A flash of Gold or Crimson
Are such domestic birds!
Whose colors–immemorial–
Have trafficked Human roads.

Hues of Song and Storybook
Of Wealth and Pageantry–
So haunting ’tis to glimpse them here
In the untraveled Green.

Image: John James Audubon, Cardinal Grosbeak (1811), out of copyright for its sheer age.