Friends in Feathers and Fur, and Other Neighbors Part 2

16. Upon the top of the head is a red, fleshy comb, which is much larger on c.o.c.ks 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 c.o.c.k has long feathers, which curl over the rest and give him a very graceful appearance.

LESSON II.

_WHAT FOWLS DO._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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 sh.e.l.l, so that he can get his bill out, and then he breaks the sh.e.l.l 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 sh.e.l.l.

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Coming out in the World.]

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 c.o.c.k 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.

_CHICKENS' WAYS._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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 sh.e.l.l 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 s.h.i.+vered 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 pa.s.sed 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 c.o.c.k about a year old at once darted at him and threw him on his back.