The horse and other live stock . e of discipline and subordination most exem-plary. The hen is deservedly the acknowledged pattern ofmaternal love. When her passion of philoprogenitiveness isdisappointed by the failure or subtraction of her own brood,she will either continue incubating till her natural powers fail,or will violently kidnap the young of othei* fowls, and insistupon adopting them. It would be idle to attempt an enumeration here of thenumerous breeds and varieties of the domestic fowl. Thoseonly, therefore, will be described which are generally acceptedas the best varieties; and t
The horse and other live stock . e of discipline and subordination most exem-plary. The hen is deservedly the acknowledged pattern ofmaternal love. When her passion of philoprogenitiveness isdisappointed by the failure or subtraction of her own brood,she will either continue incubating till her natural powers fail,or will violently kidnap the young of othei* fowls, and insistupon adopting them. It would be idle to attempt an enumeration here of thenumerous breeds and varieties of the domestic fowl. Thoseonly, therefore, will be described which are generally acceptedas the best varieties; and these arranged, not in the order oftheir merits necessarily, but alphabetically, for convenience ofreference. THE BANTAM. The original of the Bantam is, as has been already remarked, the Bankiva fowl. The small white, and also the colored Bantams, whose legs are heavily feathered, are sufficiently well-known to render a particular description unnecessary. Bantam-fanciers generally prefer those which have clean, THE BANTAM. 11. bright legs, without any vestige of feathers. A thorough-bred cock, in their judgment, should have a rose comb; a well-feathered tail, but withoutthe sickle feathers; fullhackles ; a proud, lively car-riage ; and ought not toexceed a pound in nankeen-colored, andthe black are the generalfavorites. These little creatures ex-hibit some peculiar habitsand traits of others, the cocks the bantam. are so fond of sucking the eggs laid by the hen that they willoften drive her from the nest in order to obtain them; theyhave even been known to attack her, tear open the ovarium,and devour its shell-less contents. To prevent this, first ahard-boiled, and then a marble egg may be given them to fightwith, taking care, at the same time, to prevent their accesseither to the hen or to any real eggs. Another strange pro-pensity is a passion for sucking each others blood, which ischiefly exhibited when they are moulting, when they havebeen
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectveterin, bookyear1866
