Emily Dickinson's Garden of Poetry

A bird came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.

He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad, --
They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
He stirred his velvet head
He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad, --
They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
He stirred his velvet head
Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home
Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, plashless, as they swim.

(http://www.online-literature.com/dickinson/poems-series-2/98/)

This poem is about a kind of animal that you could probably find in your own yard.  At first i thought it was about a squirrel, but when i reread it, I realized it can't be a squirrel becuase squirrels do not have feathers. I think she is saying that even though the animal could be scary and dangerous, she is still trying to give it a chance and befriend it.  Don't judge a book by its cover.