fined and intellectual pursuits which raised him to so high a pitch of popularity during the early part of his career, but to eschew all tendency to that gross and dissipated indulgence which brought this mistaken little bird to an untimely end.

1. Does Irving's description of May truly picture this season of the year as you know it?

2. Of what part of the country do you think he is writing?

3. Do you know the bobolink? What are his chief characteristics?

4. How do the habits of the bobolink change as he migrates?

5. Why does he migrate?

6. What is the author's feeling about birds and nature generally?

7. Compare Irving's story of the bobolink with Bryant's poem on page 294. Which gives you the most information concerning his appearance? Concerning his habits? Which do you prefer?

8. Bon vivant is a French expression meaning one who lives well. What does gourmand mean?

9. Irving is fond of using large words, but they always seem well chosen. Copy a list of those that seem to you particularly expressive. You will need to use the dictionary in order to understand some of them.

THRUSHES1

KARLE WILSON BAKER

THROUGH Tanglewood the thrushes trip

As brown as any clod,

But in their spotted throats are hung

The vesper-bells of God.

And I know little secret truths,

And hidden things of good,

Since I have heard the thrushes sing

At dusk, in Tanglewood.

1 From Karle Wilson Baker's Blue Smoke, copyrighted by Yale University Press. Used by permission.

ROBERT OF LINCOLN

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT

MERRILY Swinging on brier and weed,
Near to the nest of his little dame,
Over the mountainside or mead,

Robert of Lincoln is telling his name:
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

Snug and safe is that nest of ours,
Hidden among the summer flowers.
Chee, chee, chee.

Robert of Lincoln is gayly dressed,
Wearing a bright black wedding coat;

White are his shoulders and white his crest,
Hear him call in his merry note:

Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

Look what a nice new coat is mine;
Sure there was never a bird so fine.
Chee, chee, chee.

Robert of Lincoln's Quaker wife,

Pretty and quiet, with plain brown wings,

Passing at home a patient life,

Broods in the grass while her husband sings:

Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

Brood, kind creature; you need not fear

Thieves and robbers while I am here.

Chee, chee, chee.

Modest and shy as a nun is she;
One weak chirp is her only note.
Braggart and prince of braggarts is he,
Pouring boasts from his little throat:
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

Never was I afraid of man;

Catch me, cowardly knaves, if you can! Chee, chee, chee.

Six white eggs on a bed of hay,
Flecked with purple, a pretty sight!
There as the mother sits all day,

Robert is singing with all his might:
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

Nice good wife, that never goes out,
Keeping house while I frolic about.
Chee, chee, chee.

Soon as the little ones chip the shell,
Six white mouths are open for food;
Robert of Lincoln bestirs him well,
Gathering seeds for the hungry brood:
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

This new life is likely to be

Hard for a gay young fellow like me.
Chee, chee, chee.

Robert of Lincoln at length is made

Sober with work, and silent with care;

Off is his holiday garment laid,

Half forgotten his merry air:

Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

Nobody knows but my mate and I
Where our nest and our nestlings lie.
Chee, chee, chee.

Summer wanes; the children are grown;
Fun and frolic no more he knows;
Robert of Lincoln's a humdrum crone;
Off he flies, and we sing as he goes:
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

When you can pipe that merry old strain,
Robert of Lincoln, come back again.

Chee, chee, chee.

It was Bryant who first, among American poets, recognized the beauty of American birds and flowers and wrote of them in poetry. In his poem, "Robert of Lincoln," he shows an intimate knowledge of the bobolink with its shiny black wings and back, streaked with creamy white, the light buff patches on the upper neck and head, and the long pointed tail feathers, which complete his "wedding coat." The female is dull brown with light and dark dashes on the back, a veritable "Quaker wife."

In the spring the bobolink is a reckless, rollicking bird, sending forth his song boldly from the top of a meadow grass stem, or sailing slowly through the air thirty or forty feet above ground, pouring out his melody as he flies. 1. What stanzas in the poem make you feel the gayety of the bobolink best?

2. Which lines give you the best picture of him and his mate?

3. Note how well Bryant knows the habits of the bird and the changes which come over him in the course of the summer.

4. Do you know anything about the bobolink which Bryant hasn't told?

THE MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT1

HENRY VAN DYKE

WHILE May bedecks the naked trees

With tassels and embroideries,

And many blue-eyed violets beam
Along the edges of the stream,
I hear a voice that seems to say,
Now near at hand, now far away,
"Witchery-witchery
witchery — witchery!"

An incantation so serene,

So innocent, befits the scene:

-

There's magic in that small bird's note ---
See, there he flits the yellow-throat;
A living sunbeam, tipped with wings,
A spark of light that shines and sings
"Witchery - witchery — witchery!"
You prophet with a pleasant name,
If out of Mary-land you came,
You know the way that thither goes
Where Mary's lovely garden grows:
Fly swiftly back to her, I pray,
And try, to call her down this way,
"Witchery-witchery-witchery!"

Tell her to leave her cockle-shells,
And all her little silver bells
That blossom into melody,

And all her maids less fair than she.
She does not need these pretty things,

For everywhere she comes, she brings

"Witchery-witchery-witchery!"

1 From Poems by Henry van Dyke, copyrighted by Charles Scribner's Sons.

Used by permission.