# The Yellow‑hammer; The Saw‑fish explained — How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and Other Woodcuts

> Chapter companion for How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and Other Woodcuts by Robert Williams Wood.

## What happens

The chapter presents a whimsical comparison between the Yellow-Hammer (or Flicker) and the Saw-fish, with the narrator defending the artistic depiction of the bird while critiquing the absurdity of the fish illustration, blending humor and skepticism about visual representation.

## Themes in this chapter

### Humor and Absurdity

The chapter uses playful rhymes and exaggerated reactions ('You lose all patience and say Pish!') to mock the perceived inaccuracies in the illustrations, highlighting absurdity in natural depiction.

### Visual Perception and Deception

The narrator questions the authenticity of the Saw-fish drawing, calling it a 'Nature fake' and 'Yellow-journalism,' emphasizing how visual representations can deceive or distort reality.

## Key lines

> My drawing of which striking bird May seem to you perhaps absurd, You even may suspect I stole The idea from some Totem-pole

My illustration of this remarkable bird might appear ridiculous to you, and you might think I copied it from a totem pole.

_The narrator anticipates criticism of the bird drawing, using humor to deflect potential accusations of plagiarism._

> I don’t believe you ever saw A Saw‑fish look like this, Oh Pshaw! There certainly is some mistake, This is a saw‑did Nature fake, In fact a perfect cata‑clysm Of fishy Yellow-journalism.

I doubt you've ever seen a sawfish that looks like this—nonsense! There's clearly an error; this is a fabricated nature hoax, a complete disaster of sensationalist fish reporting.

_The narrator expresses disbelief and scorn toward the sawfish illustration, accusing it of being a fake akin to yellow journalism._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/how_to_tell_the_birds_from_the_flowers_and_other_se/chapters/the-yellow-hammer-the-saw-fish
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/how_to_tell_the_birds_from_the_flowers_and_other_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/how_to_tell_the_birds_from_the_flowers_and_other_se/chapters