846 Rural School Leaflet. 



When roosters fight they confront each other with lowered heads, 

 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 the rooster will often attack one of these invaders 

 and fight valiantly. The hen will also fight in defense of her brood. 



The dust bath of which the hen is so fond is very essential to the 

 maintenance of her good health and fowls kept in close yards should 

 be furnished with loose soil for such purpose. Hunters find the " wal- 

 lows " of quails and partridges, which prove that the hen's wild relatives 

 have the same habit. It helps to relieve her from vermin and cleanses 

 her skin, for the hen is not a water bather like the robin and other 

 song birds. 



Observations by Pupils. — 



1. At what time of year does the hen naturally lay the most eggs? 

 How many does she lay in one day? When would she naturally stop 

 laying? By taking her eggs away how long can we keep her laying? 

 How does she announce to the world that she has laid an egg? 



2. How does a hen make her nest if we do not make it for her? How 

 many eggs can she sit on at once ? How does she care for her eggs when 

 she is sitting? What noise does she make as soon as she begins to think 

 about sitting? What is her disposition at this period? How often does 

 she come off her nest while sitting? How long does it take her eggs 

 to hatch? 



3. How does the chick get out of the egg-shell? For what purpose 

 is the little tooth on the tip of the young chick's beak? What becomes 

 of this tooth? 



4. What is the difference between the covering of a chick and of a 

 hen? The chick has wings, — can it fly? Why not? 



5. How does the newly-hatched chick differ in appearance from 

 the 3^oung robin? Which is the stronger and more active? Where and 

 how does the young chick get its food? Where and how does the young 

 robin get its food? Where does the chick sleep at night? 



6. What noise does the chick make when following the mother hen? 

 When lost? When frightened? When cuddling under the mother's 

 wing? 



7. What noises does the hen make when with her brood? When she 

 finds food for them? When she sees a hawk? How do the chickens 

 obey their mother's call ? 



