How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers

Excerpt

Burr. Bird.

The Bird and the Burdock.

Who is there who has never heard,

About the Burdock and the Bird?

And yet how very very few,

Discriminate between the two,

While even Mr. Burbank can't

Transform a Bird into a Plant!

The Plover and the Clover can be told apart with ease,

By paying close attention to the habits of the Bees,

For en-to-molo-gists aver, the Bee can be in Clover,

While ety-molo-gists concur, there is no B in Plover.

The Crow. The Crocus.

Some are unable, as you know,

To tell the Crocus from the Crow;

The reason why is just because

They are not versed in Nature's laws.

The noisy, cawing Crows all come,

Obedient to the Cro'custom,

A large Crow Caw-cus to convoke.

You never hear the Crocus croak!

Of Rooster the rudiment clearly is "Roo",

And the bird from the plant very probably grew.

You can easily tell them apart without fail,

By merely observing the Rue lacks de-tail.

The Parrot. The Carrot.

The Parrot and the Carrot we may easily confound,

They're very much alike in looks and similar in sound,

We recognize the Parrot by his clear articulation,

For Carrots are unable to engage in conversation.

To tell the Pewee from the Pea,

Requires great per-spi-ca-city.

Here in the pod we see the Pea,

While perched close by is the Pewee;

The Pea he hears the Pewee peep,

While Pewee sees the wee Pea weep,

There'll be but little time to see,

How Pewee differs from the Pea.

The Pelican. The Panicle.

The Panicle and Pelican

Have often been confused;

The letters which spell Pelican

In Panicle are used.

You never need confound the two,

There are many ways of telling:

The simplest thing that one can do,

Is to observe the spelling.

The Lichens lie on rocks and bark,

They look somewhat like Hens:

Hens lay, they lie, we may remark,

A difference of tense.

The Hawk. The Hollyhock.

To recognize this Bird-of-Prey,

The broody Hen you should survey:

She takes her Chicks on daily walks,

Among the neighboring Hollyhocks,

While with the Hawk association,

Is quite beyond her toleration.

Growing in mires, in gold attired,

The Cowslip has been much admired,

Altho' its proper name, we're told,

Is really the Marsh Marigold:

The Cow Bird picture, I suspect,

Is absolutely incorrect,

We make such errors now and then,

A sort of cow slip of the pen.

A Sparrer. Asparagus.

The Sparrow, from flying, is quite out of breath,

In fact he has worked himself almost to death,

While the lazy Asparagus,—so it is said,—

Spends all of his time in the 'sparagus bed.

To tell the Turnip from the Tern,

A thing which everyone should learn,

Observe the Tern up in the air,

See how he turns,—and now compare

Him with this inert vegetable,

Who thus to turn is quite unable,

For he is rooted to the spot,

While as we see the Tern is not:

He is not always doomed to be

Thus bound to earth e-tern-ally,

For "Cooked to a turn" may be inferred,

To change the Turnip to the Bird.