To be in tune with what the robins sing,
Plastering new log-huts ’mid her branches gray.”
It can scarcely be hoped to make this anthology from Lowell exhaustive, for almost every time I turn the leaves of his poetical works I stumble upon some reference to the birds before unnoted; but this article would be incomplete should one of his choicest bits of metrical description, which must bring both anthology and book to a close, be omitted. It is found in the poem entitled “The Nightingale in the Study,” the whole of which must be read to catch the drift of its moral teaching. The poet doubtless attributes more magnanimity to the cat-bird than that carolist is entitled to,—but no matter; the Muses cannot be over-precise. Here is a charmer:—
“‘Come forth!’ my cat-bird calls to me,
‘And hear me sing a cavatina
That, in this old familiar tree,
Shall hang a garden of Alcina.
· · · · · · ·
“‘Or, if to me you will not hark,
By Beaver Brook a thrush is ringing