“What are their real names? The Snowy Heron and the Ostrich, both birds of warm climate. I’m always glad when children wish to know the real names of birds and try to remember them. No one can become actually a friend of a person or an animal whose name is merely general. Has Miss Wilde ever read you a little poem there is about the pleasure of learning real names? No? I will repeat it and perhaps she will let you learn it next Friday.”
MATILDA ANN
I knew a charming little girl,
Who’d say, “Oh, see that flower!”
Whenever in the garden
Or woods she spent an hour.
And sometimes she would listen,
And say, “Oh, hear that bird!”
Whenever in the forest
Its clear, sweet note was heard.