NATURE AND THE POETS. 103 



to American nature generally. You will find in his 

 poems the pewee, the bluebird, the oriole, the robin, 

 the grouse, the king-fisher, the chipmunk, the mink, 

 the bobolink, the wood-thrush, etc., all in their proper 

 places. There are few bird-poems that combine so 

 much good poetry and good natural history as his 

 "Pewee." Here we have a glimpse of the cat- 

 bird: 



" In the alders, dank with noon-day dews, 

 The restless cat-bird darts and mews ; " 



here, of the cliff-swallow : 



"In the autumn, when the hollows 

 All are filled with flying leaves 

 And the colonies of swallows 



Quit the quaintly stuccoed eaves." 



Only the dates are not quite right. The swallows 

 leave their nests in August, which is nearly two 

 months before the leaves fall. The poet is also a 

 little unfaithful to the lore of his boyhood when he 

 says 



" The partridge beats his throbbing drum " 



in midsummer. As a rule, the partridge does not 

 drum later than June, except fitfully during the In- 

 dian summer, while April and May are his favorite 

 months. And let me say here for the benefit of the 

 j,oets who do not go to the woods, that the partridge 

 does not always drum upon a log; he frequently 

 drums upon a rock or a stone wall, if a suitable log 

 6e not handy, and no ear can detect the difference. 

 His drum is really his own proud breast and beneath 



