CHANTICLEER 195 



as a singing bird. The note of this once wild Indian 

 pheasant is certainly the most remarkable of any 

 bird's, and if they could be naturalized without 

 being domesticated it would soon become the most 

 famous sound in our woods. ... To walk in a 

 winter morning in a wood where these birds abounded, 

 their native woods, and hear the wild cockerels 

 crow on the trees, clear and shrill for miles over the 

 surrounding country — ^think of it ! It would put 

 nations on the alert. Who would not be early to rise, 

 and rise earlier and earher on each successive 

 morning of his life, till he became unspeakably 

 healthy, wealthy, and wise i " 



Soon I fell into thinking of one in some ways 

 greater than Thoreau, so unlike the skyey-minded 

 New England prophet and solitary, so much more 

 genial and tolerant, more mundane and lovable ; 

 and yet like Thoreau in his nearness to nature. 

 Not only a lover of generous wines — " That mark 

 upon his lip is wine " — ^and books " clothed in 

 black and red," all natural sights and sounds also 

 " filled his herte with pleasure and solass," and 

 the early crowing of the cock was a part of the 

 minstrelsy he loved. Perhaps when lying awake 

 during the dark, quiet hours, and listening to just such 

 a note as this, he conceived and composed that 

 wonderful tale of the " Nun's Priest," in which the 

 whole character of Chanticleer, his glory and his 



