To fret the summer jenneting.

"A golden bill! the silver tongue
Cold February loved is dry;
Plenty corrupts the melody
That made thee famous once, when young."

Shakespeare, in one of his songs, alludes to the blackbird as the
ouzel-cock; indeed, he puts quite a flock of birds in this song:--

"The ouzel-cock so black of hue,
With orange tawny bill;
The throstle with his note so true,
The wren with little quill;
The finch, the sparrow, and the lark,
The plain song cuckoo gray,
Whose note full many a man doth mark,
And dares not answer nay."

So far as external appearances are concerned,--form, plumage, grace
of manner,--no one ever had a less promising subject than had
Trowbridge in the "Pewee." This bird, if not the plainest dressed,
is the most unshapely in the woods. It is stiff and abrupt in its
manners and sedentary in its habits, sitting around all day, in the
dark recesses of the woods, on the dry twigs and branches, uttering
now and then its plaintive cry, and "with many a flirt and flutter"
snapping up its insect game.

The pewee belongs to quite a large family of birds, all of whom
have strong family traits, and who are not the most peaceable and