Joe Offer wrote: "Bob Waltz may be too shy to post the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index...."

Actually, I just didn't think the entry said all that much. :-)

But here is the version from "The Charm," which, if it is not the original, is surely as close as we're going to get. It is claimed by Bliss, but given the era, I'm not sure that's proof.

Little red-bird in the tree
In the tree, in the tree,
Little red-bird in the tree
Sing a song to me.
Sing about the roses
On the garden wall.
Sing about the bird-swing
On the tree top tall.

Chorus:
Little birdie in the tree,
In the tree, in the tree,
Little birdie in the tree,
Sing a song to me.

Similarly:
Little snowbird in the tree... Sing about the cloud-land 'Way off in the sky, When you go there calling, Do your children cry?

Little blue-bird in the tree... Sing about the mountain, Sing about the sea, Sing about the steamboats -- Is there one for me?

Little black-bird in the tree... Sing about the farmer, Planting corn and beans, Sing about the harvest -- I know what that means.