Except perhaps the robin's whistling glee,
Proud o' the height o some bit half-lang tree:
and
The silent moon shone high o'er tow'r and tree:
The chilly frost, beneath the silver beam,
Crept, gently crusting, owre the glittering stream.
These examples of his power of exact, vigorous, or delicate rendering of familiar sights and sounds may be supplemented with a few from other poems.
O sweet are Coila's haughs an' woods, intervales
When lintwhites chant amang the buds, linnets
And jinkin' hares, in amorous whids, dodging, gambols