rouLTUY. 73 



the dismal " childish treble " of an old singer's fading bass, ^Yith a 

 penny whistle wind-up at the end thereof ! The very attitude in 

 which he crows, shows that the eflfort distresses him, from the tip 

 of his beak to the end of all the tail he has, and that tail " no great 

 shakes," after all ! Compared with this, how carols to the morn the 

 old Enij:lish 



" cock's shrill clarion " — (Jray's Eleyij. 



Of which wrote Shakspeare, 



" Hark ! hark ! I hear 

 The strain of chanticleer." 



And again 



" The cock, that is the trumpet of the morn, 

 Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat 

 Awake the god of day." — Hamlet. 



No, no, the cock of English song, 



" The cock that doth crow 



To let you know, 



If you are wise 



'Tis time to rise ! " — Old Primer. 



is the chap that Dryden describes, whose 



" Comb was high and coral red withal. 

 In dents embattled, like a castle-wall ; 

 His bill was raven black and shone like jet, 

 Blue were his legs and orient were his feet ; 

 White were his nails, like silver to behold. 

 His body glittering like the burnished gold V 



We like to see a cock of that high tone and lofty bearing, and 

 many such a one have we seen about the farm-houses of the county, 

 strutting through the barnyard, uxoriously clucking, and calling to 

 choice titbits, his whole harem of wives, polygamous Turk as he is ; 

 feathering with drooping wing, fondling over them, as they coyly 

 resist, and cooing about them so daintily and proudly, that his legs 

 seem to scorn, " in toto," the dusty soil beneath his toes ! 



The Committee, in conclusion, earnestly recommend to the farmers 

 of the county to give greater heed to the improvement of their 

 Poultry. The birds of the barnyard are a mixed up race, and 

 though, in some instances, large and handsome birds may be found, 

 such as those kept by Mr. Frost, of North Andover,yet too often, 

 they are small and inferior. Mr. Frost's fowls are large and well 

 proportioned birds, the cocks being particularly handsome. And 

 this superiority has been attained by care in the breeding and keep- 

 10 



