184 THE COMPLETE POULTRY BOOK. 



at any rate it is best to have a larger proportion of males than is necessary with 

 ohiekens, although instances are on record where the eggs laid by eight or nine 

 hens running with but one cock proved generally fertile. The hens are great 

 layers of rather small, pointed, brown eggs ; a flock of nine hens being reported 

 by a correspondent of the Amefriccm GulUv'ator as having averaged one hundred 

 and twenty-two eggs each for one season. They frequently do not sit until late 

 in the season, and a whole flock will lay in the same nest if opportunity offers. 

 We have taken forty eggs from a single nest, which a pair of Guinea-hens had 

 hidden in a field of oats. 



The period of incubation is twenty-six to twenty-eight days, the eggs are 

 most advantageously hatched under a small Game or Bantam hen, and the 

 young chicks should have, for the first few weeks, the same treatment recom- 

 mended for young turkeys, except that it is imperative that they be frequently 

 fed — they require food oftener than any other young fowls. 



The Guinea-fowl is not a popular bird, on account of its harsh and incessant 

 noise, which begins early in the morning, and is continued until night without 

 intermission. To those who can endure its racket, however, it offers some 

 points of value, being a persistent iusect^oatcher, a good layer, giving flesh of a 

 gamey flavor much relished by some, and being so easily disturbed at night 

 that when it can be induced to roost near the fowl-house it serves as an excel- 

 lent hen-thief alarm. 



The tendency of the domesticated Guinea-fowl to produce albinos has re- 

 sulted in the production of a white breed, with several intermediate shades. 



The Guinea-cocks resemble the hens so closely, that it is difficult for an in- 

 experienced person to distinguish them; the cocks are a little larger, have 

 larger wattles, and utter a shriller cry— that of the hen resembling the words 

 "come back, come back!"— the cocks also frequently assume a pugnacious atti- 

 tude, which the hen never does. 



The loose plumage of this bii-d makes it appear larger than it really is, its 

 usual weight being four to five pounds. The general appearance of the Guinea- 

 coek is well shown by the accompanying illustration. (See illustration, page 165.) 



The Guinea-fowl has been known to produce sports having the peculiar tassel 

 on the breast of thfr turkey, thus lading support to the doctrine of the evolution 

 of the present forms of animals and plants from, at most a few, normal types. 



THE PBAFOWX. 



This most gorgeous of aU birds is a native of Asia, being now found wUd 

 throughout Southern Asia and the Malay archipelago. Naturally, on account of 

 its great beauty, it would be among the first birds brought into domestication, 

 and we find it mentioned iu the history of the times of Solomon (I. Kings x. 22), 

 and also by the writers of Greece and Eome. Two species of Peafowl are now 

 recognized: the common Peafowl, PmocristaMs, and the Javan Peafowl, P. 

 muMcnu. 



ThefoUowing description of the common Peafowl, given by Wright, is prob- 

 ably as good as can be given, but no word-description, nor even an unoolored 

 epgraving, such as the excellent one on page 169, can convey any adequate idea 

 of its gorgeousness : 



