[Illustration]
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!"
[Illustration]
[Illustration: A Cozy Home.]