Evening star., 1925-07-17
HEN ADOPTS LITTER
OF SETTER PUPPIES
Her Own Brood Dead, She
Takes Whining CANNES Un-
der Motherly Wings.

Robbed Of their broods by merciless
humans. the hen, from time imme-
mortal, has been the butt of countless
man-made practical jokes. Setting
hens, In particular, have raised the
ire of farmers who wanted eggs
more and better eggs-from the very
hens whose instincts prompted them
to raise families. Years and years ago
some inventive genius evolved a china
eggs with the fell purpose of fooling
the gallinaceous world into thinking
that perhaps some day the dead china
might hatch out a real live chick.
And the hens fell for It. They set
and set, chased away, patiently re-
turning to the china make-believe un-
til even their apparently inexhaustible
patience gave out and they hastened
away from the porcelain substitute to
go their scratchy way about the barn
yard. Lacking q brood of chickens
OF their own to mother, hens have
been known TO turn to duck1ings and
goslings when their own parents have
been taken away.
But white Leghorn hen owned
by II. j. Hunt, connected with the
office OF engineer of highways for the
District Of Columbia, is the perpe-
traitor Of one Of the queerest biological
freaks that has been noted about
Pups Win Her Pity.
Deprived of her family by the death
of her brood of chickens a few days
ago. Peggy. a single-comb white
Leghorn. her maternal instinct cast.
ing about for something to mother,
turned to a family of setter pups,
little helpless, clumsy fellows only
three weeks old. Weaned from their
mother. the pups-10 of them
whlned and cried for something soft
on which to cuddle at night, while
their mother, a pedigreed setter of the
breed which man regards as indis-
separated from them by a fence.
The pups were motherless only a
few days, for just about the time
they were weaned Peggy lost her
brood. Stalking in gallinaceous dig
nifty into the toolshed where the pups
lay. dreaming dreams of a mothers
care. Peggy pushed them about
until their fuzzy, ungainly little
bodies were gathered in a heap. Then
she sat down over them protecting
them with her outspread wings ex-
actly as she protected her lost brood.
The pups took TO their strange
mother like a duck takes to water,
waiting for their hen foster parent at
nightfall and gathering under her
wings as II that was what they had
been used to all their short lives Oc-
cassionally a playful puppy tooth
nips the back of Peggys neck, but
she doesn't mind, for her neck is pro-
tected by feathers. But when the
pups get playful and begin biting her
legs Peggy utilizes her motherly
prerogative and pecks the unruly pup
with her sharp bill.
When Peggy goes to bed at night
in the toolshed on the little farm
at $500 Wisconsin avenue, with her
brood of unnatural children about her
she harks back to the days not long
ago when beneath her were little balls
Of feathers and fuzZ, instead of fur
and cold puppy noses. Apparently
she doesn't notice the difference, ac-
cording TO Conway Hunt. 13-year-old
lord of the Hunt barnyard, for even
during the day Peggy is always
around watching her little charges.
Lately. Peggy has been partial to
pair of sick pups of the setter brood.
nursing them with particular care
and letting the husky pups- of more
sturdy stock sit outside the circle of
her wings. while she keeps the ailing
puppies warm and snug against her
body. And within the last few days
a pair of cocker spaniel pups, % days
old, also weaned from their natural
nOtner, nave 1Ound the en1Oldfng
wings OF Peggy attractive when night
falls on the barnyard family scene
They also have found the key to
Peggy's heart and have been accept
ed on the same footing as the pups
who earlier felt her affection.
Speculate on Future.
Peggy's unnatural behavior has now
been going on for a week, and men,
bers Of the Hunt family are interested
to note what will happen when the
pups grow little larger and in their
clumsy play begin to knock their
foster parent about. VIII she grow
tired of their Juvenile antics and
weary of her selfimposed task, or
will she continue to mother the puppy
brood until they grow so large they
push her out of the family circle.
And year hence, unless Peggy goes
into the Hunt larder in the meantime,
will the pups. forgetting the cold
nights that Peggy kept them warm,
indulge in the puppy sport of chasing
her from fence to fence? Will they
recognize in her the foster mother of
other days. or will she be set apart,
a hen on a pedestal to be treated with
the respect and dignity due a person
age in the animal world?