French rooster 'on trial' for early morning 'cock-a-doodle-doo' A French rooster named Maurice, whose early-morning crowing has got under the skin of neighbours on the island of Oleron, is at the centre of a court battle that has raised howls of protest in the countryside. Maurice himself is not present for the proceedings in the western town of Rochefort, and nor are the plaintiffs, a retired couple with a holiday home on the picturesque island who claim his dawn chorus wakes them from their slumber. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES