46 
HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
*g 
object, as the word aviculture naturally implies. 
Of course, as the domestic fowl is the most im- 
portant bird from a practical point of view, the 
" Revue Avicole" is chiefly concerned with poultrv- 
keeping, and the present number, that of Septem- 
ber 15th, opens with some notes on poultry in 
Morocco, communicated by M. A.ubry, Yeterinarv 
Surgeon to the Board of Agriculture there. The 
loerd fowls, it seems, are an improved race — as is, 
indeed, the case in most parts of the hast, and 
only lay small eggs. 
This was observable in India, where the native 
egg barely peeps over the rim of the ordinary egg- 
cup; but it must be remembered that the fowls 
are expected to keep themselves, and naturally 
cannot grow to any size or lay big eggs under the 
circumstances. The smallness of the Egyptian 
eggs recently sold here is no doubt due to the 
same causes. At Mecknes, says M. Aubry, there 
are fanciers who breed good fowls — buff and white 
Orpingtons, Faverolles and Brahmas, and Rouen 
and Muscovy ducks. Few guinea-fowls, turkeys 
and geese are kept. All these birds, especially the 
geese and ducks, degenerate quickly from the 
second generation, the faliing-off showing itself 
in the gradual appearance of white in the plum- 
age, and in the decline of laying power and fer- 
tility. It is rather surprising to hear this about 
Muscovy ducks, which are called in French, " Bar- 
bary ducks" (though really from America), and 
are widely kept in Africa; while the guinea-fowl is 
actually an African bird. 
The Mecknes fanciers are, however, it seems, 
better provided with good intentions than with 
information, and Moroccan poultry generally 
stands in need of increase in numbers and of im- 
provement in the size of the egg and quality of 
the flesh; and it is hoped that good and well 
selected French breeds will do this, to the benefit 
of the export trade in eggs and poultry, already 
in existence. 
In view of the cessation of the great bird 
shows in this country it is interesting to learn 
that the Canary Society of Paris is going to hold 
its annual show on November 4th, at the Garden 
of Acclimatization. This Society specializes on 
the Parisian frilled canary — the so-called Dutch 
frill — a breed still not well known, but which has 
been exhibited over here. It has been very suc- 
cessful, and it is expected that the exhibits will 
not have fallen off much in consequence of the 
war. Only the members of the Society can exhibit 
and the birds must all have been bred this year, 
and by the individual exhibiting them. 
There is a fairly good article on the necessitv 
for artificial incubation for increasing the output of 
poultry, which appear from the prices given to be 
as dear to buy and as costly to raise, owing to 
the price of food, as over here. Poultry food 
has risen owing to the need of first considering 
the requirements of larger stock — cattle and pigs 
— and our Government Authorities are quoted on 
this subject. It is anticipated that, as with us, 
there will have to be a drastic reduction of un- 
profitable stock, and that every effort must be 
made to keep the larger at the sacrifice of less 
useful fowls — old hens, cocks, and merely fancy 
fowls. It is expected, too, that this winter game 
will enter largely into competition with table 
poultry. 
French breeders, it is considered, need a, good 
deal of instruction in artificial incubation, which 
prevents the loss of laying" time consequent on the 
use of hens for sitting, and an exhibition of in- 
cubators is recommended. 
M. Allain d'Hardricourt has an interesting 
little article on the use of fowl-grease in rheuma- 
tism. Madame Tavet, who is in charge of a small 
museum of arms at Pontoisc, has had, in the ab- 
sence of 1 an assistant, to scour the exhibits herself, 
and has kept them in fine condition. As there was 
ten years' rust to get rid of, the undertaking- was 
a considerable one, but the use of fowl-grease has 
proved quite efficacious as a cleansing- agent. This 
was recommended by an armourer, and Mme. 
Tavet, who was suffering from ankylosis of the 
right wrist, found it very tired at the end of the 
first day's work. She felt better the next day, 
and a few days later was free from pain. 
On her next attack she rubbed in fowl-grease, 
but with no result, till she reflected that on the 
previous occasion the grease had got mixed with 
the rust. She therefore rubbed rust from an old 
knife on the limb, and then the fowl-grease and 
found relief immediately. Since then she has 
made a habit of keeping a mixture of rust and 
grease, and finds it efficacious; it does not soil 
the clothing-, and is all absorbed by the skin. 
An article by M. Louis Brechemin follows, 
dealing with the testing of incubating eggs for 
fertility by means of a light, and on the preserva- 
tion of eggs for the winter, when they have been 
very dear in France, winter-laid eggs being ap- 
parently even harder to get than here. 
Most farmer's wives, it appears, test their 
incubating eggs on the tenth day of sitting, but 
M. Brechemin recommends the fifth day; the 
breeders about Houdan, he says, test at 48 hours, 
when the clear eggs are still so fresh that they 
are sold for human consumption, but such early 
testing- requires the skill given by long- practice. 
After this comes an artice on vermin in the 
poultry house, and the desirability and means »f 
suppressing these little pests; painting the house 
with carbolineum is the method recommended. 
Like some of our own poultry papers, the 
" Revue Avicole" extends its scope to rabbits, and 
