138 Domestic ANIMALS. 
Lent. The young chickens must be treated in the same man- 
ner and with the same food as young turkeys, and they must 
be kept warm and dry. In fatting, they should be shut up in 
a house for a fortnight, and fed four or five times a day with 
sweet barley-meal, moistened with milk and good lard. They 
pine if confined any length of time. 
The great drawbacks to the rearing of Guinea fowls are the 
vigilance required to watch for their nest, and the harsh scream- 
ing of their ery. 
Ill—THE DOMESTIC TURKEY. 
The domestic turkey is not so far removed from the wild 
state as the domestic fowl. There is no dispute about his ori- 
gin, the wild turkey not being yet extinct, and not differing so 
widely from the tenants of our barn-yards as to give room for 
doubt on that point. In fact, as it is stated in the “ American 
Poulterer’s Companion,” if kept in the neighborhood of large 
forests they will often stroll thither, without any design to 
return, such is the natural wildness of their species. 
We have three varieties of the domestic turkey in this 
country—the Black, the Buff-colored, and the White. The 
Black is generally preferred, it being the most hardy. The 
Buff-colored is placed next in the order of merit. The White 
variety is very beautiful, but is smaller and less hardy. 
Turkeys are generally considered very difficult to rear; and 
it is undoubtedly true that considerable care, patience, and skill 
are required to insure uniform success, Mr. Bement says: 
“Tf attempts to rear turkeys have not been crowned with suc- 
cess, it is entirely owing to the unskillfulness and inexperience 
of those to whom they have been intrusted; and so long as one 
persists in thwarting the females when sitting; in opening the 
shells of the eggs in order to help the passage of the tardy 
chicks; in pressing them, so soon as they are born, to eat 
against their will; and in leaving them exposed to intense heat, 
or to cold and dampness, so long will their death, in the course 
of a month, be the undoubted consequence. It is less trouble 
