''When daisies pied and violets blue, 

 And lady-smocks all silver-white, 

 And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue, 

 Do paint the meadows with delight, 

 The cuckoo then on every tree, ' ' 



Utters his ringing call, cuckoo ! cuckoo ! 

 cuckoo ! 



In the winter there are the birds that 

 "sit brooding in the snow," and chief 

 among these, of course, is the owl. 



''Then nightly sings the staring owl 



To-whit ! 

 To-who, a merry note. ' ' 



"To relish a love-song like a robin- 

 redbreast," comes in "The Two Gentle- 

 men of Verona" and "Midsummer 

 Night's Dream," is full of the carols and 

 the movements of the birds. Puck's 

 matin-call is : 



"Fairy king, attend, and mark: 

 I do hear the morning lark. ' ' 



The Fairies call the nightingale to join 

 their slumber-song: 



"Philomel, with melody 

 Sing in our sweet lullaby; 

 Lulla, lulla, lullaby ! " 



Oberon's night-song is perfect: 



"Through the house give glimmering light, 



By the dead and drowsy fire: 



Every elf and fairy sprite 



Hops as light as bird from briar ! " 



Who does not remember the swmging of 

 some tall, slender weed as the swift bird 

 darts away? Bottom, the weaver, sings 

 the roll-call of. the birds familiar to 

 orchard and croft, hedge-row and thicket, 

 near the river Avon : 



"The ousel-cock so black of hue, 

 With orange-tawny bill. 

 The throstle with his note so true, 

 The wren with little quill — 



The finch, the sparrow and the lark. 

 The plain-song cuckoo gray, 

 Whose note full many a man doth mark. 

 And dare not answer nay; — 



It is natural to find the ousel-cock or the 

 blackbird with his clear whistle associated 

 with the throstle or thrush. They are 

 the "merle and mavis" of Scotch ballads. 

 The English cuckoo must have music in 

 his ringing call, or it would not impress 



the poets so strongly. Our American 

 cuckoo has no song, only hoarse and gut- 

 tural notes, altogether unworthy of so 

 beautiful a bird. But the English cuckoo 

 is said to be an unloving parent, drop- 

 ping its eggs in other birds' nests. The 

 song of the "hedge-sparrow and 

 cuckoo" which is sung by the Fool in 

 "King Lear," brings this charge against 

 the bird. Our cuckoo, though her nest 

 is rather untidy, is a most brave and de- 

 voted mother. I have seen her fall al- 

 most under the jaws of a spaniel when 

 trying to lead him away from her young 

 ones ; and I saw the same bird follow 

 our party twice, in our going and re- 

 turning, from post tO' post of fence, 

 until assured we were at a safe distance 

 from her nest, when she flew strai,s:ht 

 back to the old willow where it was. Yet 

 the cuckoo is a shv bird, and one may 

 hear it a hundred times for the once see- 

 ins: it among the boughs where it silently 

 glides about, looking for long, green cat- 

 erpillars. 



Shakespeare does not forget the com- 

 mon crow : 



' ' The crow makes wing to the rooky wood, ' ' 

 he says in "Macbeth ;" and in "King- 

 Lear," 



"How fearful, 



And dizzy 'tis to cast one 's ey£s so low ! 

 The crovvs and choughs that wing the midway 



air, 

 Show scarce so gross as beetles 

 * * * The lark so far 

 Cannot be seen or. heard. " 



Lear says to Cordelia in his delight at 

 having found her again, which quite blots 

 out their hard condition : 



"Let's away to prison: we two alone will 

 sing like birds i ' the cage. ' ' 



Perhaps the most charming of all 

 Shakespeare's lyrics is the lovely Invita- 

 tion to the Joust in "As You Like It." 



"Under the greenwood tree. 



Who loves to lie with me. 



And tune his merry note 



TJnto the sweet bird's throat. 



Come hither, come hither. " . - 



Ella F. Mosby. 



73 



