Rural School fjiAi-LET. 837 



cages. • One of the teachers of the Elmira schools introduced into the 

 basement of the schoolhouse a hen which there hatched a brood of 

 chicks, much to the delight and edification of the children. After the 

 pupils have become thoroughly interested in the hen and are familiar 

 with her ways, when they have fed and watched her, and feel for her 

 a sense of ownership, the following lessons may be given in an informal 

 manner, as if these talks had naturally suggested themselves through 

 watching the hen. 



Purpose. — To set the pupil to thinking for himself why the shape 

 of the body, wings, head, beak, feet, legs, and feathers are adapted to 

 assist the bird in getting its living. 



Facts for the Teachers. — The domestic fowl has been bred for centuries 

 with a view to obtaining a large amount of meat or a great number of 

 eggs, therefore its body has grown broad and thick and very heavy 

 in comparison to its short, small and rather weak wings which are 

 able to do little more than to lift their owner to a perch of moderate 

 height, or to fly a few rods when driven to the effort by fear of some 

 threatened harm. The " Jungle Fowl " of Asia, from which our fowls 

 are said to trace their descent, is a slim and graceful bird of powerful 

 flight, quite as well able to elude the hunter as our Grouse or Wood- 

 cock, but ages of disuse have robbed the farmyard fowl of such power. 

 However, the hen does not need it. She nests on the ground if left 

 to herself and finds her food there, unlike the swallow which feeds on 

 insects seized in the air, or the robin, a part of whose food consists of 

 fruit gathered from trees. 



It is the hen's nature to " scratch for a living." Her legs are long 

 and muscular, protected by homy scales, and her flexible, strong toes 

 are armed with homy claws for just that purpose. Even when well 

 fed she prefers to scratch, and particularly likes the mellow, well-tilled 

 soil of a garden, partly because it is likely to abound in grubs and worms 

 and seeds, but chiefly, I think, because of the ease with which she can 

 " make the dirt fly." She makes up for her small powers of flight by 

 being a very good runner. Her body is well balanced, her wide- 

 spread and hooked toes grip the ground well, her length of^ 

 leg gives her a good stride. She makes a four-toed track with 

 one toe projecting backward and three forward, thus, / 



The hind toe enables her to retain her hold when asleep, either when 

 roosting in trees or on a perch provided by her owner. The bending 

 of her legs as she settles down to rest flexes her toes inward and down- 

 ward and they remain so without effort, tightly clasping the perch 

 until she straightens up for flight. This may be tested even with a 



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