A BIRD ANTHOLOGY FROM LOWELL. 245 



that I am familiar with every bird whose charms he 

 has chanted. Indeed, he himself boasts modestly, 

 as poets may, of his familiarity with the birds in his 

 beautiful tribute to George William Curtis, saying, — 



" I learned all weather-signs o£ day and night ; 

 No bird but I could name him by his flight." 



In the first place, let me point out the remarkable 

 felicity of his more general references to birds and 

 their ways. The music of the minstrels of the air 

 often fills his bosom with pleasing but half-regretful 

 reminders of other and happier days, as, for 

 example, when he penned those exquisite lines, 

 "To Perdita, Singing," — 



" She sits and sings, 

 With folded wings 

 And white arms crost, 

 ' Weep not for bygone things, 

 They are not lost.' " 



Then follow some lines of rare sweetness, the 

 concluding ones of which are these, — 



" Every look and every word 

 Which thou givest forth to-day, 

 Tells of the singing of the bird 

 Whose music stilled thy boyish play." 



A similar pensive reference is found in our poet's 

 ode, "To the Dandelion," which is as deserving 

 of admiration as many of the more famous odes 

 of English poesy. He thus apostrophizes "the 

 common flower" that fringes "the dusty road with 

 harmless gold," — 



