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THE POULTRY BOOK. 
The period of incubation is twenty-six to twenty-eight days. Though they are 
not unprofitable birds, as they are capable of procuring almost entirely their own 
living, they are rejected by many on account both of their wandering habits, which 
give trouble, and their disagreeable voice, resembling the noise of a wheel turning 
on an ungreased axletree. The males, when pugnacious, though spurless, are 
capable of inflicting considerable injury on other poultry with their stout hard 
beaks. 
Like their wild progenitors, domestic Guinea-fowls prefer roosting in the open 
air to entering a fowl-house; they generally choose the lower branches of some 
tree, or those of large thick bushes, and there congregate together in close array ; 
before going to roost they utter frequent calls to each other, and when one mounts 
the others follow in rotation ; they retire early, before the common fowl or the 
peafowl. 
The Guinea-fowl is not so large a bird as it appears, its loose full plumage 
making it seem larger than it is — it does not, when plucked, weigh more than a 
common fowl. The male and the female very much resemble each other; the 
male, however, has the casque higher, and the wattles are of a bluish red ; the 
wattles in the female are smaller, and red.” 
A very practical and experienced correspondent states : — 
“ On visiting some of the large poultry-yards of this country, I have been struck 
at the general absence of Guinea-fowls. Their noise, difficulty in rearing the 
young, an instinctive desire to prowl away for nidification, coupled with a tendency, 
as is supposed, to scratch and destroy garden produce, appear to be the chief 
obstacles to their being favourites in England. I kept and reared hundreds of 
these beautiful birds in India for several years. Admitting, which I do, that their 
clamour is most annoying, especially when any strange animal approaches, or the 
hens are deprived of their mates, I do not assent to their being so mischievous or 
destitute of profit as many are disposed to do. The chief difficulty in rearing 
them in England appears to proceed from our humid climate; wet in any way, 
whether from the dewy grass or rain from clouds, causing the legs to become 
cramped or paralytic, which often terminates fatally. I conceive this might be 
obviated by the construction of a temporary outhouse, with its floor covered with 
dry gravel, and roof thoroughly waterproof ; but the golden rule to preserve the 
young, is to feed them frequently during the day at intervals of two or three hours. 
Owing to the rapid growth of their feathers, their strength is severely taxed ; and, 
unless a continual supply of food be administered, they will die of atrophy and 
starvation. 
Guinea-fowls may do occasional harm to gardens, but ample compensation is 
made in the destruction of those insects which cause much greater injury. I have 
often inspected their crops, and found them to be full of insects, the most noxious 
known to gardeners. These birds in India generally commence laying after the 
monsoon, although they will do so at all seasons ; and to secure the hens from the 
mongoose, as well as their eggs from snakes, or being damaged by the sun’s heat. 
