OTHER NEIGHBORS IN THE TREES. 241 



The young man who blurted out such a blunt question ; 

 Not one raised a head, or even made a suggestion ; 

 And the barber kept on shaving. 



2. "Don't you see, Mister Brown," 

 Cried the youth, with a frown, 

 "How wrong the whole thing is, 

 How preposterous each wing is, 



How flattened the head is, how jammed down the neck is— 

 In short, the whole owl, what an ignorant wreck 'tis ? 

 I make no apology ; 

 I've learned owl-eology. 



I've passed days and nights in a hundred collections, 

 And can not be blinded to any deflections 

 Arising from unskillful fingers that fail 

 To stuff a bird right, from his beak to his tail. 

 Mister Brown ! Mister Brown ! 

 Do take that bird down, 



Or you'll soon be the laughing-stock all over town ! " 

 And the barber kept on shaving. 



3. "I've studied owls, 

 And other night fowls, 

 And I tell you 



What I know to be true : 

 An owl can not roost 

 With his limbs so unloosed, 

 No owl in this world 

 Ever had his claws curled, 

 Ever had his legs slanted, 

 Ever had his bill canted, 

 Ever had his neck screwed 

 Into that attitude. 

 He can't do it, because 

 'Tis against all bird laws, 



