Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson VI · Topic 1: Bird study: how a bird is made
6. The feet of birds
Goal: Your child can compare a hen's scratching feet with a duck's webbed feet and say how each fits the bird's life.
You'll need
- A chance to watch a hen walk and scratch and a duck walk and swim
- Mud or damp sand to look for tracks
- Nature notebook and pencil
What's in the book
The leading thought, the method (watch the hen and the duck moving, and the duck swimming) and ten questions about the hen's toes and claws, scratching, tracks, how the toes are numbered, the duck's web, where the legs are set, and how each bird perches or sleeps.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Any season. A farm with hens and ducks, or a hen yard and a park pond. Muddy days are best, because you can find tracks.
Safety: chickens and ducks can carry germs even when they look clean and healthy. Wash hands with soap and water after touching a bird, a feather or anything in the coop, and keep hands away from faces until then.
Keep the big idea in mind
Read this to yourself:
The feet of birds are shaped so as to assist the bird in getting its food as well as for locomotion.
Locomotion means moving from place to place.
The hen's feet
Are the toes of the hen long and strong? Have they long, sharp claws at their tips?
How are the legs and feet of the hen covered and protected?
How are the hen's feet and legs fitted for scratching the earth, and why does she wish to scratch the earth?
Tracks
Can a hen run rapidly? What sort of a track does she make?
Look for tracks in mud or sand. Count the toes in a track.
You number your fingers with the thumb as number one and the little finger as five. How do you think the hen's toes are numbered?
The duck's feet
Has the duck as many toes as the hen? What is the chief difference between the feet of the duck and the hen?
Which of the duck's toes are connected by a web? Does the web extend to the tips of the toes? What is the web for and how does it help the duck?
Running and swimming
Can a duck run as well as a hen? Can the hen swim at all?
Watch the duck waddle, then watch it paddle. Ask: Why are the duck's legs set so far back?
Put it into words
Ask your child to tell you how the hen's feet and the duck's feet each help the bird. Then share the leading thought.
Nature notebook
Draw a hen's foot and a duck's foot side by side, or draw the tracks you found. Number the toes the way Comstock suggests.
Afterwards
Look for bird tracks in snow, mud or wet sand this week. Can you tell a duck track from a pigeon or crow track?
Tip
Comstock also asks where the hen sleeps and how she holds her perch. If you can visit at dusk, watch the hens go to roost.