Two hens scratched upon the midden; otherwise there was no sign of life.

Many comfortable gray hens were clucking and scratching about the hay-strewn floor, and a flock of doves sat cooing on the roof.

They stood in the hot yard, with a scrawny hen or two scratching around their bare feet, watching the boys and crying.

The floor's made of earth, the hens scratch it all the time, and the air's so full of dust you need a gas-mask.

The hen scratched a minute in the dust, then scrambled up onto the rung of the washstand and remained motionless.

The hen scratched among the leaves, making a clicking sound to reassure the chicks.

But her garden smelled of honeysuckle and jasmine and roses from the bushes which grew where once the hens had scratched.

"Greedy, greedy, greedy," muttered one hen, jealously eyeing a choice patch of ground that a bigger hen was scratching.

"It really does look like a yard now, because the hens have scratched about so much."

Plump hens scratched in the earth beneath.