Our Domestic Birds

other characters-the bill, the wings, egg-laying, etc.-by which we usually distinguish birds from animals of other kinds are not exclusive bird characters. Turtle

nnot even walk well. The cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, leaving to them the hatching and rearing of its young. These exceptional cases are very interesting because they show that animals now quite different in structure and habits had a common origin, but in

d especially to the young of feathered creatures which were more dependent upon the parent for warmth than others. Our English words "fowl" and "bird" come from these Anglo-Saxon terms. At first "fow

the animal kingdom. If we compare birds and the lower mammals, and compare the relations of each class to man, we see at once that nothing else could take the place of birds either in nature or in civilization. Among birds are found the highest developments of animal locomotion and of the natural voice, capacity for language far beyond that of

in strength, endurance, and velocity, no animal movement can compare. But the air is an element on which he cannot travel

ely devised a machine which under his control can do laboriously and at great risk what the bird does naturally and e

ession is very limited and the sound of the voice is disagreeable; but a great many species of birds have very pleasing notes, many have very beautiful natural songs, and some readily learn the songs of other species. Man learned melody from the song birds. There are also many species of birds that can imita

break them of this habit because the males produce no eggs and he prefers to eat them while they are young and their flesh is tender. But, as will appear in detail when the different species of birds of this class are described, he does not always succeed in doing this. Even the domestic fowl and duck, in which pairing has been prevented for centuries, often show a strong tendency to pair; and the females with broods of young usually separate from

, oats, barley, hay, apples, oranges, horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, etc.-are produced mostly by men who make farming and stock-growing their business. But, while large quantities of garden vegetables, small fruits, f

but, as some kinds can be produced more easily and cheaply than others, people growing birds for the table give most attention to those t

disposition to lay them in places provided for the purpose. So, nearly all who keep birds for their eggs k

t no one grows birds primarily for their feathers. On the other hand, those who keep birds for pleasure find their greatest enjoyment in breeding them with colors and markings difficult to produce. Choice specimens

y to sing. The brutal sport of cockfighting was a popular pastime with our ancestors until prohibited by law, and is still prevalent in many lands. In early times birds of prey were captured when very young and carefully trained to hunt for their masters. Under the feudal system there were regulations presc

ble for the larger domestic mammals. The services of poultry in this respect being limited to those insects that can be secured from the ground, and to areas on which the bir

tion of wild birds that destroy insects is of as much importance to man as the production of domestic bird

feed upon insects. In temperate regions where insects are not to be obtained during the winter, there would be no adequate check upon their increase and the consequent destruction of vegetation if it were not for the vast numbers of insect-eating migratory birds which come to these regions for the summer. Necessary as these birds are to vegetation on uncultivated lands, they are more necessary in cultivated fields, orchards, and g

kinds-fowls, ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas, peafowls, pheasants, swans, and ostriches. The pigeon class has but one kind, the pigeon, which is the only a?rial bird dom

that many birds capable of domestication have not been domesticated, there are few of these that would serve any purpose not better served by some species already domesticated. It will be shown as the different kinds and varieties of domestic birds are disc