400 
The Australasian Book of Poultry. 
never be allowed more than half-a-dozen hens, and they should be regularly fed. The hens incubate and 
make excellent mothers, but should on no account be disturbed, the eggs taking four weeks to hatch. The 
chickens, when hatched, require attention such as would be given to young Turkeys, but after a fortnight old 
require very little care. The hen broods them until they are five or six months old. The young ones seem 
to require this lengthy attention, so that it is almost impossible to rear Pea Fowls successfully with ordinary 
hens. The cocks do not attain full adult plumage until their third year, for the first year and a half of their 
lives being similar in plumage to the hens. Both sexes moult fast, but the operation affects them very much, 
and they seek seclusion at this period. 
The Guinea Fowl is a unique variety of Poultry, and is indigenous to Africa. There are three known 
varieties, each having more or less distinctive characteristics, one variety being distinguished by the peculiar 
bony helmet on top of the head, others having a crest of feathers in place of this ornament, and a third 
variety, differing to the two former-mentioned, in being devoid of either helmet or crest, and having a great 
personal resemblance to the Vulture. The common, or domestic variety is almost identical in every respect with 
those which come from the West Coast of Africa ; but the Vulturine Royal Guinea Fowl, as it is termed, 
presents quite different and peculiar characteristics. The neck and tail are much longer than in the common 
variety, the head and upper part of the throat are destitute of feathers, but sprinkled with black hairs, which 
are longe.st on the neck ; the back of the neck is covered with velvety-brown coloured down, and the lower 
part of the neck is covered with long, pointed, and flowing feathers, each having a broad stripe of white 
down the centre, and on each side of the white a line of dull black, minutely dotted with white, with a fine 
outside margin of blue. The feathers of the inferior part of the back are similar in form, but shorter and 
broader^ with a narrower line of white down the centre, and with the minute white dots disposed in oblique 
and irregularly transverse lines. The wing coverts, back, rump, tail, under-tail coverts, and thighs are 
blackish-brown, also ornamented with round, irregular spots of white, surrounded by circles of black, the 
spaces between being filled with spots of a duller white. The wing primaries are brown, with light shafts 
and spots of brownish-white on the outer web ; the secondaries, brownish-black on the tips, with three 
imperfect lines of white lengthwise on the outer web, and three rows of irregular spots of white on the inner 
web. The breast and sides are of a beautiful metallic blue ; the centre of the belly, black ; the flanks, dull 
pink, with numerous spots of white, surrounded by circles of black ; the bill is of a brownish hue, and the 
feet brown. The Guinea Fowl does not belong to the profitable races of Poultry, but rather the ornamental, 
an extreme difficulty often being experienced in discovering where the eggs are laid, and the Fowl is an 
inveterate rover, being difficult to keep within ordinary bounds. They are also very pugnacious among other 
Poultry. One way to surmount the obstacles likely to arise where Guinea Fowls are kept, is to set the eggs 
under common hens, by this means keeping them fairly tame, fixing up perfectly secluded nests for them to 
lay in, and placing their roosts in as elevated a position as possible. Guinea hens are excellent layers of 
splendid-flavoured eggs, though on the small side. These are of a dark cream colour, and very pointed at 
the end. The hens generally lay from 60 to 120 eggs per annum. The Guinea hen will incubate if she can 
steal her nest ; but it is always the best and wisest plan to set the eggs under common hens, as they will 
then be brought up tame. The eggs take twenty-six days to hatch. The chickens at first are rather delicate, 
but if fed carefully every half-hour, may be successfully reared. The food as supplied to chickens answers 
admirably, with the addition of a little animal food. The young Guinea chickens are very attractive, the 
body colour being brown, beautifully striped, and the legs, and bill a deep orange-red. The weight of adult 
birds rarely exceeds 4 lbs. The plumage being very dense, makes the bird appear larger than it really is. 
There are a number to be found domesticated in all parts of Australia, and those who keep them value them 
more from an ornamental point of view than any other. 
