6 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



lays for his ears and deposit profitable " lays " in the 

 nests which he carefully and sensibly provides. It is a 

 simple matter, this of providing a nest just to the hen's 

 taste ; so simple that any one ought to be able to do it 



Social Kinship shown by Pride. This, with Sympathy and Strength common 

 to Man and His Birds 



exactly right, it would seem. Scores of unsympathetic 

 "practical " people may tell you it is all bosh to consider 

 the whims of the fowls in matters of so little moment 

 as this. The hen is due to lay anyhow, they will argue, 

 and why should any sensible, practical person go to the 

 trouble of doing things in any special way, just to please 

 the whim of a stupid hen ? 



But, in the first place, and answer enough, the hen is 

 not "stupid." There is nearly always a well-defined 



