"Bert came home from school once, an’ said they’d been reading a bit o’ poitry by some bloke that said Australian birds hadn’t any songs," ’Possum said, with disgust.  "Well, I s’pose a bloke has to be clever to write poitry, but I don’t reckon he knew much about Australia.  I wouldn’t ask anything better than our own of magpie singin’ in the early morning, or the thrush, or that little blue wren, or any of the warblers—an’ there’s dozens an’ dozens of others..  Even the ol’ butcher-bird can sing a fair treat.  I reckon he was a silly bloke, don’t you?"