THE CHICKEN 79 



a pin from the floor. Notice the shape of the 

 lower mandible. What do you think of that? The 

 bill has sharp edges. Is this well? (Yes, the 

 chicken can cut off pieces of leaves, grass, etc., 

 very easily with such sharp knives. She can cut 

 them off as fast as she can swallow them.) What 

 other animals did we find swallowing food very 

 rapidly? (Cow and sheep.) But was this the last 

 we heard of this poorly chewed food? (No, the cows 

 and sheep re-chew their grass, hay, etc., as a cud.) 

 Have you ever seen chickens chewing a cud? (They 

 do not.) 



Let us see if we can find why a chicken does 

 not chew its food. With what do we chew our 

 food? (Teeth.) What kind of teeth has the 

 chicken? Very carefully open the hen's mouth 

 and the children will see that she has no teeth. 

 Then why does the chicken not chew its food? 

 What becomes of the corn that it takes into its 

 mouth? (It swallows it.) How many have ever 

 watched the dressing of a chicken? Did you see its 

 crop? Feel right here on our hen. That is its crop 

 that you feel. The food that it swallows goes first 

 into that. I have here the crop of a chicken. We 

 will open it and see what we find. [There is 



