324 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [15:6— Nov., 1919 



Harriet and I were soon to leave. Mother was too busy to 

 have even one additional care, so we debated not a little what to 

 do with the chicken. As if to solve our problem, a yellow hen 

 appeared on the scene, anxious to assume the role of stepmother; 

 but Kaiser would have none of her. 



What a sight it was, when we first saw them together ! A wild 

 outcry of fright had brought us to the door in a hurry. Up the 

 path canie Kaiser, as fast as his legs could carry him, and with 

 wings outstretched, in a desperate attempt to escape from the 

 over-friendly yellow hen; where she had come from, no one 

 knew, but there she was, close behind, clucking and fussing, 

 feathers all ruffled up and with one idea in her mind. No step- 

 mother ever tried harder to win a child's favor than did she, 

 and no child ever took less kindly to well-meant advances. To 

 be able to turn our pet over to the care of a hen-mother seemed 

 to promise a ready solution of otir difficulty, so we set ourselves the 

 task of bringing about a better state of mind on Kaiser's part. 



That was more easily said than done, for her very appearance 

 was the occasion of an almost senseless exhibition of fear and a 

 touching appeal for protection. He scarcely dared venture a 

 rod away from the woodshed door, for the hen was sure to be near, 

 waiting for him to come in sight. Very gradually however, this 

 change of mind was brought about. At first, we held him gently, 

 while the hen clucked and spluttered about. After awhile it 

 seemed to dawn on him that she meant no harm by these queer 

 actions. Then, very timidly, and a little at a time, he yielded to 

 her coaxings. Presently he was accompanying her on short 

 excursions and eating the tid-bits she found for him. In a few 

 days he had overcome his fear to the extent of letting her attend 

 to him in the daytime when none of us were about, but he never 

 consented to her hovering him at night. Every evening he came, 

 singing his bedtime song, to be wrapped snugly in a cloth and put 

 to bed in a box. This caused the hen much distress till she found 

 where we kept him. For a time she was satisfied to sit on the edge 

 of the box and croon to him. But one night she managed to get 

 into it. Poor little Kaiser, wrapped securely in the cloth could 

 not free himself, so he came to a sad end. One might almost say 

 that he was the victim of mistaken kindness. Certain it is that 

 he had one too many stepmothers. 



