90 KING KESTREL 



To the point of a larch the storm-cock 1 in March, 

 With a song in his throat he will cling; 



And the red-breasted bird in the snows shall be heard, 

 But the kestrel the kestrel's a king. 



The peewit is sly, and flaps round the sky, 

 And the goose travels high in a string, 



While the gull and the crow 2 are in crowds down 



below, 

 But the kestrel the kestrel's a king. 20 



The kingfisher rare illumines the air; 



And the cuckoo is welcome in Spring; 

 And the owl is a fowl that in darkness doth prowl, 



But the kestrel the kestrel's a king. 



He skims all around 'twixt the sky and the ground, 



And red is the flash of his wing ; 

 Or he stoops from his pitch without ever a hitch, 



For the kestrel the kestrel's a king. 



He looks from the sky with command in his eye, 

 He hovers, or sails in a ring; so 



Then aloft or alow, all ways he can go, 

 For the kestrel the kestrel's a king. 



No tyrant is he, but open and free ; 



He darts like a stone from a sling, 

 And the little birds see when he's coming, and flee; 



For the kestrel the kestrel's a king. 



The sparrowhawk hides by the hedgerow-sides, 



And leaps at his prey with a spring, 

 But the kestrel's advance gives the linnet a chance, 



For the kestrel the kestrel's a king. 40 



1 missel-thrush. 2 rook. 



