90 OUR FRIENDS, THE BIRDS. 
A fig for the music born of man; 
I shake my head, and I doubt me whether 
Your cultured strain has a charm for Pan 
When a Blackbird sings in the sunshine weather, 
With the spots on his wings as red as fire, 
And his notes as sweet as Apollo’s lyre. 
QUESTIONS. 
Have you ever seen a flock of Red-wing Black- 
birds ? 
Do they build as pretty a nest as the Oriole? 
Why do they build in a marsh? 
What is their food ? 
To what other birds are they related ? 
Which do you think prettier, the Red-wing or the 
Grackle ? 
Have you read Alice Cary’s Story of a Blackbird ? 
Or Tennyson’s lines to A Blackbird ? 
