Talk about the birds and the bees

Can anyone explain why we use the phrase “the birds and the bees” as a euphemism for explaining the facts of life to our children? Surely the sex life of bees is about as different from most people’s as you can imagine and birds…well…unless you’re talking about the male ostrich and a handful of other birds they don’t even have anything vaguely like the same “bits”.

I’ve often wondered why the honey and feathers didn’t go down too well on our honeymoon night.