DOMESTIC FOWL. 
29 
child was shown to Dr. Monks, who at once pronounced the case fatal. 
The child expired the next day. An inquest was held on the 
body, and a verdict according to the above-mentioned circumstance 
returned.^ ” 
Aug. 24, 1846. Mr. Joseph Me Kelvey states, that a hen of his 
at Milltown, Tails, having sat ” beyond the ordinary time on a 
number of eggs, he yesterday examined them, and finding them addled, 
commenced breaking the eggs in the presence of the hen, who shrieked 
at beholding the operation, and hurried from the place. When passing 
the nest, about an hour afterwards, Mr. Me Kelvey observed the hen 
on it, and, going to the spot, found her quite dead, without any 
appearance of external injury: he concluded she had died of grief. 
Trom my knowledge of my informant, I can vouch for the truthfulness 
of what is here related ; although the accm’acy of the conclusion as to 
the cause of death may be questionable. 
Towls and eggs form such great items of exportation from this 
country, that the following note is given to show the important difference 
between a good and a bad breed. 
In August 1845, William Ogilby, Esq., of London, informed me 
that he last year sent a pair of the DorJdiig fowls to a friend in the 
county of Londonderry. Within five months the hen laid seven dozen 
of eggs — laying two days in succession, ceasing the third day, and so 
on during the period. Erom these, five dozen of young, with the aid 
of other hens as mothers, (the Dorking hens are themselves excellent 
parents) were reared. All the eggs were not set,” some having been 
eaten. They are very large, sometimes weighing 3^ ounces. Cocks 
weigh from 10 to 12 lbs. ; hens, when fat, 8 lbs. ; chickens four or five 
months old, 4 or 5 lbs. ; one cock of this age was 6 lbs. Mr. Ogilby 
has spread these fowls as much as possible over the neighbourhood, and 
they are greatly valued by the peasantry, as for their eggs they receive 
fifty per cent, more than for ordinary eggs — the one kind sells for ^d. 
per dozen, the other for ^d. My friend is not aware whether the 
* The Bishop of Nor\vich, in his ‘ Familiar History of Birds,’ mentions an un- 
gallant and furious assault of a cock-pheasant upon a young lady when quietly walking 
on the highway, but who, nevertheless, seized her assailant and carried him home. 
A mousing hen being alluded to in this work (3rd ed. vol. ii. p. 97,) reminds me that 
in my young days there was a hen of our own stock which took an especial 
delight in mouse-hunting : I have often seen her carrying the victims about as if in 
triumph. 
