Bird Radio

Hello, hello! Bird Radio! The birch-grove station, Broadcasting a show from the feathered nation. Please, everybody, get your radios set; The birds have flown in, and here's why they've met: First—who can say What squeaks in the grass at the break of day? Second—where could The echo be hiding away in the wood? Third—which of you Gets the first bath in the dew? Fourth—in a word: How do we tell a bird From a not-a-bird? For fifth through tenth, the chirps begin: They'll whistle and warble and peep and trill, Go pippity-pip and twiddle-twill. Here are the birds who've all flown in:

Nightingale, sparrow, blackbird, wren, Rooster, woodpecker, cuckoo, hen, Goldfinch, raven, owl and jay, Swallow, thrush, and a magpie gray, Duck and goose and turtledove, Hoopoe, bunting, the hawk above, Oriole, finch, the stork, the lark, And every bird from dawn to dark!

First, the nightingale Sang like this: "Hello! Oh, hello-lo-lo-lo-lo! Toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-too! Radio, ray-dee-oh, dee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh, Tweet-oh, trill-oh, toodle-oodle-oo! Peep-peep, peedle-deep, lee-lee-lee-lee-lee, Tweedle-tweedle-tweedle-dee—hello!"

Then the sparrow chirped a jeer: "What's this music that I hear? I need a dictionary to find out What the nightingale sings about. Cheep-cheep-cheer! Tweet-tweet-teer! No theater Or circus here! Look! He's puffed his feathers out! Like a hen, he starts to shout! No more arias! No more lyrics! Tweet-tweet-tweericks, Peep-peep-peericks!"

So the sparrow cheeped and twittered, Chirped and chattered, chip-chip-chittered, Till the rooster on his stick broke through With an angry "Cock-a-cuckoo-doodle-doo!"

The cuckoo heard that doodle-doo And yelled, "What kind of crew are you? Cock-a-cuckoo? Cock-a-cuckoo? You can't do that, you crook, you! Take what you want—I'm glad to share, But not my 'cuckoo'! Don't you dare! Squawk 'doodle-doo' till the next day, But 'cuckoo' is mine to say!" The cuckoo called, "Cuckoo! Cuckoo!" The woodpecker tapped, "Tap! Tap!" too. The lapwing cried, "Whose bird are you? Whose bird are you? Where've you been? Did you sip the dew? If you did, come into view!" The little quail: "Come here! Right here! Got some? Gimme! Toss it here! Toss it here!"

All at once, the birds let out A chirp, a tweet, a squawk, a shout: "Gimme! Toss it here! What's that thing? Wood chip? Feather? Seed? Cork? String? Come here! Toss it here! I tweet! Tweet with me! I'm making a nest—stick that on! Tight as can be! Look at him! Not for you! Whose? Mine! I'm weaving your nest! Twine, twine, twine! You won't share? You're like that? Shame, shame on you!" And every bird began to fight—the whole crew! The bird police flew in. And so That was the end of the woodland show.