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A FEW OF THE BIRD FAMILY. 



The old bob white, and chipbird; 



The flicker and chee-wink, 

 And little hopty-skip bird 



Along the river brink. 



The blackbird and snowbird, 



The chicken-hawk and crane ; 

 The glossy old black crow-bird, 



xA.nd buzzard, down the lane. 



The yellowbird and redbird. 



The toni-tit and the cat ; 

 The thrush and that redhead bird 



The rest's all pickin' at ! 



The jay-bird and the bluebird, 



The sap-suck and the wren — 

 The cockadoodle-doo bird, 



And our old settin' hen ! 



James Whitcomb Riley 



THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 



The writers of antiquity used the term 

 fowl to include all the members of the 

 bird tribe and, in some cases, the young 

 of other animals. Feathered creatures, 

 no matter what their habits, were not 

 called birds, neither were they separated 

 into classes other than the "Fowls of the 

 Air," "Fowls of the Sea," "Fowls of the 

 Earth," and similar descriptive divisions. 



In the seventeenth and the earlier part 

 of the eighteenth century, the word fowl 

 was applied to any large feathered ani- 

 mal and the term bird to those of less 

 size. In early times the word bird was 

 used in the sense of brood and included 

 the young of all animals. In an early act 

 of the Parliament of Scotland we find the 

 expression "Wolf-birdis," referring to 

 the very young wolf. 



At the present time the term fowl in its 

 wider sense is generally used to include 

 all the forms of farm poultry, both when 

 living and when prepared for food. More 



specifically it is applied to the domestic 

 cock and hen, or, as they are more famil- 

 iarly called, chickens (Gallus domesticus). 

 The word chicken appropriately belongs 

 to the common fowl when under one year 

 of age, yet it is used to indicate those of 

 any breed and of any age between birth 

 and maturity. In this connection it is of 

 interest to note that in the English lan- 

 guage the common fowl has no distinctive 

 name. The term hen, frequently used, 

 should be applied only to the female of 

 this and other domestic fowls. 



The progenitor of the common fowl is 

 generally conceded to be the Red Jungle 

 Fowl (Gallus ferrugineus or bankiva), 

 though there are three other wild species, 

 all oriental. This species is a native of 

 India, a part of China, the adjacent isl- 

 ands and the Philippines. Its habits are 

 diversified, for we are told it may "be 

 found in lofty forests and in the dense 

 thickets, as well as in bamboo-jungles. 



