836 



Rural School Llaflet. 



THE HEN 

 Anna Botsford Comstock 



"A robin is a bird but a hen is a hen," was the assertion of some 

 young pupils of the writer and it is safe to say that this is the idea held 

 by many small children in the country. Notwithstanding this opinion, 

 a hen is not only a bird but a fine representative of a very important 

 order of birds {Gallinae) which get their living like the farmer, direct 

 from the soil. 



Although the hen has been domesticated for many centuries and 

 many widely different breeds have been derived from her race, she has 

 retained with wonderful persistence much of her pristine nature and 

 habit. 



In a Nature-Study lesson we shall study a hen simply as a bird and 

 by learning to understand her adaptations for the life of a scratching 

 bird we shall be better able to understand the forms and habits of 

 other birds. 



Lesson I 



Preliminary Work — There are two good ways of presenting this 

 topic: First, if the pupils live in the country where they have chickens 

 at home, the whole series of lessons may be best done through interest- 

 ing talks on the part of the teacher, letting the children make their 

 observations at home and report the results either in oral or written 

 lessons. Second, if the pupils are not familiar with fowls, a hen and 

 a chick if possible should be kept in a cage in the schoolroom for a few 

 days. The crates in which the fowls are sent to market make very good 



