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124 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 25, 1858. 
suffering hen was restored to health by the free use of castor 
oil, and almost total deprivation of any other food. Her only 
disease Avas over-feeding. 
In the Times , Ave read an interesting account of the death of 
a young hippopotamus in some of the public gardens of 
Paris, we believe the Jardin das Tlantes. Its birth is some¬ 
what obscurely described. It suddenly appeared in the water 
of a tank, used by its parent as a bath. Now, as the 
artiste en hains had never contemplated such an interesting 
event, he had not arranged a proper landing-place or exit for 
the illustrious stranger. The parent Avas, no doubt, very 
anxious, and that made her clumsy. Her efforts to teach the 
young idea to land, were of such a nature, that she saved it 
from drowning by poking it to death. Doubtless, tears, such 
as hippopotami shed, Avere plentiful, and the great journal of 
Europe has recorded the whole transaction. We Avere speak¬ 
ing of it to a friend of ours, a great poultry-fancier; and she 
immediately said, “ Ah! poor little monster, just like my 
chickens ; they all die in the shell, they can't yet out." Now 
this is a very common complaint at this time of year. 
Chickens are said to be so Avcak, they can’t leave the shell. It 
is not so ; the inner membrane of the shell is so hard and 
dry, the poor things are imprisoned in it. The fault is not 
with nature, but ourselves. If the hen stole her nest in some 
hedge, she would be lost till she brought her chickens out. 
She would only leave her charge at break of day: the grass 
at that time is Avct with deAV : and, Avlien she had wandered in 
search of food for lialf-an-hour, she Avould return to her nest 
draggled Avitli wet, but she would bring off her chickens : they 
Avould not die in the shell. Pheasants, Partridges, and Wild 
Ducks all do this. 
But, in our anxiety to guard against accidents, or the 
possibility of failure, wo coniine our sitting hens, and A\e are 
careful to place food and Avater within reach, that they may 
have no temptation to remain long off their nests. Take a 
leaf out of Nature’s book, Avct the eggs for seven or eight days 
before hatching, and your chickens will come out. 
We hope some of those who have been so hard on the 
sellers of eggs will feel compunction, when they find the 
various causes explained that may cause failure in hatching, 
and that the seller is often no more to blame for it than the 
architect of the bath was for the death of the juvenile hippo¬ 
potamus. If not, we are sorry for them. As our friend 
Barney Gamp would say, « What they ses, they knows, and 
what they knows, they 11 stick to; and if the expogure has 
done nothing else, it has taught people tilings as they didn’t 
know afore.” And as Mrs. Harris said, only last Friday as 
ever was, “ Sairey,” says she, “ nobody never knows too much 
of nothing.” 
SAFETY IN PEE-PAYME'NT—PACKING 
EGGS. 
I avas glad to see, by The Cottage Gardener for May 4, 
that Mr. Robson sued Mr. Cottrell for the price of his ducks. 
Mr. Cottrell attempted to victimise me, but, I am thankful lo 
say, did not succeed, OAving to my requesting pre-payment. 
With regard to the question of bought eggs, now under 
discussion, I think many losses may be explained by the care¬ 
less Avay in which many eggs are packed. I have received 
C SS S packed in bran, Avliich did not near fill the box, and 
also in the same way in chaff.—F. G. Dutton, Lydeard 
House , Swindon. 
NOTE ON THE AUSTRALIAN BRONZE- 
WINGED DOVE. 
REARING NIGHTINGALES. 
Observing, in The Cottage Gardener of May the 4th, a 
notice.on “Rearing the Nightingale and Thrush,” signed 
Ruris Am at or,” I beg to say a few Avords on the subject. 
I would premise that, although neither the Nightingale nor 
Thrush belong to that tribe denominated “ mocking birds ” 
for they invariably adhere to their natural song, when 
brought up from the nest, no matter however secluded they 
may be—nevertheless, their strain is always inferior to that 
of birds ot the same kind Avlien reclaimed from a state of 
nature. It is deficient in that wild, startling tone, that ar¬ 
rest’s the ear on a still summer’s evening in the Avoods. It I 
is insipid in comparison. Besides, the nestling nightingale, 
in particular, rarely arrives at perfection in the full quantity 
ot his cadences ;—some ot them are missing. Having pro¬ 
ceeded thus far, I do not see the advantage of taking the 
trouble -tor a great trouble it certainly is—to bring up 
young birds ot the above description from the nest; when 
they are so easily “ meated oft,” AAdien caught in full maturity, 
and stout in song. I would not advise any fancier to give 
his birds live food, Avhen they are accustomed to artificial 
food; for they do not require it, except, indeed, Avlien they 
appear dull, and refuse their usual meat; then a meal¬ 
worm, or spider,, will prove very, beneficial. The “ mealing 1 
ult of caught birds is too Avell understood, I should imagine, 
for me to offer a description of the process. I had a ; 
nightingale caged lour years, and during that period he 
never had any live food, except some house-flies that were 
occasionally attracted to his cage by the smell of the raw 
meat, lie Avas very expert in capturing them when they 
alighted on the wires of his cage. 
The best food I ever found for all soft-billed birds is the 
loll OAving mixture :—boiled bullock’s li\'er, grated fine ; 
chopped egg, crushed hempseed, and grated crumb of stale 
white bread : the nightingale should liaA r e, also, in another : 
pan, scraped raw beef and the yolk of an egg, beat up 
together and moistened with water: it must be fresh , as 
Ruris Amator observes. I never could see any ad¬ 
vantage in adding boiled carrots to the food. It is at the 
migratory season Avlien the nightingale becomes restless in j 
his cage; his instinct tells him his companions are depart¬ 
ing to a Avanner climate,Avhere there is abundance of insects 
awaiting their arrival, and he is anxious to join them in 
their flight: a mealworm then may be very judiciously 
given. I never knew any of my birds to be restiess in the 
spring ; the autumn Avas the time.—-Wur. Brent, No. 2, 
Military lload , Canterbury. 
OUR LETTER BON. 
Pigeons. —In reply to Mr. T. W. Wrench , I am sorry to say ho has 
not minutely enough explained the marking of the Pigeons; but they 1 
may be a.red variety of the Suabian Spangled. Though, from their 
being partly feather-footed, some having white, and others dark heads, j 
and the flights being black and white intermixed, I expect them to be 
the produce of some mixture of one or move ot the Spangled Pigeons, 
viz., Suabian Spangled, and Hyacinths, Poroelains, Victorias, or ‘ 
Ermines, as they are variously called.— -B. P. Brent. 
Pigeons {Samuel Gilson , jun.).—\Ye cannot make out the variety 
rom your description. Wc are always obliged by accounts of new 
kinds. 
IIhns pecking off the Cock’s hackle {A Subscriber). —The conduct 
ol which you complain provescithcr a bad state of health in your fowls, 
or that they require some soi l of change of diet that they cannot get. 
JI they have been led on meat, and it is now withheld, it is a hankering 
alter it that makes them eat the cock’s feathers. The end of the I 
leather is, probably, soil and fleshy. If they are badly supplied with 
green food, it is a desire for a change that makes them eat them; they 1 
require something more than their usual diet, and, for want of it, they 
take the best substitute they can find. It is a habit they acquire one 1 
I rom the other. Remove tire cock till the feathers are grown hard on 
the bare places. Give the hens a dose of castor oil each, and supply I 
them liberally with green food. 
Mr. G. C. Adkins, in reply to my inquiries, says he has 
kept these birds, and states they lay occasionally, though not 
often ; but they have never hatched a young oiie. They arc 
not sufficiently domesticated to be allowed their liberty; nor, 
as far as his experience goes, are they likely to become so! 
They always hold themselves aloof from the other birds in the 
same pen ; and the odd ones never show the slightest dispo¬ 
sition to pair Avith those of a different species.— B. V. Brent. 
LONDON MARKETS. —May Sim. 
POULTRY. 
There is still a good supply and a 
more plentiful than usual, and there 
tory season. 
Each. 
Large Fowls ... (is. (id. to 7s. Lid. 
Small ditto. 1 (i „ 5 (i 
Chickens. 3 0 ,,10 
Goslings. 6 0 ,, G 0 
Ducklings . 3 G ,, 4 G 
od trade. The former is rather 
every appearance of a satisfac- 
Eaeli. 
Guinea Fowls . Os. 0 d. to Os. Od. 
^ a. ~... 
Pigeons . 
.. 0 
8 
• to 
W.A. YU 
0 9 
Leverets. 
o 
G 
4 6 
Rabbits ....... 
.. T 
5 
1 G 
Wild ditto.... 
.. o 
9 
99 
0 ip 
