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Show Oregon Hens Are Wise "Worth their weight In coined silver," sil-ver," Is tho vnluo attached to Tils flock of hens and chickens by "V. 11. Penning, Pen-ning, tho most extensive producer of honey In the alfalfa region about Ontario, On-tario, Ore. This high price for poultry Is not on account of the bentity or s.7e or pedigree pedi-gree of his flock, but on account of their having developed' a faculty or Intelligence In-telligence to distinguish between n working bee and n drone, which en-nbles en-nbles him to secure a much larger yield of honey from his GOO hives, as his hens keep the number of lazy, I idle drones, who are not armed with stings, but who havo good appetites, reduced to a minimum, and jnoru cells aro filled and sealed daily by tho busy workers Mr. Penning told the Oregonlnn tho story of the wonderful development of his hens, which aro allowed to run at largo among his beehives, nnd who havo n fondness for bees, bugs, grasshoppers grass-hoppers and other Insects, but which, generally speaking, have learned to leave bees entirely atone, having in their eail) attempts at swallowln them found that pain and dango. lurked In the stings Within the past ear or two ho hal noticed his hens peeking Into tho en trances of hles nnd occasional) seizing a bee, which, after placing 01 tlio ground and examining critically they would sometimes swnllow anc sometimes allow to fly away. This resulted In a careful investl gation by him of the strango action of the hens, nnd ho soon found thnl tlio fowls had learned to distinguish the stlnglcss nnd useless drones from the nrmed working bees, nnd thnt In consequence the number of tho eat-eis, eat-eis, but nonproducers of honey, waa being kopt within reasonable limits. He has also discovered that this season the old hens have taught their chickens how to distinguish between tho two clauses of bees. Ho believes that no other fowls havo over acquired ac-quired this alunblo knowledge, nnd has not fonnd nnjono who hns over heard of such knowiedgo being displayed dis-played by any fowl or bird. Portland Oregonian. |