Badgers do not badger, nor do rabbits rabbit.
(In fact I think you’ll find they’re taciturn by habit.)
Swallows have to swallow, snakes snake – it is their nature;
trying to go straight would only make them late, sure.
To crow is not for crows, nor is to ’owl for owls;
such calls as these are attributes of certain other fowls.
Hares are surely hairy but bears are even hairier.
(The bearer of more hair is very much the scarier.)
There’s dragon and there’s damsel: both of these flies fly
(in fear, in hope, as case may be, a gallant knight chance by?).
The hippo has no waistline and the rhino has a wry nose;
why ever they were made like this only God on high knows.
To speak of Him – or Her, perhaps, (shall we just say It?)
whoever made the the vampire bat and midge slipped up a bit.