No. 51 Blue-birds and Yellow-birds
A ring of girls with their hands clasped and lifted. A girl, called (according to the color of her dress) blue-bird, black-bird, yellow-bird, etc., enters, and passes into the ring under an arch formed by a pair of lifted hands, singing to any suitable tune:
Here comes a blue-bird through the window,
Here comes a blue-bird through the window,
Here comes a blue-bird through the window,
High diddle dum day!
She seizes a child, and waltzes off with her, singing:
Take a little dance and a hop-i’-the-corner,89
Take a little dance and a hop-i’-the-corner,
Take a little dance and a hop-i’-the-corner,
High diddle dum day!
After the dance the chosen partner leads, named, as before, according to the color of her costume. The child, as she enters, must imitate by her raised arms the flight of a bird, making a very pretty dance.
Cincinnati.