The Partridge was ask’d; but a Neighbour hard by
Had engaged a snug party to meet in a Pie:
And the Wheat-ear declined, recollecting her Cousins,
Last year, to a feast were invited by dozens,—
But, alas! they return’d not; and she had no taste
To appear in a costume of vine-leaves or paste.
The Woodcock preferr’d his lone haunt on the moor;
And the Traveller, Swallow, was still on his tour;
While the Cuckoo, who should have been one of the guests,
Was rambling on visits to other Birds’ nests.