BIEDS AND POETS 5 



of a troop of gray plovers in an autumnal morning, 

 without feeling an elevation of soul like the enthu- 

 siasm of devotion or poetry." 



Even the Greek minor poets, the swarm of them 

 that are represented in the Greek Anthology, rarely 

 make affectionate mention of the birds, except per- 

 haps Sappho, whom Ben Jonson makes speak of the 

 nightingale as — 



" The dear glad angel of the spring." 



The cicada, the locust, and the grasshopper are 

 often referred to, but rarely by name any of the 

 common birds. That Greek grasshopper must have 

 been a wonderful creature. He was a sacred object 

 in Greece, and is spoken of by the poets as a charm- 

 ing songster. What we would say of birds the 

 Greek said of this favorite insect. When Socrates 

 and Phsedrus came to the fountain shaded by the 

 plane-tree, where they had their famous discourse, 

 Socrates said : " Observe the freshness of the spot, 

 how charming and very delightful it is, and how 

 summer-like and shrill it sounds from the choir of 

 grasshoppers." One of the poets in the Anthology 

 finds a grasshopper struggling in a spider's web, 

 which he releases with the words : — 



"Go safe and free with your sweet voice of song." 



Another one makes the insect say to a rustic who 



had captured him : — 



" Me, the Nymphs' wayside minstrel whose sweet note 

 O'er sultry hill is heard, and shady grove to float." 



Still another sings how a grasshopper took the place 



