Animal—— ——Analogues.

Verses and Illustrations By Robert Williams Wood. Author of "How To Tell The Birds From the Flowers."

Published by Paul Elder and Company. San Francisco and New York.

Copyright 1908 By Paul Elder and Company.

The Bee. The Beet. The Beetle.

Good Mr. Darwin once contended

That Beetles were from Bees descended;

And as my pictures show, I think,

The Beet must be the missing-link.

The Sugar-Beet and Honey-Bee

Supply the Beetle's pedigree:

The family is now complete,—

The Bee, the Beetle and the Beet.

The Ant. The Pheas-ant.

The Ant is known by his ant-ennae,

Where-as the pheas-ant hasn't any,

And that is why he wears, instead,

A small red cap upon his head:

Without his Fez, indeed the pheasant

Would be quite bald and quite un-Pleasant.

The Bunny. The Tunny.

The superficial naturalists have often been misled,

By failing to dis-crim-inate between the tail and head:

It really is unfortunate such carelessness prevails,

Because the Bunnies have their heads where Tunnies have their tails.

The Eel. The Eelephant.

The marked aversion which we feel,

When in the presence of the Eel,

Makes many view with consternation,

The Elephant's front ele-vation.

Such folly must be clearly due

To their peculiar point of view.

The Puss. The Octo-pus.

The Octo-pus or Cuttle-fish!

I'm sure that none of us would wish

To have him scuttle 'round the house,

Like puss, when she espies a mouse:

When you secure your house-hold pet,

Be very sure you do not get

The Octo-pus, or there may be

Dom-es-tic in-felis-ity.

The Gnu. The Newt.

The Gnu conspicuously wears

His coat of gnumerous bristling hairs,

While, as we see, the modest Newt

Of such a coat is destitute.

(I'm only telling this to you,

And it is strictly "entre gnu".)

In point of fact the Newt is nude,

And therefore he does not obtrude,

But hides in some secluded gnook,

Beneath the surface of the brook:

It's almost more than he can bear,

To slyly take his breath of air,

His need of which is absolute,

Because, you see, he is a Pneu-t.*

*This stands for air, like aero-static,

Greek—"pneumos"—air—comp-air "pneu-matic".

The Hare. The Harrier.

The Harrier, harassed by the Hare,

Presents a picture of despair;

Altho' as far as I'm concerned,

I love to see the tables turned.

The Harrier flies with all his might,

It is a harum-scare'm flight:

I'm not surprised he does not care

To meet the fierce pursuing Hare!

The Pipe-fish. The Sea-gar.

To smoke a herring is to make

A most lamentable mistake,

Particularly since there are

The Pipe-fish and the long Sea-gar:

Bear this in mind when next you wish

To smoke your after-dinner fish.

The Cow. The Cowry.

The Cowry seems to be, somehow,

A sort of mouth-piece for the Cow:

A speaking likeness one might say,

Which I've endeavored to portray.