Rhyme With a Twist

Limerick Day is celebrated on the birthday of its popular champion, Edward Lear (1812–88).

There was an Old Man who said 'Hush
I perceive a young bird in the bush!'
 When they said, 'Is it small?'
 He replied, 'Not at all!
It is four times as big as the bush!'

—Edward Lear

Source: Edward Lear. A Book of Nonsense (New York: Looking Glass Library, dist. by Random House, Inc., 1959).

Pictured: Mark Catesby, English, 1682/1683–1749, The Great Booby (An Thymelaea foliis obtusis, Anseri Bassano & c.), 1727–31, hand-colored etching on paper, 10 3/8 x 13 15/16 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase.