The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-08-07
THE ROANOKE TIMES Tuesday. AUGUsr7

Whom she overtakes largo grasshopper.
she eats it and gives her little ones the
drumsticks. Is that any kind of a way
to win the love of the young?
Not by any means whatever
Let me pause hero to say IL word on a
subject to which desire to call tho at
tentlon. Of my fellow ornithologists
throughout the country, and especially
i'll this state.
For years it has been noticed that in
tellectually tho hen is failing She is
not what she was even before the war.
and it has attracted tho attention not
only OF scientists, but of the average
layman. What is the cause of the hens
intellectual retrogression?
Others may have moro plausible
theory than my own, but submit here
this idea for what it is worth Of course
there is no question regarding tho exist
Gnce Of the trouble. The hen does not
shine socially as she once did. She is
moody and taciturn, and her memory
is deficient You let her get into an in
closure through hole, and she will re-
main there and dio before she can re-
member where that hole is or use it to
get out through.
noticed more idiotic hens in the
past two years than ever before. Brain
troubles are more noticeable. More hens
arc noticed who cackle when they have
not laid an egg or who forget to cackle
when they have done So Moro hens
show signs of hypochondria. The glad
and careless laugh is no longer heard
see more pale, languid hens-hens
that are still young, yet with an air of
age and senility, prematurely aged and
tough.
am led to believe that there is a
cause for this and a simple one
A year ago 1 bought 10 plain pullots
of man who lives at Hogg's Neck, IS
miles away. He delivered them OH the
following day, he and his son bringing
them on foot i'll four punches of four
each, with legs tied together like par
Gel of spring onions. For 1S miles they
had come, with their heads hanging
down and the blood rushing to their
brains.
AS result, these hens are noticeable
for their impaired intellects It is nl-
most pathetic to watch them dawdling
their lives away or caokling vacantly
to each other, while tho rising genera
ton seems even moro silly than the old
er ones.
Where is the leading hen Of the fu-
ture to como from? Where shall we 90
to find the typical American hen? These
questions must some day be met square
ly, and now is tho time. 1 ask my fell
low ornithologists to join with mo in
rescuing from destruction the threaten
ed intollects of our rising hens.
So intellectually deficient has the
American hen become recently that she
is today the dry nurse for the turkey,
tho duck, the guinea hen and tho goose.
What other fowl would quietly and even
oheerfully hatch and rear the castoff
children of other barnyard fowls? What
warm blooded mammal is SO far lost to
decent pride as to become foundling
asylum for the gander, the type and
symbol Of cheerful idiocy?
What other fowl would without COM
plant forego her vacations in order to
SIT for six weeks OH u child's tin dog?
What other class or genus of tho brute
creation, aside from congress, is CON
tent to sit its life away without tangi-
bio result? What mammal, aside from
tho hen. will sit all summer gazing into
space and thcn come forth with ra-
diant smile and with nothing to show
for it but q hot doorknob or an amend,
ment?
Probably one of the most exhaustive
works Oh ornithology, and one that has
beguiled many weary hour for me
when the long, long summer days hung
warm and pulseless OH the Blue Ridge
mountains, is small volume, or book
let, by Professor Parker, entitled "Thn
Osteology of Balnnioeps. -
1t has wiped away the collected cob
webs of centuries, and for one | can
truthfully say that all TO mo now is
clear Balnniceps have no secrets now
from me. All ono calm summer night
few weeks ago, while large owl in
tho porte cochcrc of our country house
sang Il solemn song, and big beetle
weighing three-fourths Of pound oc-
casionnlly bumped his broad forehead
against my own, | read of the life and
times of tho Balnniceps
Professor Parker is also tho writer of
"Thc Osteology of Gallinaccous Birds
and Tinamous. This is not so excit-
ing, however, as the other work just
mentioned. But if you want something
to take with you to tho seushoro there's
nothing better than Professor Parker's
little work entitled con the Skull of
the Egitlognuthous Birds " 1t takes
a limo of treatment similar to my trea-