Annotation:Bird that hears (The)

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BIRD THAT HEARS, THE. AKA - "The Bird," "The bird that hears her nestings cry." English, Air (whole time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. "The Bird" was a song sung by Mr. Raworth at Marybone Garden around the year 1770. It was much anthologized and appeared in numerous late 18th/early 19th century songsers such as The goldfinch, or, New modern songster (1782) and others. The first stanza goes:

The bird that hears her nestlings cry,
And flies abroad for food,
Returns impatient thro' the sky,
To nurse the callow brood;
The tender mother knows no joy,
But bodes a thousand harms:
And sickens for the darling boy,
When absent from her arns.

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