192 BIRDS IN TOWN ANt) VILLAGE 



music critically. The variety of sounds they emitted 

 was very great, and, if cocks were selected for their 

 vocal qualities, would have shown an astonishing 

 difference in the musical tastes of their owners. A 

 dozen dogs of as many different breeds, ranging from 

 the boar-hound to the toy terrier, would not have 

 shown greater dissimilarity in their forms than did 

 these cocks in their voices. For the fowl, like the dog, 

 has become an extremely variable creature in the 

 domestic state, in voice no less than in size, form, 

 colour, and other particulars. At one end of the 

 scale there was the raucous bronchial strain produced 

 by the unwieldy Cochin. What a bird is that I 

 Nature, in obedience to man's behests, and smib'ng 

 with secret satire over her work, has made it pon- 

 derous and ungraceful as any clumsy mammalian, 

 wombat, ardvaark, manatee, or hippopotamus. The 

 burnished red hackles, worn like a light mantle over 

 the black doublet of the breast, the metallic dark 

 green sickle-plumes arching over the tail, all the 

 beautiful lines and rich colouring, have been absorbed 

 into flesh and fat for gross feeders ; and with these 

 have gone its liveliness and vigour, its clarion voice 

 and hostile spirit and brilliant courage ; it is Gallus 

 bankiva degenerate, with dulled brains and blunted 

 spurs, and its hoarse crow is a barbarous chant. 



And far awav at the other end, startling in its 

 suddenness and impetuosity, was a trisyllabic crow. 



