274 THE ROLL OF THE SEASONS 



its own route America has evolved the Rhode Island 

 Red. It might sing, if hens did sing, " Cochin and 

 Malay, Wyandotte and Leghorn are we." It is, in 

 fact, as a reaction from many excursions into fancy- 

 dom, just a hen. We hope that there will still be a 

 place in the world for our commonplace all-round 

 hen. We hope that the spirit of drive will not 

 descend too fiercely on our quiet straw-yard, where 

 a hen that is neither a mere egg-laying machine nor 

 a mere barley-meal-converting machine is permitted 

 to take life a little leisurely, to enjoy a dust-bath, to 

 carol that lazy " Awk awk awk " that makes its 

 haunt the most restful place on the farm. 



