LETTER XV.

INHABITANTS OF THE POULTRY-YARD.--FOWLS, TURKEYS, GUINEA FOWLS, GEESE, DUCKS, AND PIGEONS.--PEACOCKS AND HENS.--DISEASES OF POULTRY, AND THEIR CURE.

My hints for teaching you how to enjoy a country life would be sadly deficient if I were to omit poultry, as the duties of attending on them are so completely feminine, that even in farm-houses they are entirely under the care of females; and, indeed, few artists or authors would think a picture of rural life complete, if they did not introduce into it the image of a fair young girl feeding poultry. I have just been reading a description of this kind in Miss Bremer's beautiful story of _Strife and Peace_, and it has pleased me so much, and seems so appropriate, that I cannot resist the temptation of quoting it.

"The morning was fresh and clear. The September sun shone brightly into the valley; smoke rose from the cottages. The lady-mantles in whose channelled cups clear pearls trembled, the silver weed with its yellow flowers and silver-bright leaves, grew along a little footpath which wound round the base of a moss-grown hill. It conducted to a spring of the clearest water, which, after forming a little pond, led its silver stream, dancing and murmuring, to the river. On this beautiful morning Susanna approached the spring; and in her train came 'cock and hen, and chicken small.' Before her waddled a troop of geese, gabbling noisily, and all white but one--a grey one. The grey goose walked with a timid, hesitating air, a little behind the others, compelled to retain this position by a tyrant in the white flock, who drove him back with outstretched neck and loud cry whenever he attempted to approach the rest. None of the other geese concerned themselves about their ill-used companion, but Susanna took it under her especial protection, and did all in her power to console it for the injustice of its kind. After the geese came the demure but clumsy ducks; the petulant turkey-cock, with his awkward dames, one white and one black; and last, the turbulent race of chickens, with their stately pugnacious cocks. The prettiest of all the party were a flock of pigeons, who timidly, but confidently at the same time, now alighted on Susanna's shoulder and outstretched hand, and now rose in the air and flew in shining circles round her head; then dropping to the earth, tripped on their little fringed feet, to drink at the spring; while the geese, with loud noise, plunged splashing into the river, and threw the water over the grass in a pearly shower."

I must now, however, return from the region of poetry to plain matter of fact.

Fowls should always be kept in a _poultry-yard_, or enclosed place set apart for them, as, if allowed to be at liberty in gardens or pleasure-grounds, they do a great deal of mischief by half-burying themselves in newly-raked soil, to clean their feathers and get rid of vermin; and by scratching up seeds, and even the roots of plants, in their search after worms and insects. When circumstances allow, the poultry-yard should be at least half an acre in extent, as fowls are never well unless they are allowed abundance of room for exercise. The usual form for a poultry-yard is a parallelogram, of which the hen-houses form one end and a pond the other. The whole should be surrounded by a strong fence of paling, and there should be a large tree, or post with branches fixed in it, in the centre, with a heap of calcareous earth near it.

The surface of the poultry-yard (fig. 14.) should be level; and about one half of it should be laid down with gravel, but the lower part, near the pond, should be grass, as, unless there is some kind of herbage, there will be neither insects nor snails, and poultry require some animal food to keep them in health. The tree in the centre should have its branches deprived of their smaller spray, so that they may afford good roosting-places for the pea fowl and guinea fowls, both of which prefer roosting in the open air. The upper part of the yard which is near the hen-house, and which is covered with gravel, ought to be thoroughly well drained, so as to be as dry as possible; and the drains ought to be so contrived as to carry off all the water used in washing the hen-house, without suffering it to approach the pond. Where aquatic fowls are kept, it is, indeed, a good plan for the other fowls to have drinking-troughs near the hen-house, which should be filled with pure water every day, and frequently and carefully cleaned out.

Besides the hen-house, there should be an open shed on each side of the poultry-yard, extending as far as the part laid with gravel. The ground under one of these sheds should be laid with the large flag-stones called landing-stones, in order to have as few joints as possible; and under the other shed the earth should be dug out to the depth of a foot or more, and filled up with dry sand, to enable the fowls to take what may be called a sand bath, which is the principal means they have of getting rid of the body vermin with which they are generally infested, and which are very troublesome to them. The shed which has sand at the bottom may have bars under the roof, to serve as an occasional roosting-place for pea-fowl and guinea-fowl; but the one which has the flag-stones should have no bars across it, as the stone floor is intended to serve as a place for feeding the fowls on, and it should be kept as clean as possible. It is a good plan to lay a few handfuls of unthreshed straw on this stone floor, in order that the fowls may amuse themselves with scratching out the grains; and they should always have a small heap of mortar, rubbish, or lime in one corner for them to peck, as unless fowls can have access to lime, or to some kind of calcareous earth, they will produce eggs without shells.

It is necessary to observe that land fowls are, generally speaking, much more tender in constitution than aquatic ones. The common hens, in particular, will never lay well unless they are kept warm; and, as a proof of this, it is well known by every housekeeper that eggs are much scarcer and dearer in winter than in summer. As the different kinds of fowls require different treatment, it is necessary to keep them separate, and it is also necessary to keep those hens that are sitting separate from the rest. On this account the hen-house should be divided into five compartments, the centre one of which (_a_) may be much larger than the others, and furnished with a fireplace and boiler, for boiling potatoes and other food, from which should run hot-water pipes or flues, so contrived as to heat the whole of the compartments.

On one side of the central room may be a place for hen turkeys (_b_), as it is necessary always to keep them by themselves when they are inclined to sit; as, if the male turkeys see the eggs, they generally contrive to break them. Beyond this should be the roosting-house for the turkeys (_c_), provided with strong beams across, at a sufficient distance from each other, to suit large and heavy birds.

On the other side of the central room should be the compartment devoted to laying and sitting hens (_d_) and this should be fitted up with boxes (fig. 15.) which are made moveable, and placed not quite close to each other, as it disturbs sitting hens to hear other hens close to them. The front part of each box should be made to slide up and down, so that it may be taken out, and the box thoroughly cleansed with a brush and soap and water, when not in use. This sliding front, when closed, has an arched opening in front for the hens to go in and out; and this opening is made so as not to reach quite to the ground, in order not only to keep the nest warm and in its proper place, but to prevent any danger of the eggs being sucked by rats, or other similar depredators. The hen-room should be frequently whitewashed, say twice a year, care being taken to do it with as little disturbance to the fowls as practicable; and the floor, which should be either of stone, or laid with bricks, should be swept out every day, and washed occasionally when the weather is warm and dry. It is a very good plan to have the boxes raised with two pieces of wood below each, so as to leave a hollow space in the middle below the box, as this plan allows the house to be cleaned with greater facility.

The other room (_e_ in fig. 14.) should be supplied with rails and perches to serve as roosting-places (fig. 16.), and these rails are best of rough wood, as they afford a more secure resting-place for the fowls than if they were round and smooth. Fowls are very apt to crowd together in their roosting-places; and, when the rails are smooth so that the claws of the fowls cannot take a firm hold of them, the youngest and weakest of the fowls are very often pushed off. The roosting-places should be furnished with a sloping board with sticks nailed across, to enable the fowls to ascend to them. All the rooms of the hen-house should have windows filled in with wire lattice; and they should have shutters to close in cold weather. In some cases they have ceilings like those of a house, and in others they are left open to the beams of the roof. The principal thing to attend to is to keep them scrupulously clean, and the walls frequently whitewashed. The roosting-place should have the dung removed every morning, and in warm weather it should be washed out every day; even in winter, unless the weather is frosty, the floor should be washed once a week. Sometimes, instead of fixed rails for the fowls to rest upon, hanging bars are suspended from the roof; and sometimes the nests for laying in and for sitting are fixed, and in two rows one above the other. Where danger is apprehended from thieves, the door of the roosting-house is kept locked, it being provided with an opening for the fowls to pass through.

Poultry should never be fed where they roost, if it can possibly be avoided, and their food should generally be given to them in the open shed act apart for that purpose. In wet weather, however, they may be fed in the feeding-house (_a_ in fig. 14.), which has that name because it is the place where those fowls which are to be fattened are kept under coops (fig. 17.). For my own part I am no friend to fattening fowls artificially, as I think they are never half so good to eat as when they are indulged with moderate exercise, and kept in good condition by feeding them with barley, oats, or other grain, two or three times a day. When the poultry-yard adjoins a farm-yard, so that the fowls can be let out occasionally to pick up the grains that are scattered by the thresher, they become so plump and so well fitted for the table, that it is considered the highest praise that can be bestowed on poultry, to say that it eats as well as a barn-door fowl. When it is not practicable to admit poultry to the farm-yard, the fowls that are to be fattened should be kept in the feeding-house, and plenty of unthreshed straw should be given to them to peck at, so as to let them have constantly quite as much as they can eat, and yet be obliged to take exercise to get it; or, if more rapid feeding be required, they may be put under coops and fed with various kinds of food, either raw or cooked.

A fowl, when supplied with abundance of food, eats rapidly till it has filled its crop, in which the food is merely stored as grass or hay is in the paunch of a cow, and from which it passes through the second stomach into the gizzard, which digests it, by grinding it into a mass, partly by its own muscular action, and partly by the help of numerous little bits of gravel and small stones which the fowl swallows. This is necessarily a slow process, when the food consists of hard dry barley; but of course it is performed much quicker when the food is softened by boiling, and equally, of course, the time in which the fowl gets fat is shortened by the facility with which it can digest its food. This is the reason why cooked grain is now preferred for feeding poultry, and boiled rice, barley, oats, and wheat are given in preference to the old mixture of barley meal and milk and water. Boiled or steamed potatoes are also recommended, and they should always be given warm. All the fowls may be fed with advantage on this prepared food, as it makes the hens lay better and the chickens grow faster, care being taken that the earthen pans or wooden troughs in which it is contained are always kept perfectly clean, and that they are daily scoured with boiling water to prevent them from acquiring a sour taste. The boiled food is always given in the feeding-house, but after eating it the fowls are turned into the yard to cater for themselves if they feel inclined, and many persons advise a piece of bullock's liver or something of the kind to be thrown in the yard, as far from the hen-house as possible, to breed maggots, as they are particularly nourishing to young chickens, who will devour them greedily. You will observe that I have not given any directions for cramming fowls, as I am quite sure you would not suffer any creatures under your control to be subjected to such treatment.

Poultry are particularly liable to be attacked by body vermin, and, while they are annoyed by these torments, they will never feed properly. It is, therefore, of the greatest importance that the places in which they are kept should be perfectly clean, and that they should have abundance of sand, in which they can wallow whenever they feel inclined.

Domestic fowls are very pugnacious, and if there are too many cocks they will be fighting incessantly. The usual proportion is one cock to seven hens; and those hens should be kept for laying which are dark-coloured, as they are not only better layers, but are said to produce richer eggs. When a hen is about to begin laying she makes a cackling noise for several days, when a nest of hay should be prepared for her, and a nest egg put into it, to induce her to lay there. Some hens lay every day, and others only once in two days, or once in three days. The eggs should be removed as soon as laid, as the hen is apt to spoil or break them, by sitting in the nest to lay others. Eggs may be kept for several months sufficiently fresh either for setting or for the table, by dipping them either in oil, or in a mixture of beef suet and mutton fat melted together and used warm. Hens are considered in their prime at three years old, but they will produce eggs for several years; and some hens will continue laying all the year, except during the season for moulting, which happens with young fowls in spring, and with older ones generally in autumn. At this season all birds are ill, particularly at the time when the new feathers have just forced out the old ones, and have their quills full of blood to furnish nutriment for their growth.

When a hen is set, care should be taken that she has only as many eggs as she can cover easily. The usual number is from nine to thirteen; and, when they have been put into the nest, the hen should be placed gently upon them, and covered with a cloth till she seems quiet. When a hen is sitting, she should be plentifully supplied with water near at hand, as she is generally thirsty, but it is reckoned best not to put her food too close to her, as a little exercise does her good. A hen sits twenty-one days, but some of the chickens are generally hatched a day sooner or later. Each is taken from the hen as soon as it has left the egg, and is put in a basket on some wool or flannel, and set by the fire; but no food is given till all the brood is hatched, and returned to the hen. The chickens are then fed with eggs boiled hard and chopped small, and boiled rice and grits; and, when they are a little bigger, they may be given barley meal mixed with milk and water, or, what is better, boiled barley and rice, with a few boiled potatoes crumbled small. They will soon, however, be strong enough to feed with the hen in shallow vessels; as otherwise they are apt to get into the water to drink, and wetting their feet and feathers brings on many diseases. As soon as the chickens are hatched, a little bit of wood, with a strip nailed across it, to serve as a step, should be put from the opening of the box where the nest is to the ground, to enable the chickens to get in and out of the nest as easily as possible; and when they are permitted to go out of doors, which is generally in three or four days, the hen should be put under a coop, to prevent her from wandering, till the chickens are strong enough to accompany her, which will probably be in about ten or fifteen days.

There are many opinions as to what _kinds of fowls_ are the best; but it is very difficult to decide this question, as almost all the kinds have advantages and disadvantages peculiar to themselves; though those are usually preferred which have rather short and slender legs, and round, compact, fleshy bodies. White or very light-coloured fowls are considered best for the table; but they are said to be tender in constitution and not good layers. The common barn-door fowl is the original stock from which most of the varieties are derived. The Game fowl are perhaps the best for the table; but the eggs are small, and the chickens are difficult to rear, unless they can be supplied with maggots or some other kind of animal food. The Dorking fowls are preferred for the table by the caterers for the London market, on account of their large size. They have generally two hind toes instead of one. The Jago, or Cochin-China, fowls are so very large that it is said they can pick crumbs from a table as they stand on the ground, and they often weigh from eight to ten pounds. They have double combs and tufts of feathers on the head: the feathers on the body are mottled, but those of the tail are a dark glossy green. The eggs are very large and good. The Crested, or Polish, fowl is black, with a white tuft on the head. The hens are excellent layers, and the chickens are good for the table; but the hens are not good sitters, and are apt to lay away. The Spanish fowls are also black, and very large and handsome. The Malay fowls are very large, and the colour of the feathers is black, streaked with brown and yellow. They are excellent layers; and their eggs, which are very large, have so much yolk, that two of their eggs will go as far as three of those of ordinary fowls. The flesh is exceedingly juicy and fine-flavoured; but the legs of the fowls are rather too large and strong to look well on the table. I speak confidently of these fowls being good, both for the table and as layers, because our very kind friend Charles Waterton, Esq., keeps no others at Walton Hall.

Bantam fowls are very small, with short legs, which are generally feathered down to the toes. They are much admired as ornamental fowls, but are of little use, either for the table or as layers, from their very small size.

There are several kinds of what may be called fancy fowls; but I shall only mention one of them, and this is the Frizzled fowl, or, as it is sometimes called, the Friesland fowl, though the name appears to have no meaning, and to have been only adopted from its resemblance to frizzled. This fowl is a native of Japan, and it certainly has a very singular appearance, from its feathers being curled up and apparently all turned the wrong way. It is, however, not worth keeping, except as an object of curiosity; as the fowls are small and bad layers, and the chickens are difficult to rear, being extremely sensitive to cold and wet.

_Turkeys_ are very wild in their habits, and apt to stray, and their young are considered difficult to rear. Turkey-hens begin to lay in March, laying either every day or every other day; and, during their laying season, many persons will not let them out of their roosting-place in a morning till they have laid, on account of their propensity to lay away. One turkey-cock is sufficient for several hens; and if there are two they generally fight till the strongest has killed the weakest.

When a turkey-hen is about to sit, her nest is made by twisting a pad of straw like those worn by basket-women on their heads, and soft hay is laid in the middle; this is done on account of the projecting breast-bone of the turkey, which makes it difficult for her to cover her eggs, unless she has some support. Hen turkeys begin to sit in April; the number of eggs is generally eleven or thirteen, and they sit from twenty-five to thirty days. It was formerly customary, as the young were hatched, to take them away from the hen, and, opening the beak with the fingers, to force one or two peppercorns down the poor little creatures' throats; but now this mode of proceeding is thought unnecessary, and the young are left with their mother till they are all hatched. They may be then fed with crumbled curds mixed with chives or nettles chopped small. Eggs boiled hard and cut into little bits; and mutton or beef without salt, boiled so much as to tear easily into shreds, are also given. The old bird should then be put with her young ones under a coop in the hatching-house, and water should be placed within her reach and that of her young. In a few days the young ones, with their mother still under the coop, may be taken into the open air; but they should not be allowed to remain there longer than two or three hours at a time till they are about ten days old; and the mother should be kept in her coop under the open shed till they are about six weeks old, so that till they have attained that age they may always have a warm dry place to fly to. Great numbers of turkey chickens die young for want of these precautions being attended to.

When turkey chickens are about two months old, they are called turkey poults, and about this time the fleshy membranes on the head and neck begin to appear. This is called shooting the red; and a great many young turkeys die at this time, unless they are well fed and kept warm. Those turkey poults which survive this period are generally reared, and when about six months old some of them may be fattened for the table. At twelve months old they lose the name of poults, and are considered full-grown turkeys.

_Guinea fowls_ can very seldom be persuaded to enter a hen-house; they like to roost in the open air, and to lay in a bush or some similar situation; and, where they are kept, a few bushes should be planted in the poultry-yard for their accommodation. The hen seldom sits on more than seven eggs; and when her young are hatched they should be treated like young turkeys, and the hen should be put under a coop in the turkey-house. When the young fowls get old enough to be taken into the open air, the hen should be kept under a coop in the open shed till the young are about two months old, as she is a most restless creature, and would soon kill the young ones with fatigue, if her activity were not checked.

_Peacocks_ should never be kept in a poultry-yard, as they have a propensity for killing all the young fowls they can reach, by giving them a violent blow with the beak on the crown of the head. They will even kill their own young in a similar way, if they see them before the tuft of feathers on the head has grown. Pea-hens are very fond of laying in bushes or hedges, like guinea fowl, and when they are kept in pleasure-grounds with peacocks they should be narrowly watched. If they are observed to steal secretly into a bush or hedge, the place should be marked and examined when the pea-hen has left it; and, if a nest is found, all the eggs should be carefully removed but one. In doing this the eggs should be handled as little as possible, as pea-hens are very particular, and will not sit upon their eggs if they have been touched by persons with moist hands. When I lived in the country, I never could rear pea-fowls till the idea struck me of making the little country girl whom I used to employ to hunt for the eggs wear gloves, and after that time I never found any difficulty in getting the pea-hens to sit.

When the pea-hen has laid from five to seven eggs she generally shows a disposition to sit, or rather she begins to sit on the nest she has made for herself. When this is the case she should be left on her nest till night, and when it is dark a cloth should be put over her, and she should be conveyed, nest and all, if practicable, to either the turkey's hatching-house or the feeding-house, where she should be placed on a nest prepared for her, containing all her own eggs, and then covered with a coop, and a cloth thrown over that. When she has settled comfortably the cloth may be removed; but she should be kept under the coop the whole time she is sitting. When the young ones are hatched they are treated in the same manner as young turkeys, and, when their head-feathers begin to grow, they suffer nearly as much as the turkey poults do when shooting the red.

_The houses for the aquatic fowls_ should be at the bottom of the poultry-yard, near the pool, and they should consist of separate divisions for the sleeping and laying places of both geese and ducks. A feeding-house is often added, and this is especially necessary when either ducks or geese are to be put up to feed. Though aquatic fowls, and particularly ducks, are proverbially fond of dirt, the house in which they are kept should be as clean as possible; and it should not only be frequently washed out, but thoroughly ventilated by the door being left open all day. The smell of goose dung is very offensive; and if the house in which the geese sleep be not kept very clean, it will materially deteriorate the pleasure you will have in visiting your poultry-yard.

Many people object to _geese_ in a poultry-yard on account of the pugnacious habits of the gander; but when a gander is brought up with other fowls he becomes familiar with them, and is not likely to do them any injury. One gander is sufficient for several geese; and four or five geese will bring up a brood of forty or fifty goslings. Geese generally lay every other day; or, if they lay two days together, they miss the third day. They generally begin to lay in March, and lay from eight to twelve eggs before they show any signs of wishing to sit. Sometimes, if they are well fed, and the eggs taken away, they will continue laying as many as twenty or even more.

When a goose is inclined to sit, she begins to carry straws about in her mouth as if to prepare for making a nest; and, when this is the case, a nest should be prepared for her containing eleven or thirteen eggs. The nest should be made in a box in one of the houses for aquatic fowls, and food should be placed near her, as geese sit very closely, and sometimes suffer themselves to be half-starved rather than leave the nest. A goose should, however, be frequently examined while sitting, as from her nest being close to the ground it is very liable to be attacked by rats, who will frequently contrive to get the eggs from under the goose without her being able to prevent it.

Geese are voracious feeders, and eat a great deal of grass as well as of more substantial food. When they are to be fattened for the table they are put under coops, and fed principally on oats moistened with water; but at other times they may be fed on any kind of refuse vegetable mixed with any sort of corn, and with boiled potatoes, carrots, and turnips. When geese are fattened before they are six weeks or two months old they are termed green geese; and those which are kept a little longer, so as to be ready for Michaelmas, are called stubble-geese, because, if turned into the corn-fields after the crop has been carried, they will generally find amongst the stubble enough grain, which has been dropped from the sheaves, to fatten them.

_Ducks_ require more water than geese, and they eat less grass, though they are always better when grass is within their reach, on account of the great number of slugs and other similar creatures that they find among it. Ducks are celebrated for the voracity and coarseness of their appetites. They begin to lay in February, and will sometimes lay as many as fifty eggs before they show any inclination to sit. They are, indeed, generally bad sitters, and will forsake their eggs if they have not plenty of food and water placed within their reach. From nine to eleven eggs are as much as a duck can cover, and, if she has more than that number, or any she does not like, she will turn them out of the nest without the least ceremony.

A duck generally sits thirty days; but a short time before the expiration of that period a coop should be put over her, or else, very probably, as soon as two or three ducklings are hatched she will take them to the water, and desert the remaining eggs. Young ducklings are very hardy under ordinary circumstances; but this treatment frequently kills them, as if the water be at all cold they are generally seized with cramp, and die a few hours after they are hatched. It is on account of ducks being so careless of their young that ducks' eggs are frequently set under hens.

Ducklings, when first hatched, are generally fed upon oatmeal mixed with chopped nettles; and, when they are a little stronger, they are given bran soaked in water, and boiled potatoes. It is also a good plan to throw a handful of oats or barley into the water given to them to drink, for them to dabble for, that they may get accustomed to the water by degrees. The mother should, however, be kept under a coop till the young ducklings are ten days old, to prevent her from taking them into the water till they are strong enough to bear it.

When ducks are to be fattened they must be kept under a coop, and fed with boiled potatoes mixed with oatmeal and bruised oats. Acorns ground or bruised are a favourite food with them, and very fattening. Malt-dust is likewise recommended; but barley is said to give them a bad flavour. The Muscovy ducks should not be kept in the poultry-yard, as they are so much larger and stronger than the common kind that they are apt to fight with them and deprive them of their food; and they are more suitable to the park and pleasure-ground.

There may be a dove-cot for _pigeons_ in the poultry-yard with the other fowls. When the pigeon-house is large, it is generally built round like a tower from the ground upwards; but where this is inconvenient, a small wooden dove-cot may be fixed against the walk. In your case I would decidedly advise you to have a pigeon-house in your poultry-yard; and, if it is built like a tower, there should be holes in the upper part for the birds to enter by, with a shelf under each row of holes, and a little penthouse projecting from the roof to keep out the wet. The interior of the pigeon-house must have cells for nests, which are made by putting up shelves twenty inches wide and one foot apart, and dividing the spaces between them by upright partitions, three feet from each other. Across the back of each nest there should be a board three inches wide, sliding up and down in a groove, to prevent the young ones from falling out, and yet to allow of the nest being cleaned. When the house has been stocked with pigeons, a little hay or soft straw is put into each cell for the pigeon to form its nest. Some persons divide each cell into two nests, as, when the young are about a fortnight old, the female, without waiting till they are fledged, often begins to lay again; and, when there is only one nest, it is not an uncommon thing to see a female pigeon sitting on a fresh set of eggs, while the young of the former hatching are still under her care. When a pigeon-house is to be stocked, a number of young birds are obtained either in May or August, when they are in the state called squeakers, that is to say, not fully grown, but able to feed themselves.

When the female pigeon begins to lay, she produces only one egg, and then waits a day or two, after which she lays another, and immediately proceeds to sit. She continues sitting from fifteen to twenty days, or rather the male and female sit alternately during that time; but, as soon as the young pigeons are hatched, the mother never leaves them, for the space of three days, though after that time she commits them, very frequently, almost entirely to the care of a male, who feeds them in the same manner as she does herself, by swallowing peas or other large seeds, and, after keeping them in the crop till they are partly macerated, forcing them up again, and ejecting them into the open mouths of the young ones. While the young are thus fed, they are called squabs, and in that state they are reckoned best for pies; but, when they get old enough to feed themselves, they are called squeakers. They breed very often, but only continue prolific for a few years, and are, in general, short-lived.

A pigeon-house soon becomes very dirty, and has a most intolerable smell; it should, therefore, be cleaned out as often as practicable, taking care that the cleaning is always done in the morning before mid-day, as pigeons go to roost very early, and, if disturbed in the afternoon, they will very often take a sulky fit, and sit outside of the pigeon-house all night.

Pigeons should always be fed in the open air, with peas, small horse-beans, buck-wheat, and old tares, as new tares are said to be unwholesome. They should be supplied with abundance of water, some in a shallow vessel for them to wash in, and some in a wooden trough for them to drink; as they are very cleanly, and will not drink the same water that they have washed in, though they require more water to drink than any of the other inhabitants of the poultry-yard. They require to have access to gravel or sand, and it is customary to supply them with a heap of lime rubbish, over which salt and water has been poured; and in some cases this is put into an earthenware vessel with holes in it, called a salt cat; in other cases a little salt is thrown over a heap of sifted gravel. When pigeons are put in a new house, it is customary to give them cummin seed or asafœtida, as they are so fond of these strong-smelling substances, that they soon take a liking to any place where they are to be found.

Pigeons are very hardy, and are subject to very few diseases. The two eggs laid by the female pigeon generally produce a male and female bird; and, when this is the case, if by any chance one of them is killed, it is very difficult to provide the other with a mate. Pigeons are proverbial for their constancy, and the same pair will produce broods for several years in succession.

The _diseases of poultry_ are very numerous and often fatal. The _pip_ comes in the shape of a little blister on the tip of the tongue, which afterwards becomes a thickened membrane. If seen in its first state it should be pricked, and the fowl kept a day or two without food, but plenty of water should be given to it. If the membrane has formed, the fowl is thrown on its back, and, the beak being opened, the membrane is removed by passing the finger nail or a fine needle under it. The tongue is then moistened with a little oil, and the fowl for a few days is given very little to eat, but plenty of water to drink: some persons give fowls affected with this disease rue chopped fine and mixed with butter. It is a very common disease with young fowls, and generally attacks them, if the weather should be hot, in August and September. When fowls appear to suffer from immoderate thirst, it is a sign of _fever_, and they should be supplied with abundance of clear water, and only fed with a little soaked bread; and a similar mode of treatment is generally efficacious when the fowl appears to suffer from constipation. When a fowl is _crop-sick_, that is, suffers from indigestion, it is usual to put a piece of iron in some of the water given to it, but it should also have plenty of pure water. Pepper is often given, and no other food is allowed than mashed potatoes or boiled cabbage cut small, and both given warm. When fowls have a voracious appetite, and yet look out of condition, it probably arises from the fowl having too much acid on its stomach, and it should be fed with mashed potatoes mixed with chalk and given warm. In _diarrhœa_ boiled rice is given, occasionally mixed with milk, taking care, however, that the milk is perfectly sweet; or chalk may be given, and the fowl fed on wheat, oats, or buck-wheat. The _roup_, or influenza, is, however, the most fatal of all the diseases which attack poultry. It begins with what is called the gapes; that is, the fowl, being unable to breathe through its nostrils, keeps its beak open, with a kind of convulsive yawn; the eyelids then become swelled and close, and there is an offensive discharge from the nostrils. As soon as any fowl is observed to be affected with this disease, it should be separated from the rest, as the disease is very infectious. The mouth and nostrils should be first washed with warm water and soap (which will make the creature sneeze and discharge a great quantity of the offensive matter), and then gently rubbed with a dry cloth. A grain of calomel made into a pill with bread may be given, and the fowl put into a rabbit-hutch near the fire, on a bed of soft warm hay. Some hours afterwards the head should be again washed in warm water and rubbed dry, and the fowl should be crammed with a few balls made of barley meal, flour, mustard, and grated ginger; and warm water with treacle in it should be given to drink. The hay should be changed twice a day, and warmed before it is given. The washing and feeding should be repeated several times a day, and in about a week a little more calomel should be given, and afterwards flowers of sulphur. This treatment will soon effect a cure.