next perform'd a _pas seul_,
While the elderly bipeds were playing a pool.

[Illustration]

The Dowager Lady _Toucan_[14] first cut in,
With old Doctor _Buzzard_ and Admiral _Penguin_;
From Ivy-bush tower came down _Owlet_ the Wise,
And Counsellor _Cross-bill_[15] sat by to advise.
Some birds past their prime, o'er whose heads it was fated
Should pass many St. Valentines--yet be unmated,
Sat by, and remark'd that the prudent and sage
Were quite overlook'd in this frivolous age,
When birds, scarce pen-feather'd, were brought to a rout,
Forward Chits! from the egg-shell but newly come out.
In their youthful days, they ne'er witness'd such frisking;
And how wrong in the _Greenfinch_ to flirt with the _Siskin_![16]
So thought Lady _Mackaw_, and her friend _Cockatoo_;
And the _Raven_ foretold that no good could ensue!
They censured the _Bantam_, for strutting and crowing
In those vile pantaloons, which he fancied look'd knowing:
And a want of decorum caused many demurs
Against the _Game Chicken_, for coming in spurs.

[Illustration]

Old Alderman _Cormorant_, for supper impatient,
At the Eating-room door for an hour had been station'd,
Till a _Magpie_, at length, the banquet announcing,
Gave the signal, long-wish'd for, of clamoring and pouncing:
At the well-furnish'd board all were eager to perch,
But the little Miss _Creepers_ were left in the lurch.

[Illustration]

Description must fail, and the pen is unable
To recount all the luxuries that cover'd the table.
Each delicate viand that taste could denote,
Wasps _a la sauce piquante_, and Flies _en compote_;
Worms and Frogs _en friture_, for the web-footed Fowl,
And a barbecued Mouse was prepared for the Owl;
Nuts, grains, fruit, and fish, to regale every palate,
And groundsel and chickweed served up in a salad.
The _Razor-bill_[17] carved for the famishing group,
And the _Spoon-bill_[18] obligingly ladled the soup;
So they fill'd all their crops with the dainties before 'em
And the tables were clear'd with the utmost decorum.

When they gaily had caroll'd till peep of the dawn,
The _Lark_ gently hinted 'twas time to be gone;
And his clarion, so shrill, gave the company warning,
That _Chanticleer_ scented the gales of the morning,
So they chirp'd in full chorus, a friendly adieu;
And, with hearts beating light as the plumage that grew
On their merry-thought bosoms