398 Home Nature-Study Course. 



36. Compare the covering of the duckUng with that of the chick. Compare the 

 bill of the duckling with that of the chick. Why the difference? How is the bill 

 of the duckling fitted for getting its food? What is its food now ? When grown 

 up? 



37. Describe the duckling as it swallows its food. How does its body act while 

 it is swallowing? 



38. How does the duckling get the water in its beak? Does it hold its head 

 up like the chick when drinking? 



39. Describe the duckling's foot. How many toes has it? Between what 

 toes does the web extend? What is the web for? 



40. Describe the legs of the duckling. Are they longer or shorter than the 

 chick's? Are they nearer together or farther apart than the chick's? Are they 

 farther back than the chick's? 



41. Explain the reason for this different form and arrangement of the duckling's 

 legs. Which walks and runs the better, the hen or the duck? 



42. Though the duckling's habits of eating are very untidy and it is almost 

 impossible to keep the water pan clean, yet the duckUngs are fastidious and take 

 excellent care of themselves. Note the following points in the way a duckling 

 makes its toilet: How does it clean its beak? Its eyes? Its foot? Its back? 

 How does it oil its feathers on its head? 



43. Have you seen a duckling go to sleep in the sunshine? If so, how^ did it 

 act? Did it yawn? How did its eyes close? Did it stretch its feet bottomside 

 up in the sunshine? If so why? 



44. Wherein does the duck's plumage differ from that of the hen? Where 

 does down come from? 



45. Compare the sounds made by the duckling with those made by the chick. 



46. As the partridge gives some idea of what the life of the chick might be in 

 a wild state, so the wild ducks show us the habits of the duck in a wild state. 

 Where do the wild ducks spend their winters? Where do they breed in the sum- 

 mer? Why cannot most of our domestic ducks fly like the wild ducks? What 

 breeds of our domestic ducks are good flyers? 



A STUDY OF FEATHERS. 



Sometimes old adages are not true, and the one which declares 

 that fine feathers do not always make fine birds is one of these; 

 for fine feathers do certainly make fine birds, and whether the wearer 

 of the feathers can sing delightfully or not has nothing to do Avith 

 the case. A study of feathers is very necessary to an understanding 

 of the life and actions of the birds. A study of feathers should be 

 given in school, perhaps in the third grade, after the children have 

 become familiar with some birds and the peculiarities of bird life. 



For this study, take from the domestic fowl a wing feather, a tail 

 feather and a feather from the breast. There are three parts to a 

 feather; you had best learn these before attempting this lesson. 



Breast feather. — ^ 



47. Describe its shape and appearance? How far do the barbs extend toward 

 the base of the quill? Are the barbs near the base of the feather the same in 



