Hid from view a kind of Tender Borne upon the backs of Iguanas strong! This, first strewn with sweet wild clover, Was with bush flowers covered over; One fair bloom for ev’ry member of the throng! These, as Tribute was intended For the Queen Moon great and splendid, Whom to honour and to serve Without question or reserve Was a duty that they loved to pay! And their sacred emblem-flowers, Choicest of the Forest dowers,— Were their gracious Queen to show, That among her folk below, Nothing could their true allegiance sway! Thus enhanced, Through the garden they advanced Making for the Lawn! On they came! The Emus stately, Proudly, quietly, sedately; Followed by the Herons fine! Wombats, Wallabys and Dingoes; Grey Companion-Flamingoes;— ‘Keets and Lories line on line! Woolly Bears and ‘Possums grey; Singing birds and birds of prey; Platypuses; blue-tongued Lizards; Mallee Hens, and Bower-Bird wizards,— Hiding all they find away! Cockatoos, white, black and pink; Kestrels, Kites and Shrikes and Bats; Flying Foxes; Native Cats; Plovers from the Marsh’s brink! Kangaroos, like tall men walking; Cassowaries gravely stalking; Falcons black, and Wedge-tailed Eagles,— Strongest of the feathered beagles! And the Egrets all too rare! Black-necked Storks with wings so spacious; Lyre-birds beautiful and gracious, And the Magpie Lark so spare! Honeyeaters, Red-capped Robins; (In and out like fiery bobbins!) Wrens of ev’ry sort and hue, And the great Kingfisher blue! Whipbirds, Rails and Orioles; Bronzewing Pigeons; Pratincoles; Every Austral bird of note, From the Owl to Pardalote! Soarers, perchers, coursers, waders, Like an army of invaders, On they came towards the Lawn! The spacious, cool, green Lawn! Presently, as they drew nearer, Forms and faces growing clearer; Silence fell, Like a spell, On the guests who just before Had not dreamed there was in store, A sight so passing strange! E’en the Queen herself, ’twas plain, Looked for someone to explain, At and on whose word they came! But, as soon as on the Lawn The new arrivals all were drawn; Forward stepped a Cockatoo, In his milk-white plumage new; And in accents somewhat high, Said they thus had ventured nigh, That they might their homage yield, To their Sovereign and their Shield, For whose sake they’d gladly die. Then, without undue premise, Like a statesman, very wise,— Craved the Queen’s most sweet permission, To present, without omission, All the several little groups That in eager anxious troupes Waited on her word! And the Queen, It was seen, Smiled so gracious a consent, That they all, with one intent,