Aussie Magpies Poem by Francis Duggan

The white backed magpie singing in the sunshine his song is such a pleasant thing to hear
His kind are known to sing in every Season they can be heard every day of the year
Their flute like notes can never be mistaken at their breeding time they even sing at night
How pleasant whilst you lay in bed to hear them piping in the lamp of the moonlight
Out of their breeding Season the magpies are gregarious in small family flocks they always congregate
In their small choir they sing along together their gift of life they seem to celebrate
They kill small birds and mice, worms, snails and insects and invertebrates which they too like to eat
An unpleasant meal to one species in Nature to the taste buds of another tastes so sweet
In Australia the white and the black backed magpies are well known birds their song is one that one should not mistake
In late Winter and early Spring they can be heard piping in the darkness hours before daybreak
Amongst the finest songsters they are admired and known
Australia's silver billed black and white birds in a class of their own
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter they sing all through the year
And even in the moonlight they are birds one does often hear.