Here comes a blue-bird through the window,
Here comes a blue-bird through the window,
Here comes a blue-bird through the window,
High diddle dum day!
She seizes a child, and waltzes off with her, singing:
Take a little dance and a hop-i'-the-corner,[89]
Take a little dance and a hop-i'-the-corner,
Take a little dance and a hop-i'-the-corner,
High diddle dum day!
After the dance the chosen partner leads, named, as before, according to the color of her costume. The child, as she enters, must imitate by her raised arms the flight of a bird, making a very pretty dance.
Cincinnati.
No. 52.
Ducks Fly.
A girl, speaking the words "Ducks fly," raises her hand to imitate the flight of the bird; so on with robins, eagles, etc., while all the rest must imitate her example; but she finally says "Cats fly," or some similar expression, when any child who is incautious enough to raise the hand (or thumb) must pay forfeit.
New York.
Trifling as the catch is, it has been popular in Europe. In some countries, instead of birds who fly, the question is of beasts who have or do not have horns.