114 COMMON SENSE 
carried to a new coop, the hand net saves a great deal of trouble 
to the owner, and many a twisted leg and wing to the birds. 
_ ‘The first yard made quite a respectable appearance after all. 
Although I had found it difficult to complete my third breeding 
pen of Dominiques, yet when I had got together all the hens that 
resembled Dominiques they formed a very handsome flock, their 
very numbers seeming to cover and excuse any slight irregularity. 
The second yard I filled with birds that were as nearly white as 
possible. Amongst them were quite a number of pure Leghorns 
and some very light Brahmas. Most of them, however, were evi- 
dently mere mongrels. After I had sorted out 75 white birds of 
pretty good quality I had nearly 30 white ones left, but many of 
them were quite inferior. 
Those for the third yard were selected to match, as nearly as 
possible, a hen which was in the lot that I found on the place, 
and which my little friend Nettie used to call Dame Parten. She 
resembled somewhat a Brown Leghorn, and was a most excellent 
hen, though rather small. She Jaid a good-sized egg and plenty 
of them, and she herself we had placed in a breeding coop with a 
Brown Leghorn cock, but we adopted her as a model for yard 
No. 3, and we succeeded in getting over 60 hens that nearly re- 
sembled her. Rather than break the uniformity of the yard, I let 
it go with this number. 
It now began to be difficult to find enough birds that would 
match in color to fill any one pen, so I adopted a somewhat differ- 
ent plan. I now matched them for size and shape. 
The hens that were originally on the place were of all shapes, 
sizes and colors, but as they knew the old coop, and the old coop 
only, as their home, it was not best to try and make a change. I 
therefore let them remain as they were, merely adding enough birds 
to make up roo—a number which I considered it possible to ac- 
commodate comfortably. ‘The hens that I selected were the best 
of odd colors. Some of them were very handsome birds, but the 
lack of uniformity told greatly against their appearance. 
In making up the other yards I now began with the poorest. I 
picked out all the smallest and least promising of the birds that 
