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Pe. Here you see a partridge coming,<br />
there by Zeus a francolin,<br />
Here a widgeon onward hurries,<br />
there's a halcyon, sure as fate.<br />
Eu. Who's behind her?<br />
Pe. That's a clipper; he's the lady halcyon's mate.<br />
Eu. Can a clipper be a bird then?<br />
Pe. Sporgilus is surely so.<br />
Here's an owl.<br />
Eu. And who to Athens brought an owl, I',d like<br />
to know. ;J!<br />
Pe. Jay and turtle, lark and sedgebird, •<br />
thyme-finch, ring-dove first, and then<br />
Rock-dove, stock-dove, cuckoo, falcon,<br />
fiery -crest, and willow wren,<br />
Lammergeyer, porphyrion, kestrel,<br />
waxwing, nuthatch, water-hen.<br />
Eu. (singing) Oh6 for the birds, Oh6! Oh6!<br />
Oh6 for the blackbirds, ho!<br />
How they twitter, how they go,<br />
shrieking and screaming to and fro.<br />
Goodness! are they going to charge us?<br />
They are gazing here, and see<br />
All their beaks they open widely.<br />
Pe. That is what occurs to me.<br />
Chorus. Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-where<br />
may he be<br />
that was calling for me? In what locality<br />
pastureth he ?<br />
Ho. I am ready, waiting here;<br />
never from my friends I stir.<br />
Ch. Te-te-te-te-te-te-te-te-teach me, I pray, in an<br />
amicable way,<br />
what is the news you have gotten to say.<br />
Ho. News amazing! News auspicious!<br />
News delightful, safe, and freel<br />
Birds! Two men of subtlest genius<br />
hither have arrived to me.<br />
Ch. Who! What! When I say that again.<br />
Ho. Here, I say, have come two elders,<br />
travelling to the birds from man,<br />
And the stem they are bringing with them<br />
of a most stupendous plan.<br />
Ch. You who have made the greatest error<br />
since my callow life began,<br />
What do you say?<br />
Ho. Now don't be nervous.<br />
Ch. What is the thing you have done to me?<br />
Ho. I've received two men, enamoured<br />
of your sweet society.<br />
Ch. You have really dared to do it?<br />
Ho. Gladly I the deed avow.<br />
Ch. And the pair are now amongst us?<br />
Ho. Aye, if I'm amongst you now.<br />
Ch. 0101 Out upon you!<br />
We are cheated and betrayed,<br />
we have suffered shame and wrongl<br />
For our comrade and our friend<br />
who has fed with us so long,<br />
He has broken every oath, and his holy plighted<br />
troth,<br />
And the old social customs of our clan.<br />
ARISTOPHANES<br />
He has led us unawares into wiles, and into snares,<br />
He has given us a prey, all helpless and forlorn,<br />
To those who were our foes<br />
from the time that they were born,<br />
To vile and abominable Man!<br />
But for him, our bird-companion,<br />
comes a reckoning by and by;<br />
As for these two old deceivers,<br />
they shall suffer instantly,<br />
Bit by bit we'll tear and rend them.<br />
Pe. Here's a very horrid mess.<br />
Eu. Wretched man, 'twas you that caused it,<br />
you and all your cleverness!<br />
Why you brought me I can't see.<br />
Pe. Just that you might follow me.<br />
Eu. Just that I might die of weeping.<br />
Pe. What a foolish thing to say!<br />
Weeping will be quite beyond you,<br />
when your eyes are pecked away.<br />
Ch. On! Onl In upon theml<br />
Make a very bloody onset,<br />
spread your wings about your foes,<br />
Assail them and attack them,<br />
and surround them and enclose.<br />
Both, both of them shall die,<br />
and their bodies shall supply<br />
A rare dainty pasture for my beak.<br />
For never shall be found any distant spot of ground,<br />
Or shadowy mountain covert, or foamy Ocean<br />
wave,<br />
Or cloud in Ether floating,<br />
which these reprobates shall save<br />
From the doom that upon them I will wreak.<br />
On then, on, my flying squadrons,<br />
now's the time to tear and bite,<br />
Tarry ye not an instant longer.<br />
Brigadier, advance our right.<br />
Eu. Here it comes I I'm off, confound them.<br />
Pe. Fool, why can't you remain with me?<br />
Eu. What! that these may tear and rend me?<br />
Pe. How can you hope from birds to fleer<br />
Eu. Truly, I haven't the least idea.<br />
Pe. Then it is I the affair must guide.<br />
Seize we a pot and, the charge awaiting,<br />
here we will combat side by side.<br />
Eu. Pot! and how can a pot avail us?<br />
Pe. Never an owl will then come near.<br />
Eu. What of these birds of prey with talons?<br />
Pe. Snatch up a spit, like a hoplite's spear,<br />
Planting it firmly there before you.<br />
Eu. What shall I do about my eyes?<br />
Pe. Take a platter, or take a saucer,<br />
holding it over them buckler-wise.<br />
Eu. What a skilful neat contrivance!<br />
o you clever fellow you,<br />
In your military science Nicias you far outdo I<br />
Ch. Eleleleu! ad vance I no loi tering;<br />
level your beaks and charge away.<br />
Shatter the pot at once to pieces;<br />
worry, and scratch, and tear, and flayl<br />
Ho. 0, whatever is your purpose? is your villainy<br />
so great,
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