Translations:Benutzer:Arian/Klett-Mini-Test/539/en

Hens and turkeys are bound to the earth; ducks and geese love the nearness of water and prefer to graze the green zones close to the bank. Just as these swing back and forth between water and earth, so do pigeons between air and earth; their range of movement extends in mostly short flights from tree to tree out into the open fieldscape, and for rest they gather again, lined up along the highest ridge of the farm's rooftops. Their field of vision is thus, alongside the bees', the most expansive among the domestic animals; considerably more restricted is that of the waterfowl, and for hens it confines itself to only a few metres. Hens see sharply only at short distances — the hen eats with its eye. The eye's resolution of movement and differentiation of colour is far superior to that of the human eye. Like all birds, domestic poultry and so also the hen have good hearing. They lack an external ear; the entrance to the inner ear lies hidden beneath the fine plumage of the head. Soul-expressions such as calls, sounds of mutual communication — the crowing, clucking, quacking of ducks and geese, or the cooing of pigeons — are exchanged over considerable distances. The sense of taste is, as with their wild counterparts, weakly developed. Hens do distinguish, for example, the qualities salty and sweet, sour and bitter, but these sensations play only a minor role in the selection of food. The sense of smell is apparently far better developed than was still believed until