The Canadian Magpie

Mos' ev'ryman lak de robin   An' it's pleasan' for hear heem sing,

Affer de winter 's over   An' it 's comin' anoder spring.

De snow 's hardly off de mountain   An' it's cole too among de

But you know w'en he sing, de sout' win'   Is crowdin' heem close behin' .

An' mebbe you hear de grosbec   Sittin' above de nes'-An' you see by de way  he 's goin'   De ole man 's doin' hees bes'Makin' de wife an' baby   Happy as dey can be-An' proud he was come de fader   Such fine leetle familee.

De gouglou of course he 's nicer   Dan many bird dat fly,

Dunno w'at we do widout heem,   But offen I wonder

He can't stay quiet a minute   Lak res' of de small

An' finish de song he's startin'   Till whish! an' away he go!

Got not'ing to say agen dem,   De gouglou an' all de res'-'Cept only dey lak de comfort,   An' come w'en it suit dem bes'-For soon as de summer 's passin'   An' leaf is begin to fall-You'll wálk t'roo de wood an' medder   An' never hear wan bird call.

But come wit' me on de winter   On place w'ere de beeg tree

De smoke of de log house chimley   Will tole you de way to go-An' if you 're not too unlucky   De w'iskey jack dere you'll

Flyin' aroun' de shaintee   An' dat was de bird for me.

You 'll mebbe not lak hees singin'   Dough it 's better dan not'ing too,

For affer he do hees bes', den   W'at more can poor Johnnie do?

It 's easy job sing on summer   De sam ' as de rossignol-But out of door on de winter   Jus' try youse'f -dat 's all.

See heem dere, now he's comin'   Hoppin' an' hoppin' aroun' W'en we start on de morning early   For work till de sun go down-T'row heem hees piece of breakfas'   An' hear heem say "merci bien",

For he's fond on de pork, ba golly!   Sam ' as de Canayen.

De noise of de axe don't scare heem   He stay wit' us all de day,

An' w'en he was feelin' lak' it   Ride home wit' de horse an' sleigh.

Den affer we reach de shaintee   He 's waitin' to see us

Jompin' upon de log dere   Good leetle w'iskey lack!

So here 's to de bird of winter   Wearin' de coonskin coat,

W'enever it 's bird election   You bet he can get ma vote-Dat 's way I be feel about it,   Voyageurs let her go today!

W'iskey jack, get ready,  we drink you   Toujours à vot' bonne santé!                          Baptême!