234 THE OPEN AIR 



frequently. It needs no teaching to see its beauty 

 the feeling comes of itself. 



How different with the turkey-cock which struts 

 round the t same barn ! A fine big bird he is, no 

 doubt ; but there is no intrinsic beauty about him ; 

 on the contrary, there is something fantastic in his 

 style and plumage. He has a way of drooping his 

 wings as if they were armour-plates -to shield him 

 from a shot. The ornaments upon his head and 

 beak are in the most awkward position. He was 

 put together in a dream, of uneven and odd pieces 

 that live and move, but do not fit. Ponderously 

 gawky, he steps as if the world was his, like a 

 "motley" crowned in sport. He is good eating, 

 but he is not beautiful. After the eye has been 

 accustomed to him for some time after you have 

 fed him every day and come to take an interest in 

 him after you have seen a hundred turkey-cocks, 

 then he may become passable, or, if you have the 

 fancier's taste, exquisite. Education is requisite first ; 

 you do not fall in love at first sight. The same 

 applies to fancy-pigeons, and indeed many pet 

 animals, as pugs, which come in time to be ani- 

 mated with a soul in some people's eyes. Compare 

 a pug with a greyhound straining at the leash. 

 Instantly he is slipped, he is gone as a wave let 

 loose. His flexible back bends and undulates, arches 

 and unarches, rises and falls as a wave rises and 

 rolls on. His pliant ribs open; his whole frame 

 "gives" and stretches, and closing again in a curve, 

 springs forward. Movement is as easy to him as 

 to the wave, which melting, is re-moulded, and sways 



