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.

6. When she has a nest full of eggs, she sits upon them, keeping them warm with her body for three weeks. At the end of that time the eggs hatch out into little chicks.

7. When the hatching time comes, the chick inside the egg picks a little hole in his shell, so that he can get his bill out, and then he breaks the shell so that he can step out.

8. When first hatched, the chickens are covered with a fine down, which stays on until their feathers grow. They are able to run about the moment they are out of the shell.

9. The hen is a careful mother. She goes about searching and scratching for food, and, when she finds it, she calls her chickens, and does not eat any herself until they are supplied.

10. At night, and whenever it is cold, she calls them together and broods them, by lifting her wings a little and letting them cuddle under her to keep warm.

11. When anything disturbs her chicks, the old hen is ready to fight, picking with her bill and striking with her wings with all her might.

12. The cock is a fine gentleman. He walks about in his best clothes, which he brushes every day and keeps clean. He struts a little, to show what a fine bird he is.

13. In the morning he crows long and loud, to let people know it is time to get up; and every little while during the day he crows, to tell the neighbors that all is well with him and his family.

LESSON III.