UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., April 24--A representative of the Harvard humor magazine, the Lampoon, get the bird today from soviet United Nations delegate Semyou Konstantinovich Tsarapkin.

But there was nothing funny about it, according to Lampoon treasurer John Geetlet, of Newport, R.I., who retrieved the magazine's mascot, a 20-pound copper ibis, from the Russian Embassy in Manhattan this morning.

The bird had been foisted on the Russians as the American version of Picas so's peace dove by the Lampoon's rival campus publication, the daily CRIMSON. Gentle spent a half hour explaining the subtleties of American college humor to Tsarapkin at his Park Ave. headquarters.

"I told him I was sorry for the confusion," said the handsome young heir to one of New York's greatest real estate fortunes. "The Lampoon doesn't believe in diplomatic incidents and we've always managed to keep fairly well out of any political disputes."

Asked by photographers to smile, he replied:

"I'm unsmiling."

"This is going back on the roof of the Lampoon building," said the youth as he brushed reporters aside to get into a taxi that had been waiting for him throughout the interview.

The daily CRIMSON had passed off the bird on the Russians in a straight-faced ceremony on Monday.