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BIEDS IN A VILLAGE. 
nothing in the balance. For when has the character 
of the voice influenced a fancier in selecting ? 
Never, I believe, odd as it seems. I have read 
a very big book on the various breeds of the fowl, 
but the crowing of the cock was not mentioned 
in it. This would not seem so stranore if fanciers 
had invariably looked solely to utility, and their 
highest ambition had ended at size, weight and 
quality of flesh, early maturity, hardihood, and the 
greatest number of eggs. This has not been the 
case. They possess, like others, the love of the 
beautiful, artificial as their standards sometimes 
appear; and there are breeds in which beauty 
seems to have been the principal object, as, for 
instance, in several of the gold and silver spangled 
and pencilled varieties. But, besides beauty of 
plumage, there are other things in the fowl worthy 
of being improved by selection. One of these has 
been cultivated by man for thousands of years, 
namely, the combative spirit and splendid courage 
of the male bird. But there is a spirit abroad now 
which condemns cock-fighting, and to continue 
selecting and breeding cocks solely for their game- 
points seems a mere futility. The energy and 
enthusiasm expended in this direction would be 
much better employed in improving the bird's vocal 
powers. 
The morning song of the cock is a sound unique 
