28 BIRDS AND POETS 



blackbird as tbe ouzel-cock; indeed, he puts quite 

 a flock of birds in this song : — 



" The ouzel-cock so black of hue, 



With orange tawny bill ; 

 The throstle with his note so true, 



The wren with little quill ; 

 The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, 



The plain song cuckoo gray. 

 Whose note full many a man doth mark. 



And dares not answer nay." 



So far as external appearances are concerned, — 

 form, plumage, grace of manner, etc. , — no one ever 

 had a less promising subject than had Trowbridge 

 in the "Pewee." This bird, if not the plainest 

 dressed, is the most unshapely in the woods. It is 

 stiff and abrupt in its manners and sedentary in its 

 habits, sitting around aU day, in the dark recesses 

 of the woods, on the dry twigs and branches, utter- 

 ing now and then its plaintive cry, and "with many 

 a flirt and flutter " snapping up its insect game. 



The pewee belongs to quite a large family of 

 birds, all of whom have strong family traits, and 

 who are not the most peaceable and harmonious of 

 the sylvan folk. They are pugnacious, harsh- voiced, 

 angular in form and movement, with flexible tails 

 and broad, flat, bristling beaks that stand to the 

 face at the angle of a turn-up nose, and most of 

 them wear a black cap pulled well down over their 

 eyes. Their heads are large, neck and legs short, 

 and elbows sharp. The wild Irishman of them all 

 is the great crested flycatcher, a large, leather-col- 

 ored or sandy-complexioned bird that prowls through 



