74 BIRDS AND POETS 



pall, darkened my day. So loud and persistent was 

 the singer that his note teased and worried my ex- 

 cited ear. 



" Hearken to yon pine warbler, 

 Singing aloft in the tree ! 

 Hearest thou, O traveler ! 

 What he singeth to me ? 



" Not unless God made sharp thine ear 

 "With soiTOW such as mine, 

 Out of that delicate lay couldst thou 

 Its heavy tale divine." 



It is the opinion of some naturalists that birds 

 never die what is called a natural death, but come 

 to their end by some murderous or accidental means ; 

 yet I have found sparrows and vireos in the fields 

 and woods dead or dying, that bore no marks of 

 violence; and I remember that once in my child- 

 hood a red-bird fell down in the yard exhausted, 

 and was brought in by the girl ; its bright scarlet 

 image is indelibly stamped upon my recollection. 

 It is not known that birds have any distempers like 

 the domestic fowls, but I saw a social sparrow one 

 day quite disabled by some curious malady that 

 suggested a disease that sometimes attacks poultry; 

 one eye was nearly put out by a scrofulous-looking 

 sore, and on the last joint of one wing there was a 

 large tumorous or fungous growth that crippled the 

 bird completely. On another occasion I picked up 

 one that appeared well, but could not keep its centre 

 of gravity when in flight, and so fell to the ground. 



One reason why dead birds and animals are so 

 rarely found is, that on the approach of death their 



