440 NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND BIRDS 



so cool, then, that tender chickens seek a shelter at 

 night ; but I saw the hens at Clark's (the R. Brown 

 house) were still going to roost in the apple trees. 



Oct. 1, 1858. Let a full-grown but young cock stand 

 near you. How full of life he is, from the tip of his bill 

 through his trembling wattles and comb and his bright 

 eye to the extremity of his clean toes ! How alert and 

 restless, listening to every sound and watching every 

 motion ! How various his notes, from the finest and 

 shrillest alarum as a hawk sails over, surpassing the 

 most accomplished violinist on the short strings, to a 

 hoarse and terrene voice or cluck ! He has a word for 

 every occasion, — for the dog that rushes past, and part- 

 let cackling in the barn. And then how, elevating him- 

 self and flapping his wings, he gathers impetus and air 

 and launches forth that world-renowned ear-piercing 

 strain ! not a vulgar note of defiance, but the mere 

 effervescence of life, like the bursting of a bubble in a 

 wine-cup. Is any gem so bright as his eye ? 



Aug. 6, 1860. I heard a cock crow very shrilly and 

 distinctly early in the evening of the 8th. ^ This was the 

 most distinct sound from the lower world that I heard 

 up there at any time, not excepting even the railroad 

 whistle, which was louder. It reached my ear perfectly, 

 to each note and curl, — from some submontane cock. 

 We also heard at this hour an occasional bleat from a 

 sheep in some mountain pasture, and a lowing of a cow. 

 And at last we saw a light here and there in a farmhouse 

 window. We heard no sound of man except the railroad 

 whistle and, on Sunday, a church-bell. Heard no dog 



^ [Id camp on the soiuiuit of Mt. Monadnock.] 



