Explore "Ornithology" by Franklin P. Adams on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Unlearned I in ornithology -- / All I know about the birds / Is a bunch of etymology, / Just a lot of high -- flown words. / Is the curlew an uxorial / Bird? The Latin name for crow? / Is the bulfinch grallatorial? / I dunno.
O'er my head no golden gloriole / Ever shall be proudly set / For my knowledge of the oriole, / Eagle, ibis, or egrette. / I know less about the tanager / And its hopes and fears and aims / Than a busy Broadway manager / Does of James.
But, despite my incapacity / On the birdies of the air, / I am not without sagacity, / Be it ne'er so small a share. / This I know, though ye be scorning at / What I know not, though ye mock, / Birdies wake me every morning at / Four o'clock.