Friends in Feathers and Fur, and Other Neighbors: for Young Folks

Part 1

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Natural History Series--Book Second.

FRIENDS IN FEATHERS AND FUR, AND OTHER NEIGHBORS,

For Young Folks.

JAMES JOHONNOT.

New York: D. Appleton and Company. 1885.

Good-morning! good-morning! the birdies sing; Good-by to the windy days of spring! The sun is so bright, that we must be gay! Good-morning! good-morning! this glad summer day.

Copyright, 1884, By D. Appleton and Company.

THE AIM AND METHOD.

A machine, turned by a crank, has been made to speak words, but nothing below a human being has been able to get thought from a written or printed page and convey it to others. To make the machine requires a vast amount of labor expended upon matter; to get the thought requires the awakening of a human spirit. The work of the machine is done when the crank stops; the mental work, through internal volition, goes on to ever higher achievements.

In schools much labor has been spent in trying to produce human speaking-machines. Words are built up out of letters; short words are grouped into inane sentences such as are never used; and sentences are arranged into unnatural and insipid discourse. To grasp the thin ghost of the thought, the little human spirit must reverse its instinct to reach toward the higher, and, mole-like, burrow downward.

The amount of effort spent in this way, if given to awakening thought, would much more effectively secure the mechanical ends sought, and at the same time would yield fruit in other fields of mental activity.

The matter selected for these higher and better purposes must possess a human interest. The thoughts that bear fruit are those with roots set in past experiences, but which, outgrowing these experiences, reach out toward new light.

In this little book we have again given the initial steps of science rather than the expression of scientific results. Beginning with familiar forms of life, the pupil is led to see more clearly that which is about him, and then to advance into the realm of the unknown with assured steps, in the tried paths of investigation and comparison.

While giving prominence to the facts that inform, we have not been unmindful of the fancy that stimulates. The steady flow of description is frequently interrupted by the ripple of story and verse. While we have made no effort to secure the favor of Mr. Gradgrind by looking at facts only on their lower side, we trust that our effort may prove of some service in the anxious work of parent and teacher.

LESSON PAGE

I. How Fowls Look. 11

II. What Fowls Do. 15

III. Chickens' Ways. 18

IV. Stories about Chickens. 20

V. How Ducks Look and Live. 25

VI. Stories about Ducks. 27

VII. How Geese Look and Live. 30

VIII. How Geese Behave. 32

IX. What Geese can Do. 35

X. About Turkeys. 37

XI. About Swans. 39

XII. Doves and Pigeons. 42

Part 2

Three Little Doves. 45

XIII. The Little Wren. 47

XIV. The Singing Thrush. 49

XV. Robin-Redbreast. 51

XVI. The Blackbird and the Cat. 54

XVII. How Canaries Live and Sing. 56

XVIII. A Song of Summer. 58

XIX. How Parrots Look and Talk. 60

XX. Stories about Parrots. 63

XXI. Birds of Prey. 67

XXII. Long Legs with Feathers. 70

XXIII. Bo-peep and the Rook. 72

XXIV. The Mouse and its Ways. 74

XXV. Stories about Mice. 76

XXVI. White-paw Starts to see the World. 78

XXVII. What the Mice Saw in the Farm-Yard. 80

XXVIII. What White-paw Saw in the Kitchen. 83

XXIX. White-paw's Account of the Great World. 85

XXX. The Death of Poor Puss. 87

XXXI. Field-Mice. 89

XXXII. How the Rat Looks and Lives. 91

XXXIII. Stories about the Rat. 93

XXXIV. About Rabbits. 96

XXXV. More about Rabbits. 98

XXXVI. How the Hare Lives. 101

Alice's Bunny. 103

XXXVII. Something about Squirrels. 104

XXXVIII. More about Squirrels. 106

Part 3

XXXIX. The Flying Squirrel. 109

The Owl. 111

XL. Bo-peep and the Squirrel. 112

XLI. How the Mole Looks. 114

XLII. How the Mole Works and Lives. 116

XLIII. About the Porcupine. 118

XLIV. About the Woodchuck. 120

XLV. Mrs. Brindle's Cowslip Feast. 122

XLVI. The Frog and its Home. 124

XLVII. From Tadpole to Frog. 126

XLVIII. More about Frogs. 128

XLIX. The Friendly Toad. 130

L. The Snail and its House. 132

LI. The Fly and its Ways. 134

LII. The Animals' Ball. 136

NURSERY RHYME.

Goosey, goosey, gander! Where shall I wander?

Up-stairs, down-stairs, In the lady's chamber!

There sits the lady, Folding up the clothes;

In comes a blackbird, And nips off her nose!

LESSON I.

HOW FOWLS LOOK.

1. Here we find the hen and chickens, a new company of our farm-yard friends. We see that they are very unlike the other friends we have been studying, and, though we know them well, we may find out something new about them.

2. Instead of a coat of hair or fur, the hen is covered with feathers, all pointing backward and lying over each other, so that the rain falls off as from the shingles of a house.

3. When we studied the cat, we found that she had four legs for walking and running, and that she used the paws on her front legs for scratching and catching her prey.

4. We have but two legs for walking or running, our fore legs being arms, and our paws, hands.

5. These new friends, the chickens, have but two legs, and in this way are more like boys and girls than are cats and dogs.

6. But the chicken has the same number of limbs as the others, only those in front are wings instead of fore legs or arms.

Part 4

7. Here is a picture of the legs and feet of a hen. We see that the legs are covered with scales, and that each foot has four toes, three pointing forward and one back. Each toe has a long, sharp, and strong nail.

8. Let us look at the hen when she is walking slowly! As she lifts up each foot, her toes curl up, very much as our fingers do when we double them up to make a fist.

9. When the chicken is about a year old, a spur, hard like horn, begins to grow on the inside of each leg. Upon the old cocks these spurs are long and sharp, and he can strike savage blows with them.

10. It is when we look a hen in the face that we see how much it differs from all the animals we have studied before.

11. The head stands up straight, and the eyes are placed on each side, so that it can look forward, to the side, and partly backward.

12. Two little ears are just back and below the eyes; at first we would hardly know what they are, they are so small and unlike the other ears which we have seen.

13. All the lower part of the face is a bill, hard like horn, and running out to a point. The bill opens and makes the mouth, and two holes in the upper part make the nose.

14. As the whole bill is hard like bone, the hen does not need teeth, and does not have any. She was never known to complain with the tooth-ache.

15. Large bits of food she scratches apart with her feet, or breaks up with her bill; but, as she can not chew, the pieces she takes into her mouth she swallows whole.

16. Upon the top of the head is a red, fleshy comb, which is much larger on cocks than on hens. This comb is sometimes single, and sometimes double.

17. Under the bill on each side there hangs down a wattle of red flesh that looks very much like the comb.

18. The tail of the cock has long feathers, which curl over the rest and give him a very graceful appearance.

LESSON II.

WHAT FOWLS DO.

1. When the hen walks, she folds her wings close by her side; but when she flies, she spreads them out like a fan. Her body is so heavy that she can fly but a little ways without resting.

2. At night fowls find a place to roost upon a tree, or a piece of timber placed high on purpose for them. Their toes cling around the stick that they stand on, so that they do not fall off.

3. Fowls live upon grain, bugs, and worms. With their long nails and strong toes they scratch in the earth, and with their sharp bills they pick up anything which they find good to eat.

4. If the morsel of food found is too large to be swallowed whole, they pick it to pieces with their bills. The old hen always picks the food to pieces for her chickens.

5. The hen lays eggs, usually one every day, until she has laid from fifteen to twenty. If her eggs are carried away, she will continue to lay for a longer time.

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