This bird belongs to the same division, class, order, and family as the
Domestic Fowl; but is assigned by naturalists to the genus Numida, or
Numidian. It is indigenous to the tropical parts of Africa, and in a
wild state, Guinea Fowls live in flocks, in woods, preferring marshy
places, and feed on insects, worms, and seeds; they roost on trees; the
nest is made on the ground, and usually contains as many as twenty eggs.
They have been propagated in the Island of Jamaica to such an extent as
to have become wild, and are shot like other game. They do much damage
to the crops, and are therefore destroyed by various means; one of which
is, to get them tipsy by strewing corn steeped in rum, and mixed with
the intoxicating juice of the cassava, upon the ground; the birds
devour this, and are soon found in a helpless state of inebriety.
The Guinea Fowl, to a certain degree, unites the characteristics of the
pheasant and the turkey; having the delicate shape of the one, and the
bare head of the other. There are several varieties: the White, the
Spotted, the Madagascar, and the Crested. The latter is not so large as
the common species; the head and neck are bare, of a dull blue, shaded
with red, and, instead of the casque, it has an ample crest of
hair-like, disunited feathers, of a bluish black, reaching as far
forward as the nostrils, but, in general, turned backward. The whole
plumage, except the quills, is of a bluish black, covered with small
grayish spots, sometimes four, sometimes six on each feather.
[Illustration: THE GUINEA FOWL.]
This fowl is not a great favorite among many keepers of poultry, being
so unfortunate as to have gained a much worse reputation than it really
deserves, from having been occasionally guilty of a few trifling faults.
It is, however, useful, ornamental, and interesting during its life;
and, when dead, a desirable addition to the table, at a time when all
other poultry is scarce.
The best way to commence keeping Guineas is to procure a sitting of eggs
which can be depended upon for freshness, and if possible, from a place
where but a single pair is kept. A Bantam hen is the best mother; she is
lighter, and less likely to injure them by treading on them than a
full-sized fowl. She will cover nine eggs, and incubation will last a
month. The young are excessively pretty. When first hatched, they are so
strong and active as to appear not to require the attention which is
really necessary to rear them. Almost as soon as they are dry from the
moisture of the egg, they will peck each other's toes, as if supposing
them to be worms, scramble with each other for a crumb of bread, and
domineer over any little Bantam or chicken that may chance to have been
hatched at the same time with themselves. No one, ignorant of the fact,
would guess, from their appearance, to what species of bird they
belonged; their orange-red bills and legs, and the dark, zebra-like
stripes with which they are regularly marked from head to tail, bear no
traces of the speckled plumage of their parents.
Of all known birds, the Guinea fowl is, perhaps, the most prolific of
eggs. Week after week, and month after month, there are very few
intermissions, if any, of the daily deposit. Even the process of
moulting is sometimes insufficient to draw off the nutriment which it
takes to make feathers instead of eggs; and the poor thing will
sometimes go about half-naked in the chilly autumn months, unable to
refrain from its diurnal visit to the nest, and consequently unable to
furnish itself with a new outer garment. The body of the Guinea hen may
be regarded, in fact, as a most admirable machine for producing eggs
out of insects, grain, and vegetables, garbage, or whatever material an
omnivorous creature can appropriate.
Its normal plumage is singularly beautiful, being spangled over with an
infinity of white spots on a black ground, shaded with gray and brown.
The spots vary from the size of a pea to extreme minuteness. The black
and white occasionally change places, causing the bird to appear covered
with a net of lace.
The white variety is not uncommon, and is said to be equally hardy and
profitable with the usual kind; but the peculiar beauty of the original
plumage is, certainly, all exchanged for a dress of not the purest
white. It is doubtful how long either this or the former variety would
remain permanent; though, probably, but for a few generations. Pied
birds blotched with patches of white, are frequent, but are not
comparable, in point of beauty, with those of the original wild color.