XLIV. About the Woodchuck. 120 XLV. Mrs. Brindle's Cowslip Feast. 122 XLVI. The Frog and its Home. 124 XLVII. From Tadpole to Frog. 126 XLVIII. More about Frogs. 128 XLIX. The Friendly Toad. 130 L. The Snail and its House. 132 LI. The Fly and its Ways. 134 LII. The Animals' Ball. 136 NURSERY RHYME. [Illustration] Goosey, goosey, gander! Where shall I wander? Up-stairs, down-stairs, In the lady's chamber! There sits the lady, Folding up the clothes; In comes a blackbird, And nips off her nose! [Illustration: Chickens at Home.] LESSON I. _HOW FOWLS LOOK._ [Illustration] 1. Here we find the hen and chickens, a new company of our farm-yard friends. We see that they are very unlike the other friends we have been studying, and, though we know them well, we may find out something new about them. 2. Instead of a coat of hair or fur, the hen is covered with feathers, all pointing backward and lying over each other, so that the rain falls off as from the shingles of a house. 3. When we studied the cat, we found that she had four legs for walking and running, and that she used the paws on her front legs for scratching and catching her prey. 4. We have but two legs for walking or running, our fore legs being arms, and our paws, hands. 5. These new friends, the chickens, have but two legs, and in this way are more like boys and girls than are cats and dogs. [Illustration] 6. But the chicken has the same number of limbs as the others, only those in front are wings instead of fore legs or arms. 7. Here is a picture of the legs and feet of a hen. We see that the legs are covered with scales, and that each foot has four toes, three pointing forward and one back. Each toe has a long, sharp, and strong nail. 8. Let us look at the hen when she is walking slowly! As she lifts up each foot, her toes curl up, very much as our fingers do when we double them up to make a fist. [Illustration] 9. When the chicken is about a year old, a spur, hard like horn, begins to grow on the inside of each leg. Upon the old cocks these spurs are long and sharp, and he can strike savage blows with them. 10. It is when we look a hen in the face that we see how much it differs from all the animals we have studied before. [Illustration] 11. The head stands up straight, and the eyes are placed on each side, so that it can look forward, to the side, and partly backward. 12. Two little ears are just back and below the eyes; at first we would hardly know what they are, they are so small and unlike the other ears which we have seen. 13. All the lower part of the face is a bill, hard like horn, and running out to a point. The bill opens and makes the mouth, and two holes in the upper part make the nose.