Birds

Lesson 1- Feathers as Clothing

Anna Botsford Comstock describes feathers in the most delightful way!

"Some of the feathers act as mackintoshes and others as underclothing."

"The overlapping of the feathers on a hen's back and breast is a pretty illustration of nature's method of shingling, so that the rain, finding no place to enter, drips off, leaving the bird's underclothing quite dry."

A hen is easily accessible for nature study and what fun to spend and morning in the company of chickens! A hen is also much more willing for us to get a closer look at her "clothing".

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Spend some time examining the different feathers on the hen and comparing them. We also did some pencil sketches of feathers in our nature notebooks.

Jan Brett has put together a fabulous video clip of how to draw a chicken , and she also mentions the names of various parts of the chicken as she draws. The link will lead you to a collection of her "how to draw" videos and you'll find the link there with a choice of High Bandwidth or Low Bandwidth.

I will not see a chicken in the same light again!

Have fun!

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