Although the Cow'slips on this plant,
Suggest perhaps a ru-min-ant,
One never sees the opening bud,
Devour the grass or chew its cud.
The Cowbird picture, I suspect,
Is absolutely incorrect;
We make such errors now and then,
A sort of cow slip of the pen.
The Butter-ball. The Butter-cup.
The little Butter-cup can sing,
From morn 'till night like anything.
The quacking of the Butter-ball,
Cannot be called a song at all.
We thus the flower may learn to know,
Its song is reproduced below.
The Rock. The Shamrock.
Although I never took much stock,
In Sinbad's yarn about the Roc,
And really must confess I am
Inclined to think the Roc a sham:
Take notice that, the Sham-rock may
Be seen upon St. Patrick's day.
A Sparrer. Asparagus.
Of the fall of the Sparrow we often have heard,
And I've here represented the fall of the bird:
In the case of Asparagus though, I may mention,
A fall such as this, is quite out of the question:
For observe that Asparagus, fat and well fed,
Spends all of his time in the 'sparagus bed.
The Blue Mountain Lory. The Blue Morning Glory.
The Insects, to avoid surprise
By Birds, sometimes themselves disguise
As leaves and twigs, and thus escape
The appetizing Insect's fate.
Observe how cleverly this Vine
Has forced its leaves and flowers to twine
Themselves into a Bird design.
And how it's artful turns and twists,
Hides it from zealous Botanists.
The Tern. The Turnip.
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 in∙ert veg∙et∙able,
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 tern" may be inferred,
To change the Turnip to a bird.
Observe the Turnip in the Pot.
The Tern is glad that he is not!
The Larks. The Larkspur.
You must not make ad-verse remarks,
About my drawing of the Larks.
For, by the minor poet's lore
The Larks-per-pet-ually soar.
While Larkspurs, borderins garden walks,
Are perched securely on their stalks.
Cross Bill. Sweet William.
Nobody but an imbecile
Mistakes Sweet William for Cross Bilclass="underline"
And even I can scarcely claim,
The skill to make them look the same.
Some other shrubs and vines and trees,
Express emotion much like these,
You've seen the mad-wort plant I guess,
And weeping willows and sigh-press,
The passion-flower, at it's climax,
The glad-iolus and the smile-ax.
The Ibis. The'Ibiscus.
The sacred Ibis, one might say,
Was classified a "Bird-of-Pray"
His body, after death, was dried,
Embalmed in pitch, and mummyfied,
And thus was handed down to us
In some old King's sarcophagus.
The Mallow, growing in the bogs,
('Ibiscus termed by pedagogues)
Is much opposed to dessication,
And bears no marks of veneration.
The Pipe. The Snipe.
Observe the hybrid Indian Pipe,
Likewise the high-bred English Snipe,
Who is distinguished, as we see,
By his superior pedigree.
The Jay. The Bay.
The Blue Jay, as we clearly see.
Is so much tike the green Bay tree
That one might say the only clue,
Lies in their dif-fer-ence of hue,
And if you have a color sense,
You'll see at once this difference.
The Gent-ians. The Lady-bird.
The reason why this beetle say,
Is called the Lady-bird, they say,
Is just because he wastes his hours,
In running after pretty flowers,
Who, quite regardless of conventions,
Most openly invite attentions.
(And hence are aptly termed the Gent-ians)
Puffin. Nuffin.
Upon this cake of ice is perched.
The paddle-footed Puffin:
To find his double I have searched,
But have discovered - Nuffin'.
The Bee. The Beet. The Beetle.
Good Mr. Darwin once contended
That Beetles were from Bees descended,
And as my pictures show I think
The Beet must be the missing link.
The sugar-beet and honey-bee
Supply the Beetle's pedigree:
The family is now complete,
The Bee, the Beetle and the Beet.
The Bunny. The Tunny.
The superficial naturalists have often been misled,
By failing to discriminate between the tail and head:
It really is unfortunate such carelessness prevails,
Because the Bunnies have their heads where Tunnies have their tails.
The Puss. The Octo-pus.
The Octopus or Cuttle-fish!
I'm sure that none of us would wish
To have him scuttle 'round the house,
Like Puss, when she espies a mouse:
When you secure your house-hold pet,
Be very sure you do not get
The Octopus, or there may be
Domestic in-felis-ity.