Bird Study 



43 



feels itself lost its "peep" becomes loud and disconsolate; on the other 

 hand, there is no sound in the world so full of cosy contentment as the low 

 notes of the chick as it cuddles under the mother's wing. When a hen 

 finds a bit of food she utters rapid notes which call the chicks in a hurry, 

 and when she sees a hawk she gives a warning "q-r-r" which makes every 

 chick run for cover and keep quiet. When hens are taking their sun and 

 dust baths together, they evidently gossip and we can almost hear them 

 saying, "Did you not think Madam Dorking made a great fuss over her egg 

 to-day?" Or, "that overgrown young rooster has got a crow to match his 

 legs, has he not?" Contrast these low tones to the song of the hen as she 

 issues forth in the first warm days of spring and gives to the world one of 

 the most joyous songs of all nature. There is quite a different quality in 

 the triumphant cackle of a hen telling to the world that she has laid an 

 egg and the cackle which comes from being startled. When a hen is 

 sitting or is not allowed to sit, she is nervous and irritable and voices her 

 mental state by scolding. When she is really afraid, she squalls and when 

 seized by an enemy, she utters long, horrible squawks. The rooster 

 crows to assure his flock that all is well; he also crows to show other 

 roosters what he thinks of himself and of them. The rooster also has 

 other notes; he will question you as you approach him and his flock, and 

 he will give a warning note when he sees a hawk; when he finds some 

 dainty tidbit he calls his flock of hens to him and they usually arrive just in 

 time to see him swallow the morsel. 



When roosters fight, they confront each other with their heads lowered 

 and then try to seize each other by the back of the neck with their beaks, 

 or strike each other with the wing spurs, or tear with the leg spurs. 

 Weasels, skunks, rats, hawks and crows are the most common enemies of 

 the fowls, and often a rooster will attack one of these invaders and fight 

 valiantly; the hen will also fight if her brood is disturbed. 



'Well, who are you?' 



