of those vermin is
fatal to young chickens. They should be allowed to run in the sun and
to scratch in a dung heap, which serves to develop them. This rule
applies not only to young chickens but also to the entire [Greek:
ornithoboskeion], and should be practised all summer and even in
winter on mild and sunny days. A net should be stretched over the
chicken yard to keep the fowls themselves from flying out and to
protect them from hawks and other birds of prey. Fowls should be
protected from heat as well as cold, for both are harmful to them.
When the chicks have got their feathers it is best to accustom them to
follow one or two hens, leaving the other hens free to go to laying,
in which occupation they are more useful than in rearing chicks.

"A hen should be set after the new moon, for those which begin earlier
seldom hatch many chicks.

"They hatch usually in twenty days.

"And now since I have discussed the dunghill fowl at some length, I
will make up to you by brevity with respect to the other kinds of
fowls.

"Jungle fowl are rarely seen at Rome, and then usually in cages. They
resemble guinea chickens more than dunghill fowls. When perfect in
form and appearance they are often carried in the public processions
with parrots and white blackbirds and other such rarities. They do not
usually lay or raise their chickens on a farm, but in the forests. The
island of Gallinaria, which lies in the Tuscan sea off the coast of
Italy, opposite the Ligurian mountains (and the towns of Intermelii
and Alba Ingannua) derives its name from them, though some maintain
that the name comes from dunghill fowl which were carried to that
island by sailors and have there run wild. Guinea fowl (_gallinae
africanae_) are large, mottled and have their humps in their backs.
The Greeks call them [Greek: meleagris].[183] They are the last fowls
which the culinary art has introduced to our dining tables, on account
of their gamy flavour.[184] By reason of their rarity they sell for a
high price.

"Of the three kinds of fowls, the ordinary dunghill fowl is used
chiefly for cramming. For this purpose they are shut up in a small
confined and darkened coop, because both exercise and light are
enemies of fat. Any large chickens may be selected for this operation,
not necessarily of that breed which the peasants call Melica
incorrectly, for as the ancients said Thelis when they meant Thetis,
so the country people still say Melica for Medica