16 
among the laying breeds such as the Leghorn, Minorca, or Redcap, 
still it is a fair layer, pullets laying in the early winter months 
when eggs are scarce. If people simply want to fill the egg basket, 
they must not go in for Indian game, but for one of the non-sitting 
varieties, for it is impossible for any one to take up a breed having 
extraordinary table and laying properties at the same time. As it 
is with cattle so it is with poultry, we can breed for milk or breed 
for flesh, so we may breed for eggs or breed for table properties, 
choosing those strains in which the distinctive feature predominates, 
but we must not expect both from the one. In the one the food 
is assimilated in the production of milk or eggs, and in the other 
for the production of flesh. 
The eggs are of a varied colour, from a palish buff to a dark 
brown, of medium size, roundish in form, and strong in shell; for 
flavour they are surpassed by none. 
The incubating properties of the Indian game may be ranked 
as one of the best, covering in a remarkable manner the full com- 
plement of eggs with its short feathers, though it is advisable in the 
early part of the year to set only from nine to ten eggs in a nest. 
They are very quiet and stick to their nests, even regardless of food. 
They are good mothers, continuing with their chickens till out of 
danger, and are well able to defend them and scratch for them with 
their powerful claws. 
The chickens, when hatched, vary in colour a good deal, some 
almost white, others resemble the Dorking and Redcap, only they 
show their prominent shape from the shell. They all moult out 
true in the first feather, the difference in the sex being easily seen. 
They grow apace in genial weather, and being not blessed (?) with a 
superabundance of feather, are not troubled with vermin. 
