_WHAT FOWLS DO._
[Illustration]
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.
[Illustration: 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 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.