Our Domestic Birds

d with the hair of a mammal or the scale of a fish or of a reptile, a typical soft feather from the body of a bird is a very complex structure, partaking of the characters of b

d fowls the feathers appear first along the outer sides of the shanks and toes. As the number of feathers is increased they grow long

e some very small, fine feathers on it, and if we examine closely we see in addition still finer growths-hairs. Among the body feathers of a fowl, t

ed eye appears as something more complex than a hair, looks

like the hairs in an artist's brush. Such a feather is called a stub feather, or simply a stub. T

t. Extending from each side of this shaft is a single row of filaments, called barbs, the edges of which, interlocked with little hooks, form the web of the feather. On other parts of the body of the bird th

so notice that the structure of a feather is not always the same throughout its length. On the exposed parts of the feathers of the neck, back, wings, and breast the web is perfect and the feathers overlap so closely that they present a smooth surface. Under the surface, especially next

skin is nearly all rough, with the little elevations where the feathers were removed, there are quite large areas where the skin is perfectly smooth, showing that no feathers gr

ds of some species always have feathers differing in form from the feathers on the same parts of the female. When a feather appendage not common to a species is developed on some varieties, as t

Leghorn chic

ferent marking; and for the effect in a single feather, upon adjacent barbs being now alike, now different, in the distribution of the pigment in them. The best common example of a pattern covering a series of feathers is found on the wing of a Mallard Duck or of a Rouen Duck. Interesting examples of the formation of patterns on a

hen the feathers are removed. After the pigment is deposited in the web of the feather the color is fast. Water does not affect it, but it fades a little with age and exposure. New plumage usually contains a great deal of oil, a

Leghorn chicks

gg. In most kinds of poultry, however, the young show no signs of feathers for some days. The down is gradually replaced by small feathers, and these by larger feathers as the bird grows. As feathers in all stages of growth are found on the young bird at the same time, it is not known whether all feathers are molted the same number of times.

of birds for the table. The muscles of the wings furnish the greater part of the edible meat of most birds. The most desirable birds for food purposes are those which have the wing muscles well developed, yet not quite strong enough to enable them to fly easil

easily over the fences used to confine them. To regulate such exercise the perches for birds that roost are made low, or in an ascending series in which each perch after the first is reached from the one below it, while fences are made so much higher than the dis

enty to one hundred fifty downward strokes of its wings a minute. As each downward stroke must be preceded by an upward stroke, this means that the wings make from two hundred forty to three hundred separate movements a minute. In such swift-flying birds as the pigeon the movements of the wings can be disti

wing is not one surface but a series of narrow surfaces lapping in such a manner that they unite to form one broad surface when the downward stroke is made, and with the upward stroke are separated so that the air passes between them. Greater power in the downward stroke and less resist

the tips of the feathers, which are directed backward, are flexible. So the air compressed by the wing in the downward stroke escapes backward, and in doing so propel

ance the bird. It is of some assistance in steering, but a

they have three toes upon which the foot rests when they are standing on a flat surface, and a fourth toe, like a thumb, which assists the other toes to grasp a perch. Some individual birds and some races of birds have the fourth or hind toe double. The leg of a bird is so

r land birds are very feeble scratchers, and do little damage by scratching if free to roam about. For ages the scratching propensity of fowls was regarded as a vice in them, but since people began to give special attention to poultry they have learned that fowls are much

e possessing it to places which land birds rarely frequent. It will be shown when the differen

ucks is not great enough to account for the difference in resistance to the penetration of water. The peculiar quality of the plumage of swimming birds is its density. If you take up a fowl and examine the plumage you will find that it is easy to part the feathers so that the skin can be seen. It may be done with the fingers, or even by blowing gently among the feathers with the mouth. Now try to separate the feathers of a duck so that the skin will be visible. You find it much harder, because the f

erent kinds of birds. Some eat mostly grains, some mostly animal foods. Some can subsist entirely on grass if they can get it in a tender state; others eat very little grass. The scr

d grit to take the place of the teeth nature did not give them, and assist in the grinding of the food in the gizzard. Many close observers now reject this idea because they find that birds supplied with digesti

tect the contents from the air. In all of these the material stored up is either for the nourishment of the seeds in the first stages of growth as plants, or for the nourishment of a new or special growth. An egg is the seed of an animal. All animals pro

material needed for its development as an embryo, in a sealed package, which may be taken thousands of miles away from the parent, and, after lying dormant for weeks, may begin to grow as soon as the p

hese is a large, convoluted duct having its outlet at the vent. In this duct, which is called the oviduct, are eggs in various stages of formation. At its upper extremity, attached to the backbone, is a bunch of globular yellow substances which are at once identified as yolks of e

alaz?, and receives a coating of thick albumen. The function of the chalaz? is to keep the yolk suspended in the center of the egg. It does

isthmus it goes into the lowest part of the oviduct-the uterus. Here the shell is formed, and at the same time a thin albumen enters through the pores of the shell and the shell membra

ber of young that can be cared for, and then incubates them. If its first eggs are removed or destroyed, the bird lays more, usually changing the location of its nest. In dome

st reports that we have of the amount of egg production indicate that the laying capacity of fowls was as great centuries ago as it is at the present time. Recent observations on wild birds in captivity show that even birds which pair and usually lay only

d to supply the material for the nourishment of germs through the embryonic stage. The principal facto

s, or hollow out a little place on the ground. In birds that pair, the male and female work together to build the nest. Even in polygamous domesti

e number of young the parents can feed as long as they require this attention, while a terrestrial or aquatic bird will usually

o keep their eggs warm for a period varying from two weeks for small birds, to six weeks for the ostrich; but "instinct" is only a term to describe

. Sitt

t, this being necessary because otherwise the eggs at the center of the nest would get too much heat and those at the outside would not get enough. A bird appears to know that if she begins to sit before she has finished laying, some of the eggs would be spoiled or would hatch before the others; and, as noted above, a?rial birds seem to know better than to hatch more young than they can rear. But no bird seems to have any idea of the time required to hatch its eggs, or to notice the lapse of time, or to care whether the eggs upon which it sits are of its own kind or of some other kind, or to know whether the young when hatched ar

. Fres

gg (after twenty-fo

(after twenty-four

fter seventy-two

(after seven da

Bureau of Animal Industry, United

ck ready to

veloped and ready to emerge from the shell. In nature the heat is applied by contact with the bodies of the parent birds. Development of life will start in an egg at about 10 degrees below the temperature required to maintain it, but at this temperature the germ

that the germ has turned red, and little red veins radiate from it somewhat like the legs of a spider. For several days the egg is quite translucent and the yolk shows plainly. As the germ grows, the contents of the egg become clouded and dense, and the air space at

exclusion and part

ight Brahm

t lies curled up, usually with the head at the large end of the egg and the beak almost touching the shell, at about one third of the distance from the large to the small end of the egg. At the point of the beak of the young bird on the curved tip of the upper mandible is a small horny s

and, you hold it to your ear, you will about this time hear an occasional tap, tap, caused by the chicken striking its beak against the shell. The tapping is kept up more or less steadily until the shell cracks where the point of the beak strikes it and a little piece is broken out. The chi

which are naked when hatched, are ugly little things. Young poultry, too, are almost repulsive with their sprawling forms and the wet down plastered to the skin, but in