2 BIRDS AND POETS 



making a journey on foot to Philadelphia, shortly 

 after landing in this country, he caught sight of the 

 red-headed woodpecker flitting among the trees, — a 

 bird that shows like a tricolored scarf among the 

 foliage, — and it so kindled his enthusiasm that his 

 life was devoted to the pursuit of the birds from 

 that day. It was a lucky hit. Wilson had already 

 set up as a poet in Scotland, and was still ferment- 

 ing when the bird met his eye and suggested to his 

 soul a new outlet for its enthusiasm. 



The very idea of a bird is a symbol and a sugges- 

 tion to the poet. A bird seems to be at the top of 

 the scale, so vehement and intense is his life, — large- 

 brained, large-lunged, hot, ecstatic, his frame charged 

 with buoyancy and his heart with song. The beau- 

 tiful vagabonds, endowed with every grace, masters 

 of all climes, and knowing no bounds, — how many 

 human aspirations are realized in their free, holiday 

 lives, and how many suggestions to the poet ia their 

 flight and song! 



Indeed, is not the bird the original type and 

 teacher of the poet, and do we not demand of the 

 human lark or thrush that he "shake out his carols " 

 in the same free and spontaneous manner as his 

 winged prototype ? Kingsley has shown how surely 

 the old minnesingers and early ballad-writers have 

 learned of the birds, taking their key-note from the 

 blackbird, or the wood-lark, or the throstle, and 

 giving utterance to a melody as simple and unstud- 

 ied. Such things as the following were surely 

 caught from the fields or the woods : — 



