run 

 with the male as soon as they leave their house in the 

 morning, and remove them again early. Your pullet 

 breeding hens should not associate with their ap- 

 pointed mate until evening, the latter having been with 

 other hens during the day, (but, of course, the special 

 hens must not in the meantime run with other cocks). 

 Active males generally pay immediate attention to 

 strangers of the other sex, and it is desirable in this 

 present instance for breeders to watch the process. It 



