74 NATURE STUDY LESSONS FOR PRIMARY GRADES 



feathers that shut out the air? (Its body is kept 

 warmer.) How are the little chickens helped by 

 such feathers? (The wings keep the cold air from 

 them at night, as the hen covers the chickens with 

 her wings.) 



Are all the barbs on the hen's feathers hooked 

 together? [Examine one of the small feathers.] 

 On which part of the feather are the barbs hooked 

 together ? (On the part that is on the outside of the 

 chicken. The part that is covered is softer — more 

 like down.) How are the small feathers arranged 

 on the hen? (They all point backward from the head, 

 and grow one over another like the shingles on a 

 house, only closer together. The barbed part is on 

 the outside.) Is this well for the hen? Why? (It 

 makes a very thick cover, keeping out the cold, and 

 also sheds the rain quite well, the rain running off 

 the end of one feather on to the next, and so on until 

 it drops to the ground.) Have all the feathers some 

 barbs ? Where do you find feathers without barbs ? 

 Notice how a hen stands in the rain. (With her tail 

 drooping, as if to let the rain have a chance to run off 

 by the way of her tail feathers.) In what other way 

 is the chicken helped to keep dry in rainy weather ? 

 Have you noticed what a hen sometimes does during 



