Some characters doubtful that all should beware,
And it can’t be denied that a few such were there.
Those cut-throats the Sparrows, that robber the Daw,
Who was pluck’d for his open contempt of the law;
The pilferer Cuckoo, whom all must despise,
And the chattering Jay, who tells nothing but lies;
While the green-mantled, light-hearted Love-birds, ’tis said,
Had been sipping too much, for their noses were red.
How often it is, when the sun is most bright,
That a dark cloud approaches, obscuring his light!