PAGE
[THE FARM IS SOLD]1
[THE NEW OWNER COMES]17
[THE FIRST SPRING CHICKENS ARE HATCHED]30
[THE MAN BUILDS A POULTRY-HOUSE]46
[THE PEKIN DUCK STEALS A NEST]60
[THE NEW NESTS AND THE NEST EGGS]77
[THE WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCKS COME]86
[THE TURKEY CHICKS ARE HATCHED]99
[THREE CHICKENS RUN AWAY]114
[THE THREE RUNAWAYS BECOME ILL]125
[THE YOUNG COCK AND THE EAGLE]134
[THE GUINEA-FOWLS COME AND GO]145
[THE GEESE AND THE BABY]158
[THE FOWLS HAVE A JOKE PLAYED ON THEM]169
[THE LITTLE GIRLS GIVE A PARTY]182

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
[“COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!” SAID THE YOUNG COCK]26
[RETURNED WITH THE BABY IN HIS ARMS]37
[SHE FOLLOWED, QUACKING ANXIOUSLY]72
[TOOK THE NEW-COMERS OUT, ONE AT A TIME]88
[THE HAPPY TURKEY MOTHER PAUSED ON HER WAY]113
[A LARGE DARK BIRD SWOOPING DOWN]142
[THEY REACHED QUITE A HIGH BRANCH IN THE APPLE TREE—Frontispiece]154
[“S-S-S-S-S!” REPEATED THE GANDER]166

[INTRODUCTION]

My Dear Little Readers:—I have often wondered why there were not more stories written about Chickens and their friends, and now I am glad that there have been so few, for I have greatly enjoyed writing some for you. Did I ever tell you that I cared for my father’s Chickens when I was a little girl? That was one of my duties, and the most pleasant of all. It was not until I was older that I became acquainted with Ducks, Geese, and Turkeys, and I always wish that I might have lived on a poultry farm like the one of which I have written, for then I could have learned much more than I did.

You must not think that I understand no language but English. I learned Chicken-talk when I was very young; and in the fall, when the Quails wander through the stubble-fields near my home, I have many visits with them, calling back and forth “Bob White! Bob White!” and other agreeable things which they like to hear. My little boys can talk exactly like Chickens, and sometimes they pretend that they are Chickens, while I talk Turkey to them.