248 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
one can do but lift them off the floor on to the perches, and one has 
to repeat this nightly office quite a long time before the action 
becomes a habit with them. At night when the bird goes to roost 
it is like a young child so overcome with sleep that it is hardly 
conscious of what is happening to it when it is removed from the 
floor to the perch. One has therefore to repeat the operation 
again and again and again, until instinct, aided by art, forms a new 
habit and the perching becomes voluntary. But most fowls, 
perhaps all, if not kept in a house, perch instinctively. With some 
breeds it is difficult to get the birds indoors if there are trees 
about. And the higher the perch the better. As a rule Leghorns 
are great frequenters of trees at night, and if one allows them to 
form the habit it will be found most difficult to break them of it. 
While a fowl] loves to be comfortable, it does not mind cold, or even 
wet, for a high branch of a tree. 
Birds also prefer a dark corner to perch in. If they can find 
one place darker than another, such as a nest-box, there they will 
wend their way as the evening shadows fall. And, as showing the 
overpowering might of instinct, birds will immediately seek for the 
shelter of the house if the sky get overcast and darkness threaten. 
If it be dark long enough they will go to roost even in the middle 
of the day. In the same way lamplight or electric light will bring 
them from their perches in the middle of the night, and in this way 
some people who get home late give their birds the last meal of the 
day. The fowl is almost wholly a creature of instinct. 
They soon get to know their keeper and sometimes the presence 
of a stranger will make them strangely disturbed. Even a strange 
child in the company of the owner may send the flock flying in 
wild dismay. If the owner be differently dressed, especially if he 
have any curious headgear, it will often be the signal for a wild 
stampede. Anyone carrying an empty sack will cause an intense 
commotion, and there are times when one may, by some unusual 
gesture, send the whole flock scurrying in mortal fear. It is 
amazing how quickly their alarms take place. No doubt they 
have their own methods of making communication, and it is all 
done instantly. Suddenly one will hear a sound of wild alarm 
