Joe put grain and water near by, and Bobby and Betty
peeped in almost every day.
One day when the children went near the nest, they heard little
peeping sounds, and ran to tell Joe. He came and lifted up the little
bantam hen, although she scolded and pecked at him; and in the nest
Bobby and Betty saw six little pheasant chicks and one egg that did
not hatch. The pheasant chicks were little brown downy things, and Joe
took hen, chicks, nest and all, and made a little coop for them under
the orchard trees. The little chicks were very lively and very
shy--not like hen chicks; they loved to run away and hide in the
grass, and the children could hardly find them at all when they looked
for them. Mother Bantam would cluck and run back and forth in the coop
and call to them, she was so afraid something would happen. At last,
one day, Joe decided to let the little bantam run with her brood, and
show them how to scratch and find worms. So he took away the slats
from the foot of the coop, and Mrs. Bantam stepped out.
The children saw the hen and chicks in the orchard grass. The little
pheasants ran through the orchard and the little bantam hen followed
them. What became of them nobody knew, and they have never been seen
since.
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