The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-01-02
HIN SENSE.
Imiere stlpg Tests Of tho IWst1ects Of Fow,s.
tGeergeJ Romsnes In Natore.1

IeeVgEeJ ND@"UeH w Hhe"S"sl
Three yenrs ago gave peafowps egi
M old one, and had previously reared
many broods Of ordinary chickens will
unusual success, even for one of hel
breed. In order to hatch the pea-chick
she had tn sit one week longer thnn II
requisite to hatch mn ordinary chick. Hui
in this there is nOtliDg very unusual, tor
M Mr. Spalding observes, the same thing
happens with every hen that matches out
o brood Of ducklinRs. The object will
which made this experiment, however
was TINT of ascertaiDing whether tho pc
ribd Of maternal carc. subsequent to In
c,ibation, admits. under peculiar condi-
tiiSns, Of being prolonged; for q pea
chick requires such care for very much
longer time than docs mn ordinary chick.
Az. the separation between o hen and
her chickens always appears to be due to
the former driving away the latter when
they are old enough to shift for them
selves, scarcely expected the hen in this
case to prolonR her period of maternal
care, and, indeed, only tried the expert
ment because ] thought that II she did SO
the fact would be the best one imagina-
bic to show in what high degree hered.
itary instinct may be modified by pecq
liar individual experiences The result
WHS very tJte en0TvUOUH
period OF eighteen months this old Brah-
ma hen remained with her ever-growing
chicken; and throughout tho whole OF
that time she continued TO pay 1t unre-
hitting attention. She never Ibid any
eggs during this heightened period Of
maternal supervision, and IT Mt any time
she became accidentally separated from,
her charge, the distress OF mother and
chicken was very great. Eventually the
separation seemed to take place on the
side of the peacock but IL is remarkable
that, although the mother and chicken
eventually separated, they never after
ward forgot each other, IA usually mp.
pears to be the case with hens and their
chickens.
80 long as they remained together the
abnormal degree Of pride which the
mother showed In her wonderful chicken
was most ludicrous; but have no space
to enter into details. 1t may be stated,
however, that both before and after the
separation the mother was in the habit
Of frequently coinbing out the tOp-knOt
of her son--she standing ON seat, or
other eMinence, of suitable height, and
he bending his head forward with evil
dent satisfaction. This fact IL particu-
larry noteworthy, because the practice Of
combiDg out the tOp-knOts Of their chick
SIH - CuSbUUuUty huVuk VeA~Btues Ill
conclusion ] may observe that the pea
cock raisetlD by this Brahma hen turned
out q finer bird in every way than did
any Of his brothers Of the same brood
which were reared by their mother, but
repeating the experiment the next year
with another Brahma hen and several
pen chickens, the result was different,
For the hen deserted her family Mt the
same time when 1t ia natural for ordinary
hens to do 30, and in consequence all the
pea hens miserably persisted.
have just concluded another expert
mcnt which is well worth recording. A
bitch ferret strangled herself by trying
to squeeze Through too narrow an open
three. orphans. These gave In the mid
die Of the day to y Brahma hen, which
had been sitting on dummies for about a
month. She took to them almost imme-
diately, and renamed with them rather
more than fortnight, at the end of
which time had to cause separation in
consequence of the hen having suifO-
Gated one Of the ferrets by standing on
it's neck. During the whole of the time
that the ferrets were left with the hen,
the latter had to sit upon the nest; for
able to follow the hen about as chickens
would have done. The hen, as might be
expected, was very much puzzled at the
lethargy of her offspring.
Two or three times day she nsed to
fly of the nest, calling upon her brood to
follow; but upon hearing their cries of
distress from the cold, she always re-
turned Immediately, and sat with pa
tience for six or seven hours more. !
should have said that it took the hen only
one day to learn the meaning of these
cries Of distress for, after the first day,
she would run in an agitated manner to
provided that this place was not too far
away from the nest to prevent her from
hearing these cries of distress. Yet do
not think it would be possible to con-
ceive of a greater contrast than that be-
tween the shrill, piping notes of young
chicken and the hOarse, growing notes
of young ferret. On the other hand, |
cannot say that the young ferrets ever
seemed to learn the meaning of the hens
clucking. During the whole of the time
that the hen was allowed to sit upon the
ferrets she used to comb out the hair
with her bill, in the same way as hens in
general comb out the feathers of their
chickens.
While engaged in the process, hOwev-
er, she used frequently to stop and look
with one eye at the wriggling nest full
with an inquiring gaze, expressive of as
tOnishment. At other times, also, her
family gave her good reason to be sur
prised, for she used often to fly off the
nest with loud scream, an action which
was doubtless due to the unaccustomed
sensation of being 'nlpped by the young
ferrets in their search for the teats. 1t is
further worth while to remark that the
hen showed so much uneasiness Of mind
when the feIrets were taken from her to
be fed, that at one time I Thought she
was going to desert them altogether.
After this, therefore, the ferrets were
always fed in the nest, and with this ar
,angement the hen was perfectly salts
because she thought she
hen had some share in the feeding pro-
cess. AT any rate, she used to c1uck