A BIRD ANTHOLOGY FROM LCWELL. 257 
The Baltimore oriole also claims Mr. Lowell’s 
admiration. ‘There is one descriptive passage rela- 
tive to this bird that, in my opinion, goes ahead 
of even the famous bobolink eulogy just quoted : 
“Hush! ’Tis he! 
My oriole, my glance of summer fire, 
Is come at last, and, ever on the watch, 
Twitches the pack-thread I had lightly wound 
About the bough to help his housekeeping, — 
Twitches and scouts by turns, blessing his luck, 
Yet fearing me who laid it in his way, 
Nor, more than wiser we in our affairs, 
Divines the providence that hides and helps. 
Heave, ho! Heave, ho! he whistles as the twine 
Slackens its hold; ozce more, now ! and a flash 
Lightens across the sunlight to the elm 
Where his mate dangles at her cup of felt. 
Nor all his booty is the thread; he trails 
My loosened thought with it along the air, 
And I must follow, would I ever find 
The inward rhyme to all this wealth of life.” 
The last sentence is a deft turn at weaving, oriole- 
like, a thread of moral reflection into a fine piece of 
description. Even in his later years Lowell could 
not throw off the spell that this summer flake of 
gold had thrown over him ; for in his volume called 
*‘ Heartsease and Rue” he has inserted a little 
poem entitled “The Nest ”’ that for rhythmical flow 
and beauty has not been excelled by any of his 
earlier productions. He first describes the nest in 
May as follows : —— 
“Then from the honeysuckle gray 
The oriole with experienced quest 
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