our poultry houses is nine feet square. It is 

 built of brick (with a tiled roof), excepting the 

 front, which is of wood, and protected by Stock- 

 holm tar, with which it is thickly covered. On 

 one side of it is a recess ten feet deep and three 

 feet wide, with a slated roof for the fowls to take 

 shelter in during heavy rains and unseasonable 

 weather. The extent of walk is twenty feet by 

 fifteen feet; the top is considerably elevated, in 

 order to afford the fowls an opportunity of 

 perching high. The perches are fixed in a 

 variety of directions, and so placed as to com- 

 mand an extensive view of the neighboring 

 gardens, park, &c; and, of course, a glimpse of 

 the sun's rays. By the fowls being constantly 

 seen mounted on these perches, it is quite evi- 

 dent that they are " happy " in their confine- 

 ment; and being always in robust health, and 

 the nests for the most part abundantly supplied 

 with eggs at all seasons of the year, we are led 

 to believe that our treatment of them is in every 

 respect correct. No poultry-house ought to be 

 of less dimensions than from six to seven feet 

 square (we have several this size); and if built 

 of brick, so much the better. It is warmer than 

 those built of any other material. The larger 

 the poultry walk, the better ; twelve feet by nine 

 feet should be the minimum size. By turning 

 the top soil frequently over, the walks will be kept 

 sweet and wholesome, and the health of the 

 poultry thereby insured. We will speak of their 

 food, &c, at an early period, and keep in lively 

 remembrance the " whole question of poultry" 

 as you advise.] 



What is the proper Food for a Starling ? — My 

 bird is not at all well. I am afraid I do not give 

 him the right food. Please tell me what is pro- 

 per.— C. G. 



[German paste and stale bun is the best gene- 

 ral food. But you should vaiy it with egg, raw 

 meat, bread and butter, &c. Keep his cage dry, 

 and hang him out of the reach of draughts.] 



Dormice. — Will these little creatures breed in 

 a cage? If so, how long will it be before they 

 have young ones ? — E. H. 



[Dormice very rarely breed in cages. They 

 are very shy in this matter. We believe the 

 period of gestation to be about seventeen days.] 



A remarkable Hen's Egg On the 1st of March, 



I took from the nest an extraordinary egg. It 

 was so unusually long , that I resolved to break 

 the shell, which I did" at both ends. I then blew 

 out the yolk, and with it a second egg, the size of 

 a blackbird's egg. The shell of both was quite 

 hard and perfect, and there was a yolk in both. 

 This is a curious fact Joseph Newton, Ickwell. 



Goldfinch-Mules. — When are you going to 

 treat of breeding goldfinch- mules ? [Very 

 shortly.] I am anxious to breed some. — J. J., 

 Coventry. 



[Procure a fine cock goldfinch, two years old, 

 and a fine hen canary, also in her second year. 

 When they have " paired," put them into a breed- 

 ing-cage ; and read our instructions for "Breeding 

 Canaries," now in course of publication in this 

 Journal.] 



Evil Propensity in Fowls, eating their Eggs, Sfc. 

 — Can you tell me how to cure poultry of eating 

 their eggs whilst sitting? [There is no cure ex- 

 cepting a cruel one — viz., procuring imitation 

 eggs, and heating them so as to burn the hen. 

 When we have had such offenders, we have 

 immediately got rid of them.] Please also to say, 

 how many hens should be associated with one 

 cock?— B. B. 



[If you wish your eggs to be fertile, the proper 

 number of hens would be four.] 



Early Incubation of the Lark. — I forward you 

 a paragraph from the Hereford Times, in which 

 you will observe that the sky-lark, notwithstand- 

 ing the severity of the weather, built her nest and 

 reared her young at a remarkably early period : 

 — " Early Birds. — The lark is well known to be 

 an early riser, but is not considered by the natu- 

 ralist to be an early breeder, the general time of 

 its incubation being about May or June. The 

 writer of this paragraph, on Wednesday, April 

 28, saw a nest containing three young sky-larks, 

 which were fully feathered. They were captured 

 by a well-known bird -fancier of this city, who 

 now has them in his possession. They are likely 

 to do well. Their possessor says, that a hatch of 

 larks thus early is a circumstance which never 

 came to his knowledge." Do you, Mr. Editor, 

 ever remember to have found a nest thus early ? 

 —J. T., Hereford. 



[No ; we do not remember to have ever met 

 with a nest of young larks so early in the season 

 as April, especially during so cold a season as that 

 of 1852.] 



When do Birds begin to sit, after laying their 

 First Egg ? — Can you inform me whether birds, 

 in their wild state, sit on their first egg when it 

 is laid ; or do they wait until the whole number 

 are complete? I am induced to put this question 

 in consequence of my having seen so many nests 

 of young birds fledged all so nearly alike, that 

 it appears they must all have been hatched toge- 

 ther.— W. B. II. 



[The question put is a very pertinent and proper 

 one. We have ascertained that wild birds do not 

 commence sitting until they have laid their entire 

 complement of eggs. They then sit close. If 

 they began to sit on their first egg when laid, the 

 consequence would necessarily be, that the fourth 

 or fifth egg would be quite behind time in the 

 hatching ; and the taking wing of the brood would 

 not be practicable at one and the same moment. 

 Nature has wisely gifted the feathered tribe with 

 a peculiar instinct in this matter. With canaries 

 in confinement, it is different, and for a sufficiently 

 obvious reason.] 



Nests of Wild Ducks. — A short time since, 

 on the top of an alcove in our garden, I found, 

 eight feet from the ground, the nests of two wild 

 ducks. One contained ten eggs: the other, nine. 

 There was a space of three feet between each 

 nest, and one was six inches raised above the 

 other. On the day subsequent to that on which 

 I found the nests, I discovered an egg on the 

 ground, broken. On ascending to reconnoitre what 

 whs doing above, I found the lower nest had been 

 removed to the one above, and the eggs also— 



