234 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



but cocks, like minstrels among men, are vain 

 creatures, and some kind officious fairy whis- 

 pered in his ear that there was an appreciative 

 listener hard by, and so to please me he sang, 

 just one stave more. 



Lying and listening in the dark, it seemed to 

 me that there were two opposite qualities com- 

 mingled in the sound, with an effect analogous to 

 that of shadow mingling with and chastening light 

 at eventide. First, it was strong and clear, full 

 of assurance and freedom, qualities admirably 

 suited to the song of a bird of Chanticleer's dis- 

 position; a lusty, ringing strain, not sung in the 

 clouds or from a lofty perch midway between 

 earth and heaven, but with feet firmly planted on 

 the soil, and earthly; and compared with the notes 

 of the grove like a versified utterance of Walt 

 Whitman compared with the poems of the true 

 inspired children of song — Blake, Shelley, Poe. 

 Earthly, but not hostile and eager; on the con- 

 trary, leisurely, peaceful even dreamy, with a 

 touch of tenderness which brings it into relation- 

 ship with the more aerial tones of the true 

 singers; and this is the second quality I spoke of, 

 which gave a charm to this note and made it 



