Who slipped across the gully then On silent wings?
The mouse-like warblers flit and cheep, Somewhere a lyre-bird, hidden deep,Triumphant sings.
But who dropped light as a shadow flake In the wattle-down?
Oh, hush ! Oh, hush ! Peer up and see ! A shimmer of darkness green wears he,And a royal crown.
Oh, hush ! He sings ! One long-drawn note Rings overhead;One lovely note that swells and swells Till, just as we come to the burst of bells,Snaps the whip, instead !
In this fern cave of secret songs Some great joy dwellsUnguessed by timid mortal folk;
But the crested bird with the whip-lash stroke, The siren call, arid the sudden joke,He almost tells.
Elsie Cole
Author.-Elsie Cole (Mrs. A. H. Angell) is a Melbourne poetess who has contributed in prose and verse to various journals and magazines and has published one volume of verse entitled Holiday Songs.
General.-The coachwhip bird, known also as the eastern whipbird,or stockwhip bird, found in Eastern Australia, is a dark olive-green bird, with black crest and white markings. It has a loud, full note, which ends with a sound like the crack of a whip. You will more often hear it than see it in the dense scrub that it loves. Do birds feel in themselves the joy their songs give to listeners? A bird must work hard to get its food, and is nearly always in danger of its life. Yet it seems happy, and sings a call to its mate and defiance to rivals. What other poets have written of birds? Make a list of all that you know. Which do you like best?
