Willie Had a Mutton Bird.
Willie had a mutton bird,
Its coat was soft and greasy,
His father caught it off its guard,
Which isn't very easy.

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e handed it to Willie, on
His birthday, which was Friday;
An inoffensive fowl indeed,
And always neat and tidy.
It followed Willie everywhere,
And Willie called it Hector—
It followed Willie's sister, too,
And never, NEVER pecked her—
Thus Willie loved his mutton bird,
Although it never “bleated,”
And Willie's mutton bird was glad,
But not a BIT conceited.
It slept in Willie's cot at night,
And Willie lay a d'oyley,
Beneath its form because t'was oily.
That Hector's form was oily.
Ah, Willie loved his mutton bird,
(Although its coat was greasy),
Until in March, I think it was,
The fowl became uneasy.
It looked sat Willie furtively—
An obvious deceiver—
And Willie when he kissed its cheek,
Found Hector in a fever.
Soon Willie missed his mutton bird;
Without a “beg your pardon,”
It wandered absent-mindedly.
And burrowed in the garden.
His ignorance of mutton birds,
Was utterly abysmal,
The truth is (never shirk the truth
However grim and dismal).
That Willie lost his mutton bird,
Because they'd never taught him
To read his “Book of Barmy Birds,”
His careful aunt had bought him.