The birds and the bees

[1] According to tradition, "the birds and the bees" is a metaphorical story sometimes told to children in an attempt to explain the mechanics and results of sexual intercourse through reference to easily observed natural events.

For instance, bees carry and deposit pollen into flowers, a visible and easy-to-explain parallel to fertilization.

While the earliest documented use of the expression remains somewhat nebulous, it is generally regarded as having been coined by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, with one scholar noting an earlier reference to "birds and bees" on columns in St. Peter's Basilica from a 1644 entry in the diary of English writer John Evelyn.

Slugs leave their lair— The bees are stirring—birds are on the wing— And Winter, slumbering in the open air, Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!

By the late 19th century, the phrase was common enough to appear in such works as essays by John Burroughs and publications explaining reproduction to children.