  Chaste are their instincts, faithful is their fire, No foreign beauty tempts to false desire; The snow-white vesture, and the glittering crown, The simple plumage, or the glossy down, Prompt not their love: the patriot bird pursues His well-acquainted tints, and kindred hues. Hence, through their tribes no mix’d polluted flame, No monster-breed to mark the groves with shame; But the chaste blackbird, to its partner true, Thinks black alone is beauty’s favourite hue; The nightingale, with mutual passion blest, Sings to its mate, and nightly charms the nest; While the dark owl to court his partner flies, And owns his offspring in their yellow eyes.49 FOOTNOTES:49From the Latin lines of Addison (Spectator, No. 412), who remarks:—“In birds, we often see the male determined in his courtship by the single grain, or tincture of a feather, and never discovering any charms but in the colour of its species.” |
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