Part 5

CHICKENS' WAYS.

1. When first hatched, chickens look about for something to eat, and they at once snap at a fly or bug which comes in their way. Here we have the picture of three little chickens reaching for a spider that hangs on its thread.

2. Then the little chick knows how to say a great many things. Before he is a week old, if we offer him a fly, he gives a little pleasant twitter, which says, "That is good!" but present to him a bee or a wasp, and a little harsh note says, "Away with it!"

3. When running about, the chick has a little calling note, which says, "Here I am!" and the old hen clucks back in answer; but, when there is danger, he calls for help in a quick, sharp voice, which brings the old hen to him at once.

4. The hen has also her ways of speech. She cackles long and loud, to let her friends know that she has just laid an egg; she clucks, to keep up a talk with her chicks; she calls them when she has found something to eat; and she softly coos over them when she broods them under her wings.

5. But, should she see a strange cat or a hawk about, she gives a shriek of alarm, which all the little ones understand, for they run and hide as quickly as possible. When the danger is past she gives a cluck, which brings them all out of their hiding-places.

LESSON IV.

STORIES ABOUT CHICKENS.

1. Sometimes ducks' eggs are placed under the hen, and she hatches out a brood of young ducks. As soon as they are out of the shell they make for the water, and plunge in and have a swim.

2. The old hen can not understand this. She keeps out of the water when she can. She thinks her chicks will be drowned, and she flies about in great distress until they come out.

3. At an inn in Scotland a brood of chickens was hatched out in cold weather, and they all died. The old hen at once adopted a little pig, not old enough to take care of himself, that was running about the farm-yard.

4. She would cluck for him to come when she had round something to eat, and, when he shivered with cold, she would warm him under her wings. The pig soon learned the hen's ways, and the two kept together, the best of friends, until the pig grew up, and did not need her help any more.

5. There is another story of a hen that adopted three little kittens, and kept them under her wings for a long time, not letting their mother go near them. The old cat, however, watched her chance, and carried off the kittens one by one to a place of safety.

6. Hens do not always agree, and sometimes they are badly treated by one another, as is shown in this story:

7. An old hen had been sitting on a nest full of eggs, in a quiet place in the garden, until they were nearly ready to hatch. One day she left her nest a few moments to get something to eat, and, while she was gone, a bantam hen, on the watch, took possession of it.

8. When the real mother came back, she was in great distress; but the bantam kept the nest, and in a few days hatched out as many of the eggs as she could cover.

9. She then strutted about at the head of her company of chickens, and passed them off upon her feathered friends as her own.

10. Hens are usually timid, and they run or fly away when they see any danger. But in defence of their chicks they are often very bold.

11. A rat one day went into a chicken-house where there was a brood of young chickens. The old hen pounced upon him, and a fierce battle took place.

12. The rat soon had enough of it, and tried to get away; but the hen kept at him until one of the family came and killed him.

13. One day a sparrow-hawk flew down into a farm-yard to catch a chicken. A cock about a year old at once darted at him and threw him on his back.

14. While lying there he could defend himself with his talons and beak; but when he rose and tried to take wing, the cock rushed at him and upset him the second time.

15. The hawk by this time thought more of getting away than he did of his dinner; but the cock kept him down until somebody came and caught him.

16. The cock looks after the hens and chicks, and is ready to fight for them in time of danger. He scratches for them, and, when he finds something good to eat, like the gentleman he is, he calls them to the feast before he touches it himself.

17. He also has his own fun. Sometimes he will find a tempting worm and call all the hens, and, just as they are about to seize it, he will swallow it, and give a sly wink, as much as to say, "Don't you wish you may get it!"

LESSON V.

HOW DUCKS LOOK AND LIVE.

1. Here comes a duck waddling along, another of our feathered friends on two legs. Let us take a good look at her.