PATOU Not with both wings! What can you expect of a bird who, with woodbine and juniper full in sight, prefers to go inside and peck at a musty biscuit? BLACKBIRD He never seems to suspect that the poacher is a blackguardly sort of brute! PATOU What I know is that the underbrush is all a delicate golden gloom-- THE BLACKBIRD Yes, but leaden shot can cleave your delicate gold. The quail is such a canny bird, that he lies low lest he make his last appearance on toast. And so, in lack of quail-- PATOU Does the great stag delight any the less in his green forest for turning over among the grass at evening some bit of a rusty cartridge? THE BLACKBIRD No, old chap--but the stag, you see, is just another kind of a hat-rack! PATOU Oh, but freedom, freedom, with violets looking on! Love!-- THE BLACKBIRD Antediluvian pastimes! not nearly such good fun as my nice new wooden trapeze. Oh, my cage, let us sign a joyful three-six-nine years’ lease! I live like a Duke, I have filtered drinking-water--[_At_ PATOU’S _significant start and growl, he springs aside, finishing._] You can sling mud upon me, I have a porcelain bath! CHANTECLER [_Slightly out of patience._] Why not make a practice of talking simply and to the point? THE BLACKBIRD I like to make you sit up, and watch you blinking. PATOU Grrrrr--in the plain interest of public decency, I say it behooves us-- THE BLACKBIRD Don’t say behooves, say it’s up to you, old chap! CHANTECLER What’s all this juggling with words? THE BLACKBIRD The thing, Chantecler, quite the thing! I knew a city sparrow once, and it’s the way they talk in fashionable circles. CHANTECLER I was well acquainted with a little red-breast, who lived beneath a city poet’s eaves; he did not talk like you. THE BLACKBIRD I belong to my time. Every chap that’s a bit of a swell nowadays must be a bit of a tough. It’s smart, you know. PATOU I froth at the mouth! Smart,--there’s the Peacock’s password! CHANTECLER Oh, the Peacock, by the way, what is he doing these days? THE BLACKBIRD Ogling with his tail-feathers! PATOU Baneful his example has been to many an humble heart. CHANTECLER What signs do you see of his influence? PATOU A thousand nothings. THE OLD HEN [_Appearing._] Bubbles floating down the stream tell of laundresses up stream! [_The lid drops._] CHANTECLER I am sure I have not seen the smallest bubble from which-- PATOU [_Indicating a_ GUINEA-PIG, _who is passing._] See there, that Guinea-pig-- CHANTECLER [_Considering him._] What about him? He is just a yellow Guinea-pig! GUINEA-PIG [_Snippily correcting._] Khaki, if you please! CHANTECLER [_To_ PATOU.] Kha--? PATOU A bubble!--And yonder waddling duck-- CHANTECLER [_Looking at him._] He is going to take his bath-- THE DUCK [_Drily._] My tub! CHANTECLER His--? PATOU A bubble! [_A long grating noise is heard within the house Crrrrrrr, then._] THE CLOCK Cuckoo!