_CHICKENS' WAYS._
[Illustration]
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.