A BIRD ANTHOLOGY FROM LOWELL. 259 



A number of quotations in which the robin figures 

 conspicuously have already been given. One more 

 occurs to me, — that in which Hosea Biglow 

 exclaims, — 



" Thet 's robin-redbreast's almanick ; he knows 

 That arter this ther' 's only blossom-snows ; 

 So, choosin' out a handy crotch an' spouse. 

 He goes to plast'rin' his adobe house." 



But hold ! here is still another : — 



" The Maple puts her corals on in May, 

 While loitering frosts about the lowlands cling. 

 To be in tune with what the robins sing, 

 Plastering new log-huts 'mid her branches gray." 



It can scarcely be hoped to make this anthology 

 from Lowell exhaustive, for almost every time I 

 turn the leaves of his poetical works I stumble upon 

 some reference to the birds before unnoted ; but 

 this article would be incomplete should one of his 

 choicest bits of metrical description, which must 

 bring both anthology and book to a close, be 

 omitted. It is found in the poem entitled "The 

 Nightingale in the Study," the whole of which must 

 be read to catch the drift of its moral teaching. 

 The poet doubtless attributes more magnanimity to 

 the cat-bird than that carolist is entitled to, — but 

 no matter; the Muses cannot be over-precise. 

 Here is a charmer : — 



" ' Come forth ! ' my cat-bird calls to me, 

 ' And hear me sing a cavatina 

 That, in this old familiar tree. 

 Shall hang a garden of Alcina. 



