day at Thornycroft Farm. He possessed a deal of fowl philosophy, and
tells many a good hen story, which, like fish stories, draw rather
largely on the credulity of the audience. We were sitting in the
rickyard talking comfortably about laying and cackling and kindred
matters when he took his pipe from his mouth and told us the following
tale--not a bad one if you can translate the dialect:--

'Aw were once towd as, if yo' could only get th' hen's egg away afooar
she hed sin it, th' hen 'ud think it hed med a mistek an' sit deawn
ageean an' lay another.

"An' it seemed to me it were a varra sensible way o' lukkin' at it. Sooa
aw set to wark to mek a nest as 'ud tek a rise eawt o' th' hens. An' aw
dud it too. Aw med a nest wi' a fause bottom, th' idea bein' as when a
hen hed laid, th' egg 'ud drop through into a box underneyth.

"Aw felt varra preawd o' that nest, too, aw con tell yo', an' aw remember
aw felt quite excited when aw see an awd black Minorca, th' best layer as
aw hed, gooa an' settle hersel deawn i' th' nest an' get ready for wark.
Th' hen seemed quite comfortable enough, aw were glad to see, an' geet
through th' operation beawt ony seemin' trouble.

"Well, aw darsay yo' know heaw a hen carries on as soon as it's laid a
egg. It starts "chuckin'" away like a showman's racket, an' after
tekkin' a good Ink at th' egg to see whether it's a big 'un or a little
'un, gooas eawt an' tells all t'other hens abeawt it.

"Neaw, this black Minorca, as aw sed, were a owdish bird, an' maybe knew
mooar than aw thowt. Happen it hed laid on a nest wi' a fause bottom
afooar, an' were up to th' trick, but whether or not, aw never see a hen