DOMESTIC POULTBT. 



Inrk about in the neighbourhood of the egg-heaps, with the 

 view of assisting the chicks out of the shells as soon as they 

 evince an inclination to break cover. Mr. Gotild, however, dis- 

 credits this, groxmding his disbelief on the fact that he on one 

 occasion, while turning out one of those egg-stores, discovered 

 the remains of a young bird, evidently recently from the shell. 

 With all due deference to so great an authority, I submit that 

 this evidence is not absolutely conclusive. The mother of 

 the precocious chick might not have known that it was out ; 

 and the fact of its being found dead rather favours the suppo- 

 sition that the assistance of a friendly beak is necessary to 

 release them from their imprisonment. 



We will now consider the turkey in its domestic aspect. 

 Before, however, I say a word as to its feeding and breeding, 

 I would impress on my readers that unless they have an ample 

 piece of land attached to their dwelling, they had best not set 

 up as turkey breeders. It is bad enough for fowls to be cribbed 

 up in cockney " yards " and wash-houses, but to treat turkeys 

 so is worse than useless, inasmuch as it is cruel. The turkey 

 hen must have room to stretch her long legs. Beware, how- 

 ever, of letting her out of your sight, especially when she has 

 a little family. She is partial to taking long walks, and on 

 she will go, mile after mile, with the greatest complacency, 

 never once turning her head to see how her panting chicks are 

 getting on, — not the least affected even when they squat down 

 on the road and implore her plaintively to come back ; not she ; 

 on she goes, over common and highway and meadow, as long 

 as a single chick has strength to foUow her. 



This, however, arises from sheer heedlessness, and not from 

 want of affection. She wfll fight for her brood as vaUantly as 

 win the pheasant for hers. She, moreover, preserves her instinc- 

 tive dread of birds of prey in a remarkable way. A friend of 

 mine teUs me that on one occasion the turkey-hens in his yard 

 exhibited great fright, screaming, and calling their chicks to 

 them frantically. On looking about for the cause, he dis- 

 covered it in a boy's kite that was floating high over head. 



Writing on the same subject, a IVench naturalist says," I have 

 heard a turkey-hen, when at the head of her brood, send forth 

 the most hideous screams, without my being able to perceive 

 the cause ; her young ones, however, immediately when the 

 warning was given, skulked under the bushes, the grass, or 

 whatever else seemed to offer shelter and protection. They 

 even stretched themselves, at full-length, upon the ground. 



