Wichita eagle., 1889-05-10
PECULIAR FOWLS.
Some Interesting Yarns Reported
From Pennsylvania
A Hen That Steals Chickens and q Bold
Rooster That Performed Lots of Funny
Tricks Until Dog Swallowed
His Cheeky Head.

lScranton Pa.) Cor. N. Y. Tribune.1
Druggist John T. Phelps the well-known
poultry fancier of this city, has peculiar
hen of the Plymouth Rock variety. She
Matched out brood of eleven chickens last
May, and when the chickens were about
two weeks out another hen Of the Black
Hamburg variety came off with brood OF
thirteen. The two mother hens and their
little ones scratched, roamed and were fed
in the same yard together for two or three
days, when the Plymouth Rock hen coaxed
the other hens chickens to Join her brood
and drove the Black Hamburg mother
away. For time the latter hen tried to
get her own downy youngsters to follow
her again, but every time she tried, the
Plymouth Rock mother spanked up to her
and fought her from the yard, making a
great fuss over the double brood when she
returned to them victorious. In few days
the Hamburg abandoned the notion of trying
to coax her own progeny to return to her,
and joined the other hens. In less than a
fortnight after that Mr.. Phelps had another
hen hatch out nine chickens. She had not
been in the yard many hours with her
brood when the Plymouth Rock hen began
TO try to steal her little family away from
her in the same manner as she had stolen
that of the Hamburg mother. The hen
with the new brood did her best to keep
her little flock under her own motherly
care and watchfulness, but it was uphill
work and she had to give up the job before
the end of the week She had several
lively battles with the greedy Plymouth
Rock hen, but the latter hen invariably
came out victorious, and with a broken
heart the other hen finally left her little
ones to the tender mercies of the Plymouth
Rock and mingled again with the general
flock. Long before this the Plymouth
Rock hens singular conduct in gathering
about her so numerous family Of va
rious sizes and ages had attracted
Mr.. Phelps attention, and he be-
came so deeply interested in her re-
markable mania that he resolved to let her
have her own way. About the middle Of
June another of Mr.. Phelps hens came off
her nest with eleven plump chicks. No
sooner weret the newcomers skipping about
the yard in search of insects than the old
Plymouth Rock hussy began to practice her
winning tricks upon them. She was as
pugnacious as an English sparrow when
ever their own mother undertook to gather
them around her, but the latter hen was
not fighter, and one good licking forced
her to give up the position of motherhood
and leave her little family to be taken care
OF by the curious Old Plymouth Rock mother,
who had by that time become something
like the ''old woman who lived in her shoe"
Unlike the old woman, the old hen had not
yet got SO many children "she didn't know
what TO do" for not long after that she in
weighed another brood of innocents into her
numerous household and drove their moth
er away. Before the middle Of the summer
the selfish old hen had sixty chickens fol-
lowing her about the yard, and the sight of
the various sized youngsters in her numer-
Gus family was an amusing one. At night
the hen spread out her wings and covered
as many of the smallest chickens as could
get under them, the largest ones remaining
on the outside of the circle. She began to
lay before she stole the last brood, and she
refused to rehnquish her claims on any of
the chickens until they got SO large they
wouldn't stay with her any longer. Mr.
Phelps, whose store is on the northwest
norner of Wyoming avenue and Spruce
street, says that in all his experience with
fowls he has never came across so peculiar
a specimen as the hen in question.
Along in the summer Wyoming avenue
butcher bought lot of fowls to kill as his
customers ordered them. Among the num-
Der there was rooster that he took a no
ton TO, and he let the rooster live. He was
of some game variety and susceptible of
being taught to do tricks The butcher
soon had the rooster tanned and let him
run around the market and out on the
street He would lie down on his back
when his master told him to, hop up and
down, stand on one leg, put his head under
his wing and petend to go to sleep, and
several other amusing things In little
while he got SO that he would fight ala the
cats that sneaked into the market, and he
was even brave and spunky enough to pitch
upon all the rowing ours that came in his
way and send them yelping and whining
down the street. He had long and
sharp spurs, and every dog he struck
on the head started off ON a brisk |
canter. One day in the fall a !
big spotted dog with long jaw was smell
ing around near the curve in front of the |
meat shop. The rooster saw him and /
iarted out to drive him away. Before the |
dog knew that the rooster was there he |
was struck in the head by sharp spur
He looked up suddenly to see what had hit |
him, but he didn't run away. When the |
rooster made for him again he opened his .
J1S Jaws. Inc EOCSbef SJruch dU MN, DuG
the big Jaws closed on the ROSTERS little .
head. The result was that the butchers
pet was killed.
Farmer Zebediah Macomber, of Newton
ownship, is the owner of a hen that will
ay nowhere else except in the crotch of
Dig willow tree that stands near the house
No matter how disagreeable the weather is,
she flies to the top of the fence, and from
hence into the crotch, whenever she wants
% lay. She wanted TO set last summer
md because she couldn't do so in the crotch
# the tree wouldn't set at ali Another
armer in the same township has a hen that
insists on laying her egg in the wood box
When the kitchen door is closed, she flies
lpon the window sill and makes great /
uss until the door is opened, when she
,oes directly to the wood-box, deposits her
,gg and then walks out of the room, cack-
ing on the way
PEACHES were introduced into England
rom Persia in the year 1862.