Page:Acharnians and two other plays (1909).djvu/167

Rh Hoo. Hoop! hoop!

Come in a troop,

Come at a call,

One and all,

Birds of a feather,

All together.

Birds of a humble, gentle bill,

Smooth and shrill,

Dieted on seeds and grain,

Rioting on the furrowed plain,

Pecking, hopping,

Picking, popping,

Among the barley newly sown.

Birds of bolder, louder tone,

Lodging in the shrubs and bushes,

Mavises and Thrushes,

On the summer berries brousing,

On the garden fruits carousing,

All the grubs and vermin smousing.

You that in a humbler station,

With an active occupation,

Haunt the lowly watery mead,

Warring against the native breed,

The gnats and flies, your enemies;

In the level marshy plain

Of Marathon, pursued and slain.

You that in a squadron driving

From the seas are seen arriving,

With the Cormorants and Mews

Haste to land and hear the news!

All the feathered airy nation,

Birds of every size and station,

Are convened in convocation.

For an envoy, queer and shrewd,

Means to address the multitude,

And submit to their decision

A surprising proposition,

For the welfare of the state