THE COCK AND THE HEN 5 



to a sense of her duty to the community and repri- 

 mands her with a peck on the head. After all the 

 others have eaten their fill he contents himself with 

 their leavings. 



"Plainer in costume, the hen, the joy of the farm- 

 er's wife, trots about the poultry-yard, scratching 

 and pecking and cackling. After laying an egg she 

 proclaims her joy with an enthusiasm in which her 

 companions take such a share that the whole estab- 

 lishment bursts into a general lively chorus in cele- 

 bration of the happy event. She has a habit of 

 squatting down in a dusty and sunny corner where 

 she flutters her wings with much content and makes 

 a fine shower fall between her feathers to relieve the 

 itching that torments her. Then with outstretched 

 leg and wing she sleeps away the hottest hours of the 

 day; or, without disturbing her voluptuous repose, 

 spying a fly on the wall, she snaps it up with one 

 quick dart of her beak. Like the cock, she swallows 

 fine gravel, which takes the place of teeth and serves 

 to grind the grain in her gizzard. She drinks by 

 lifting her head skyward to make each mouthful go 

 down. She sleeps on one leg, the other drawn up 

 under her plumage and her head hidden under her 

 wing. ' ' 



"These curious particulars of the hen's habits, " 

 said Jules, "are quite familiar to us all; we see them 

 every day with our own eyes. One only is new to 

 me : hens, you say, swallow little grains of sand which 

 take the place of teeth for grinding the food in the 

 gizzard. I don't know what the gizzard is, and I 



