Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-10-04
THE WAYS OF A HEN
THEY ARE WORTHY OF MORE STUDY
THAN THEY RECEIVE.

THEY ARE WORTHY OF MORE STUDY
THAN THEY RECEIVE.
Some of the Peculiarities of This DO.
mestic Fowl, Which Is mt Once
About the Wiscst and Most Foolish
Animal That Lives.
Half wild, with the ancestral habits
of the Jungle fowl about her and the
wariness Of fear apparent in every
energetic act, and still half tanned,
with the senseless confidence of ig-
norance in evidence and showing plain
ly in many acts, the domestic hen u
worthy of more study than she re-
ceives.
Poultry fanciers by long practice can
predict almost to feather the creature
lhat will result from any given cross
between two marked varieties and can
foresee how many eggs new breeds
from crosses will lay in year, and SO
mark out the course of the unborn off,
spring from mixed mating that we
have but little to discover from OBJ
servation. But the color and character
of the plumage, the amount Of egg pro-
duction and the weight and edibility of
the new generation are not all there Is
to hen.
The domestic fowl may not have a
soul, but she has both a gizzard and a
crop, which shows she has the advan-
tage Of the human race. Surely, she
does not reason, else she would not act
as she does, but she holds certain men,
tai attributes which serve better than
any reasoning power could hope to do,
and thus gains her ends without going
to the trouble of thinking.
Take two clippers and place in one
two quarts Of yellow flint corn, such
as is grown in Maine, and put in the
other two quarts of gold dollars, such
as are still minted in San Francisco.
Now empty both dishes among the
gravel Of the henyard and note how
the poultry will pick up and swallow
the corn, leaving the gold to lie out and
mingle with the common earth.
To an unthinking observer a gold dol
lar bears fairly close resemblance to
kernel Of yellow flint corn. Both are
reddish yellow; both are nearly OF
equal size. TO human senses both are
hard and odorless and, until broken
open, tasteless. By what organ of
sense does the hen distinguish the dol
lar from the kernel? From the human
standpoint Of the senses of taste and
smell you cannot tell one from the 9TH
err. The extra weight of the gold coin is
not the reason why it is discarded, be-
cause hen will pick up oats as well
as corn, though one holds thirty-two
and the other f1fty-siX pounds to the
even bushel.N
II the contents Of the two measures
had been spread out in front Of men
the choice would not have been made
according to hen conclusions, for the
reason that men have learned how gold
dollars are constructed. But If hen
had never seen kernel Of corn or a
gold dollar before during her existence
she would have chosen the corn just rs
quickly. Why was she led to make the
choice?
Among the most interesting features
in raising poultry is to note the rever-
Sion to ancestral types which crops out
in the young. The custodian of the
coops may walk about the premises
for days >and weeks without creating
any gossip among the hens, but let a
stranger come along, and the outcry
Of danger is made forthwith. This in
herlted dread Of foe crops out to a
marked degree in the young. If hen
steals her nest and incubates her
young and brings them to the door to
be fed every chick in the lot will scoot
away and hide as soon as human
being appears on tho scene.
Among game fowl ana the smaller
breeds this fear continues for weeks,
though 1t nearly disappears when the
chicks become adults. The family dog
may loaf about the yard for weeks and
never raise squawk of protest, but
let new dog approach the premises
and the outcries Of the poultry may
be heard from afar. A skunk will
drive the poultry into Mysteries, though
a black and white striped cat that be-
longs on the place can sun itself in the
runways for hours and never be wax
ened by poultry outcries.
At what age and by what manner do
chickens learn to distinguish their
friends? Having been made able to
understand that the man who has
charge of them is their protector, why
do they not extend this confidence to
all human beings?
Hens are ut once the wisest and
most foolish animals that live.
If dog receives punishment few
times for visiting certain spot, 1t
will acquire wisdom from contact with
the switch and will either shun the for
hidden place entirely or will wait until
the human dealer In vengeance has
gone away. But no form of punish
ment invented by man can wean a
hen from invading garden and
scratching among the plants. If we SUI
perior human beings could fathom the
mind of the humblest hen and could
learn all there is to know as to her
mental processes we might write a
book that would astonish the world
and Guido Darwin in probing for the
secrets Of life.-Bnngor News.