118 HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



5. Live in flocks. A number of females with one male. 

 Compare robins and other wild birds. 



6. Chicks able to run about, soon after they have emerged 

 from the eggs, can see, and are covered with a soft . down. 

 Compare the young of robins, sparrows, and swallows. 



7. How the hen protects and defends them. 



8. Compare the skull of the chicken with the skull of a 

 cat or sheep. Chicken's bill pointed to pick up seeds and 

 insects ; teeth wanting ; food swallowed whole. 



9. Feet and wings. Feet strong, fit for running, walking, 

 and scratching ; wings little used. Compare other birds. 



See Farmers' Bulletin, No. 41, Fowls : Care and Feeding. 



49. Ducks and Geese. 



MATERIAL : Pictures of ducks and geese ; bill of a duck. Previously 

 observed : Walking, flying, swimming, and diving of ducks and geese. 



In nearly all countries of the world there are different 

 species of wild ducks and geese. Those tame ducks and 

 geese which were brought to America from Europe are de- 

 rived from wild species of that continent. Species of the 

 duck family, to which the geese also belong, are very numer- 

 ous in our country. About forty have been distinguished in 

 the United States and Canada east of the Kocky Mountains, 

 and many a country boy knows half a dozen different kinds 

 of wild ducks. Some of these wild birds, as the Canada 

 Goose, are easily tamed. 



OUTLINE FOR LESSON ON THE DUCK 



1. Is slow and awkward on land. Compare with chickens. 

 Cannot run well, cannot scratch in the soil for food. 



2. Graceful and at home on the water. Body like a round- 

 bottom boat ; feet webbed, used as paddles and rudders. 

 Ducks and geese have an oil gland near the tail, take the 

 oil with their bill and oil their feathers, which on that ac- 



