John Burroughs

Birds and Poets John Burroughs

It might almost be said that the birds are all birds of the poets and of no one else, because it is only the poetical temperament that fully responds to them. So true is this, that all the great ornithologists-original namers and biographers of the birds-have been poets in deed if not in word. Audubon is a notable case in point, who, if he had not the tongue or the pen of the poet, certainly had the eye and ear and heart-"the fluid and attaching character"-and the singleness of purpose, the enthusiasm, the unworldliness, the love, that characterize the true and divine race of bards. So had Wilson, though perhaps not in as large a measure; yet he took fire as only a poet can. While making a journey on foot to Philadelphia, shortly after landing in this country, he caught sight of the red-headed woodpecker flitting among the trees, -a bird that shows like a tricolored scarf among the foliage, -and it so kindled his enthusiasm that his life was devoted to the pursuit of the birds from that day. It was a lucky hit. Wilson had already set up as a poet in Scotland, and was still fermenting when the bird met his eye and suggested to his soul a new outlet for its enthusiasm. The very idea of a bird is a symbol and a suggestion to the poet.