CHANTICLEER 239 



strange that this song has more associations for 

 man than any other sound in nature. But, apart 

 from any adventitious claims to our attention, the 

 sound possesses intrinsic merits and pleases for 

 Its own sake. In our other domestic birds we 

 have, with regard to this point, been unfor- 

 tunate. We have the gobbling of turkeys, and 

 the hoarse, monotonous come back of the guinea- 

 fowl, screaming of peacocks and geese, and quack- 

 ing, hissing, and rasping of mallard and mus- 

 covy. Above all these sounds the ringing, lusty, 

 triumphant call of Chanticleer, as the far-reach- 

 ing toll of the bell-bird sounds above the scream- 

 ing and chattering of parrots and toucans in the 

 Brazilian forest. A fine sound, which in spite of 

 many changes of climate and long centuries of 

 domestication still preserves that forest-born 

 character of wildness, which gives so great a 

 charm to the language of many woodland gallina- 

 ceous birds. As we have seen, it is variable, and 

 in some artificial varieties has been suffered to 

 degenerate into sounds harsh and disagreeable; 

 yet it is plain that an improved voice in a beauti- 

 ful breed would double the bird's value from an 

 aesthetic point of view. As things now are, the 



