Note the scales on a hen's foot. Snakes have scales on their bodies, too. Some day you may learn a wonderful story that these similar features of hen and snake suggest.
Touch a hen's eye lightly with a pencil. Does she cover it with a thin eyelid? A turtle does this. Has a turtle scales also? If so, may be it will come into the wonderful story connected with hens and snakes.
Look closely at a hen's ear.
Watch chickens as they make their toilet. A farmer told me that among the tail feathers of barn-fowls there is an oil sac that they find useful in cleaning their clothes. I wonder whether this is true?
While I was watching some chickens the other day, I saw one jump up into the air several times. She was a skillful little acrobat. What do you think she was trying to catch?
Watch the cook as she prepares a chicken or turkey for dinner. Find the crop into which the food passes after it has been swallowed. From the crop it passes on to the gizzard. Look closely at the gizzard. See what strong muscles it has. It needs them to grind the grain and gravel stones together. It is a very good mill, you see.
Try to find out whether a duck has a crop and a gizzard. Do not ask any one. Wait until there is to be a duck for dinner some day. Would you suppose from the kind of food ducks eat that they need a crop and a gizzard?
Do little chickens have feathers when they are hatched? What is the cover of their bodies called? Are they always of the same color when they are hatched that they are when they are grown up? What kinds of poultry change their color when their feathers grow? Notice the chickens of Black Minorcas (if you know any one who has that kind), then write Uncle John about their color. Did you ever see fowls without feathers? When you go to the fair be sure to look for some "Silkies." Did you ever see fowls whose feathers were all crinkled up toward their head? Look for "Frizzles" when you go to the fair.
A Lesson on Eggs.
