.
 
 THE 
 
 SHAKESPEARE.
 
 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 
 
 From Ibc C'bandos Portrait
 
 THE 
 
 BIRDS 
 
 OF 
 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 CRITICALLY EXAMINED, EXPLAINED, AND ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES EDMUND HARTING, F.L.S., F.Z.S., 
 
 MEMBER OP THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION, 
 
 AUTHOR OF " THE BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX," 
 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 MDCCCLXXI.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 no other author, perhaps, has more been written 
 than of Shakespeare. Yet whatever other knowledge 
 his commentators professed, few of them appear to have 
 been naturalists, and none, so far as I am aware, have 
 examined his knowledge of Ornithology. 
 
 An inquiry upon this subject, undertaken in the first 
 instance for my own amusement, has resulted in the 
 bringing together of so much that is curious and enter- 
 taining, that to the long list of books already published 
 about Shakespeare, I have been bold enough to add yet 
 another. In so doing, I venture to hope that the reader 
 may so far appreciate the result of my labour as not to 
 consider it superfluous. 
 
 As regards the treatment of the subject, a word or two 
 of explanation seems necessary. In 1866, from the notes 
 I had then collected, I contributed a series of articles on 
 the birds of Shakespeare to The Zoologist. In these 
 articles, I referred only to such birds as have a claim to be 
 considered British, and omitted all notice of domesticated 
 
 2087027
 
 viii PREPACK. 
 
 species. I had not then considered any special arrange- 
 ment or grouping, but noticed each species seriatim in the 
 order adopted by Mr. Yarrcll in his excellent " History of 
 British Birds." Since that date, I have collected so much 
 additional information on the subject, that, instead of 
 eighty pages (the extent of my first publication), three 
 hundred have now passed through the printers' hands. 
 With this large accession of material, it was found abso- 
 lutely necessary to re-arrange and re-write the whole. The 
 birds therefore have been now divided into certain natural 
 groups, including the foreign and domesticated species, to 
 each of which groups a chapter has been devoted ; and I 
 have thought it desirable to give, by way of introduction, 
 a sketch of Shakespeare's general knowledge of natural 
 history and acquaintance with field-sports, as bearing 
 more or less directly on his special knowledge of Orni- 
 thology, which I propose chiefly to consider. 
 
 After I had published the last of the series of articles 
 referred to, I received an intimation for the first time, that, 
 twenty years previously, a notice of the birds of Shake- 
 speare had appeared in the pages of The Zoologist. I 
 lost no time in procuring the particular number which 
 contained the article, and found that, in December, 1846, 
 Mr. T. W. Barlow, of Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, had, to 
 a certain extent, directed attention to Shakespeare's 
 knowledge as an Ornithologist. His communication, 
 however, did not exceed half a dozen pages, in which
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 space he has mentioned barely one-fourth of the species 
 to which Shakespeare has referred. From the cursory 
 nature of his remarks, moreover, I failed to discover 
 a reference to any point which I had not already inves- 
 tigated. It would be unnecessary for me, therefore, to 
 allude to this article, except for the purpose of acknow- 
 ledging that Mr. Barlow was the first to enter upon what, 
 as regards Shakespeare, may be termed this new field 
 of research. 
 
 The labour of collecting and arranging Shakespeare's 
 numerous allusions to birds, has been much greater than 
 many would suppose, for not only have I derived little or 
 no benefit from the various editions of his works which 
 I have consulted, but reference to a glossarial index, or 
 concordance, has, in nine cases out of ten, resulted in dis- 
 appointment. It is due to Mr. Staunton, however, to 
 state that I have found some of the foot-notes to his 
 library edition of the Plays very useful. 
 
 Although oft-times difficult, it has been my endeavour, 
 as far as practicable, to connect one with another the 
 various passages quoted or referred to, so as to render the 
 whole as readable and as entertaining as possible. With 
 this view, many allusions have been passed over as being 
 too trivial to deserve separate notice, but a reference to 
 them will be found in the Appendix at the end of the 
 volume,* where all the words quoted are arranged, for 
 
 * Such words are there enclosed in brackets [ ]. .
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 convenience, in the order in which they occur in the plays 
 and poems. 
 
 In spelling Shakespeare's name, I have adopted the 
 orthography of his friends Ben Jonson and the editors of 
 the first folio.* 
 
 As regards the illustrations, it seems desirable also to 
 say a few words. 
 
 In selecting for my frontispiece a portrait of Shake- 
 speare as a falconer (a character which I am confident 
 could not have been foreign to him), I have experienced 
 considerable difficulty in making choice of a likeness. 
 
 Those who have made special inquiries into the authen- 
 ticity of the various portraits of Shakespeare, are not 
 agreed in the results at which they have arrived. This is 
 to be attributed to the fact that, with the exception of the 
 Droeshout etching, to which I shall presently state my 
 objection, no likeness really exists of which a reliable 
 history can be given without one or more missing links in 
 the chain of evidence. 
 
 There are four portraits which have all more or less 
 claim to be considered authentic. These are " the Jansen 
 portrait," 1610 ; "the Stratford bust," prior to 1623 ; "the 
 Droeshout etching," 1623; and "the Chandos portrait," 
 of which the precise date is uncertain, but which must 
 
 * Amongst the entries in the Council Book of the Corporation of Stratford, 
 during the period that John Shakespeare, the Poet's father, was a member of th.e 
 Municipal body (he filled the office of Chamberlain in 1573), the name occurs 
 one hundred and sixty-six times under fourteen different modes of spelling.
 
 PREFACE. xi 
 
 have been painted some years prior to 1616, the year of 
 Shakespeare's death. 
 
 It would be impossible, within the compass of this 
 preface, to review all that has been said for and against 
 these four portraits. Neither will space permit me to 
 give the history of each in detail. I can only briefly 
 allude to the chief facts in connection with each, and state 
 the reasons which have influenced me in selecting the 
 Chandos portrait. 
 
 Mr. Boaden, who was the first to examine into the 
 authenticity of reputed Shakespeare portraits,* has 
 evinced a preference for the so-called " Jansen portrait," 
 in the collection of the Duke of Somerset, considering it 
 to have been painted by Cornelius Jansen, in 1610, for 
 Lord Southampton, the great patron, at that date, of art 
 and the drama. 
 
 The picture, indeed, bears upon the face of it an inscrip- 
 tion AL te 46 which gives much weight to the views 
 
 1610 
 expressed by Mr. Boaden. 
 
 It is certain that, in the year mentioned, Jansen was in 
 England, and that he painted several pictures for Lord 
 Southampton ; it is equally true, that at that date Shake- 
 speare was in his forty-sixth year. But Mr. Boaden fails 
 to prove that this particular picture was painted by 
 
 * "An Inquiry into the Authenticity of various Pictures and Prints, which, from 
 the decease of the Poet to our own times, have been offered to the public as 
 Portraits of Shakespeare." By James Boaden. London, 1824.
 
 xii PREFACE. 
 
 Jansen, and that it was ever in the possession of Lord 
 Southampton, or painted by his order. 
 
 As a fine head, and a work of art, it is the one of all 
 others that I should like to think resembled Shakespeare, 
 could its history be more satisfactorily detailed. 
 
 Many regard as a genuine portrait, the Bust at Strat- 
 ford-on-Avon, which is stated to have been executed by 
 Gerard Johnson, and "probably" under the superinten- 
 dence of Dr. John Hall. The precise date of its erection 
 is not known, but we gather that it was previous to 1623, 
 from the fact that Leonard Digges has referred to it in 
 his Lines to the Memory of Shakespeare, prefixed to 
 the first folio edition of the Plays published in that year. 
 Mr. Wivell relies very strongly on the circumstance of its 
 having been originally coloured to nature.* Hence tra- 
 dition informs us that the eyes were hazel, the hair and 
 beard auburn. It must be admitted, however, that a 
 portrait after death can never be so faithful as a picture 
 from the life, while no sculptor who examines this bust 
 can maintain that it was executed from a cast.-f- 
 
 Those who approve of the Droeshout etching, published 
 in 1623, as a frontispiece to the first folio, find a strong 
 argument in favour of its being a likeness in the com- 
 mendatory lines by Ben Jonson, which accompany it. 
 
 * "An Inquiry into the History, Authenticity, and Characteristics of the 
 Shakespeare Portraits. " By Abraham Wivell. London, 1827. 
 
 f The Stratford Portrait was doubtless painted from the bust, and probably 
 about the time of the Garrick Jubilee, 1769.
 
 PREFACE. xiii 
 
 Jonson knew Shakespeare well, and he says of this 
 picture : 
 
 " This figure that them here seest put, 
 It was for gentle Shakespeare cut ; 
 Wherein the graver had a strife 
 With Nature to outdoo the life. 
 O, could he but have drawne his wit 
 As well in brasse as he hath hit 
 His face, the print would then surpasse 
 All that was ever writ in brasse ; 
 But since he cannot, reader, looke 
 Not on his picture, but his booke." 
 
 As a work of art it is by no means skilful, and is con- 
 fessedly inferior not only to other engravings of that day, 
 but also to other portraits by Martin Droeshout. 
 
 That it bore some likeness to Shakespeare as an actor, 
 I do not doubt, but that it resembled him as a private 
 individual when off the stage, I cannot bring myself to 
 believe. The straight hair and shaven chin which are not 
 found in other portraits having good claims to be 
 considered authentic, and the unnaturally high forehead, 
 which would be caused by the actor's wearing the wig of 
 an old man partially bald, suggest at once that when 
 the original portrait was taken, from which Droeshout 
 engraved, Shakespeare was dressed as if about to sustain 
 a part in which he was thought to excel as an actor. 
 
 Boaden has conjectured that this portrait represents 
 Shakespeare in the character of old Knowell, in Ben
 
 Xiv PREFACE. 
 
 Jonson's Every Man in his Humour, a part which 
 he is known to have played in 1598, and this would 
 easily account for Ben Jonson's commendation.* This 
 conjecture is so extremely probable, that I have no 
 hesitation in endorsing it. 
 
 We come, then, now to " the Chandos portrait." With 
 the longest pedigree of any, it possesses at least as much 
 collateral evidence of probability, and is, moreover, 
 important as belonging to the nation.-f- It has been 
 traced back to the possession of Shakespeare's godson, 
 William, afterwards Sir William, Davenant, and all that 
 seems to be wanting materially, is the artist's name. 
 The general opinion is, that it was painted either by 
 Burbage or Taylor, both of whom were fellow-players 
 of Shakespeare. It is styled the Chandos portrait from 
 having come to the trustees of the National Portrait 
 Gallery from the collection of the Duke of Chandos 
 and Buckingham, through the Earl of Ellesmere, by 
 whom it was purchased and presented. The history 
 of the picture, so far as it can be ascertained, is as 
 follows : 
 
 It was originally the property of Taylor, the player 
 
 * Boaden adds : "Let it be remembered in aid of this inference that tradition 
 has invariably assigned to him, as an actor, characters in the decline of life, and 
 that one of his relatives is reported to have seen him in the part of old Adam, 
 the faithful follower of Orlando, in that enchanting pastoral comedy As You 
 Like ft." Op. cit., p. 22. 
 
 t "Life Portraits of William Shakespeare," by J. Hain Friswell. London, 
 1864.
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 (our poet's Hamlet), by whom, or by Richard Burbage, 
 it was painted.* 
 
 Taylor dying about the year 1653, at the advanced 
 age of seventy,-f- left this picture by will to Davenant.^: 
 At the death of Davenant, who died intestate in 1663, 
 it was bought, probably at a sale of his effects, by 
 Betterton, the actor. 
 
 While in Betterton's possession, it was engraved by 
 Van der Gucht, for Rowe's edition of Shakespeare, in 
 1709. Betterton dying without a will and in needy 
 circumstances, his pictures were sold. Some were bought 
 by Bullfinch, the printseller, who sold them again to 
 a Mr. Sykes. The portrait of Shakespeare was pur- 
 chased by Mrs. Barry, the actress, who afterwards sold it 
 for forty guineas to Mr. Robert Keck, of the Inner Temple. 
 
 While in his possession, an engraving was made from 
 it, in 1719, by Vertue, and it then passed to Mr. 
 Nicholls, of Southgate, Middlesex, who acquired it on 
 marrying the heiress of the Keck family. 
 
 The Marquis of Caernarvon, afterwards Duke of 
 Chandos, marrying the daughter of Mr. Nicholls, it 
 
 * We have, unfortunately, no proof that Joseph Taylor, the player, ever 
 painted portraits. There was a contemporary, however, named John Taylor, who 
 was an artist, and it is possible that these two have been confounded. 
 
 Boaden refers the picture to Burbage, ' ' who is known to have handled the 
 pencil." Op. cit., p. 49. 
 
 f Taylor was thirty-three when Shakespeare died in 1616, and survived him 
 thirty-seven years. 
 
 J This will, it appears, is not to be found (Wivell, Op. cit., p. 49), but it matters 
 little, if we are assured that Davenant possessed the picture.
 
 xvi PREFACE. 
 
 then became his Grace's property. When his pictures 
 were sold at Stowe, in September, 1848, this portrait 
 was purchased for three hundred and fifty-five guineas 
 by the Earl of Ellesmere, who, in March, 1856, presented 
 it to the Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery, in 
 whose hands it still remains. 
 
 Notwithstanding this pedigree, the picture has been 
 objected to on the ground that the dark hair and 
 foreign complexion could never have belonged to our 
 essentially English Shakespeare. Those who make this 
 objection, seem to forget entirely the age of the portrait, 
 and the fact that it is painted in oil and on canvas, a 
 circumstance which of itself is quite sufficient, after 
 the lapse of two centuries and a half, to account for 
 the dark tone which now pervades it, to say nothing 
 of the numerous touches and retouches to which it has 
 been subjected at the hands of its various owners. 
 
 Notwithstanding the missing links of evidence, it 
 seems to me that, having traced the picture back to 
 the possession of Shakespeare's godson, we have gone 
 far enough to justify us in accepting it as an authentic 
 portrait in preference to many others. For we cannot 
 suppose that Sir William Davenant would retain in 
 his possession until his death a picture of one with 
 whom he was personally acquainted, unless he con- 
 sidered that it was sufficiently faithful as a likeness to 
 remind him of the original.
 
 PREFACE. XV11 
 
 On the score of pedigree, then, and because I believe 
 that the only well-authenticated portrait (i.e., the Droe- 
 shout) represents Shakespeare as an actor, and not as 
 a private individual, I have selected the Chandos portrait 
 for my frontispiece. 
 
 By obtaining a reduced photograph of this upon wood, 
 from the best engraving, and " vignetting " it, I have been 
 enabled to place upon the left hand a hooded falcon, 
 drawn by the unrivalled pencil of Mr. Wolf, and thus 
 to entrust to the engraver, Mr. Pearson, a faithful likeness 
 of man and bird. 
 
 As regards the other illustrations, my acknowledg- 
 ments are due to Mr. J. G. Keulemans for the artistic 
 manner in which he has executed my designs, and to 
 Mr. Pearson for the careful way in which he has engraved 
 them. 
 
 With these observations, I conclude an undertaking 
 which has occupied my leisure hours for six years, but 
 which indeed has been, in every sense of the word, 
 " a labour of love." 
 
 Should the reader, on closing this volume, consider its 
 design but imperfectly executed, it is hoped that he will 
 still have gleaned from it enough curious information to 
 compensate him for the disappointment.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 SHAKESPEARE'S GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 His Love of Sport. Hawking. Fishing. Hunting. Fowling. Deer-Shoot- 
 ing. Deer-Stealing. "The Subtle Fox" and "Timorous Hare." 
 Coursing. Coney-Catching. Wild Animals mentioned by Shakespeare. 
 His Knowledge of their Habits. Insects referred to in the Plays. 
 Shakespeare's Powers of Observation. Practical Knowledge of Falconry. 
 Love of Birds 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE EAGLE AND LARGER BIRDS OF PREY. 
 
 An "Eagle Eye." Power of Flight. A good Omen. "The Bird of 
 Jove." The Roman Eagle. The "Ensign" of the Eagle Habits and 
 Attitudes. Eagles' Eggs. Longevity of the Eagle: its Age computed. 
 The Eagle trained for Hawking. The Vulture : its Repulsive Habits. 
 The Osprey : its Power over Fish. The Kite. The Kite's Nest. 
 The Buzzard ............ 23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HAWKS AND HAWKING. 
 
 Explanation of Hawking Terms. The Falcon and Tiercel. The Qualities of 
 a good Falconer. The "Lure" and its Use. The "Quarry." The 
 Hawk's "Trappings." Jesses, Bells, and Hood.- An Unmann'd Hawk. 
 The Cadge The Hawk's Mew. The Royal Mews. Origin of the 
 word "Mews." Imping. How to "Seel "a Hawk. A Hawk for the
 
 XX CONTENTS. 
 
 Bush. Going "a-birding." The "Stanniel" or Kestrel. Origin of the 
 Two Names. The "Musket" or Sparrow-Hawk. Hawk and Hern- 
 shaw. Prices of Hawks. Hawk's Furniture. Hawk's Meat. Fal- 
 coner's Wages. Sundries ......... 49 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE OWL AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 "The Bird of Juno." "The Favourite of Minerva." "The Bird of Wis- 
 dom." Sacred to Proserpine. Use in Medicine. The Bird of Ill- 
 Omen. Its Appearance by Day. Its Habits misunderstood. Its Utility 
 to the Farmer. A Curious Tradition. Its Note or Cry. An Owl 
 Robbing Nests. Evidence not conclusive. Its Retiring Habits. Its 
 " Five Wits." Its Fame in Song. The Owl's Good Night . . .83 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CROWS AND THEIR RELATIONS. 
 
 The Raven : a Bird of 111 Omen. Its Supposed Prophetic Power. Its Deep 
 and Solemn Voice. The Raven's Croak foreboding Death. The 
 " Night-Raven " and " Night-Crow." The Raven's Presence on Battle- 
 fields. Its alleged Desertion of its Young. The Rook and Crow. 
 The Crow- Keeper, and "Scare-Crow." The Chough. Russet-pated 
 Choughs. The Daw, Magpie, and Jay 99 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE BIRDS OF SONG. 
 
 The Nightingale. "Lamenting Philomel." Singing against a Thorn. 
 Erroneously supposed to Sing only by Night. "Recording." 
 The Lark. "The Herald of the Morn." Singing at Heaven's Gate. 
 Song of the Lark. Soaring and Singing. Changing Eyes with Toad. 
 Lark-Catching. The Common Bunting. "The Throstle, with his 
 Note so True." Imitation of his Song. The Ouzel-Cock. The Robin- 
 Redbreast, or Ruddock. Covering the Dead with Leaves. "Redbreast 
 Teacher." "The Wren with Little Quill." Its Loud Song. The Spar- 
 row. " Philip Sparrow." Providence in the Fall of a Sparrow. The 
 Hedge-Sparrow and Cuckoo. " The Cuckoo's Bird." " Ungentle Gull." 
 " The Plain Song Cuckoo Gray." The Song of the Cuckoo. Cuckoo 
 Songs. The Wagtail, or Dishwasher. Bird-catching. Springes. Gins. 
 - Bat-fowling. Its Two Significations. Bird-Lime, Bird-Bolts, and 
 Birding-Pieces 12 j
 
 CONTENTS. xxi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE BIRDS UNDER DOMESTICATION. 
 
 Cock. " Cock-Crow." " Cock-shut-time." " Cock-a-Hoop." " Cock and 
 Pye." Cock-Fighting. Ancestry of the Domestic Cock. The Peacock. 
 Its Introduction into Europe, and Ancient Value. In Request for the 
 Table. The Turkey.- Date of Introduction into England. Shakespeare's 
 Anachronism. Pigeons. First used as Letter-Carriers. A Present of 
 Pigeons. Meaning of " Pigeon- Liver 'd." Pigeon-Post. Mode of 
 Feeding the Young. The Barbary Pigeon. The Rock- Dove. Doves 
 and Dovecotes. The "Doves of Venus." "The Dove of Paphos."-- 
 "As True as Turtle to her Mate:" "as Plantage to the Moon." 
 Mahomet's Dove. A Dish of Doves. The Goose. "Green-Geese," 
 and "Stubble-Geese." " Cackling home to Camelot." "The Wild- 
 Goose Chase." The Swan. "The Bird of Apollo." Song of the 
 Swan. Habits of the Swan. The Swan's Nest. As Soft as Swan's- 
 down. "Juno's Swans." Cygnets. ....... 167 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE GAME-BIRDS AND "QUARRY" FLOWN AT BY FALCONERS. 
 
 Sporting in Shakespeare's Day. The Pheasant. Date of its Introduc- 
 tion into Britain. Ancient Value of Game. Game-Preserving. Game- 
 Laws. Partridge-Hawking. Anecdote of Charles I. Quails. Quail- 
 Fighting. The Lapwing. Feigning to be Wounded. Running as 
 soon as Hatched. The Heron, or Hernshaw. Heron-Hawking. Hawk 
 and Hernshaw. Heron at Table. The Woodcock. Springes for Wood- 
 cocks. How to Make a Springe. A Gin. "The Woodcock's Head." 
 The Snipe . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL. 
 
 "A Flight of Fowl." Habit of Wounded Birds. " Duck-Hunting." 
 Swimming " like a Duck." Wild-fowling in Shakespeare's Day. 
 "The S talking-Horse." "The Caliver." " The Stale." Wild-Geese. 
 Sign of Hard Weather. The Barnacle Goose. Barnacles. Wild 
 Fowl. Divers and Grebes. The "Loon." The "Di-dapper." The 
 Cormorant. Its Voracity. Fishing with Cormorants. The King's Cor- 
 morants. Their "Keep" at Westminster. Fishing at Thetford. -The 
 Master of the Cormorants. Entries in State Papers. The Home of 
 the Cormorant. The Sea-side. Shakespeare's Sea-cliffs and " Sea- 
 mells." Gulls and Gull-Catchers 235
 
 xxil CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BIRDS NOT INCLUDED IN THE FOREGOING CHAPTERS. 
 
 The Parrot "clamorous against Rain." Talking like a Parrot. A rare 
 " Parrot-Teacher." The Popinjay. The Starling. Its Talking Powers. 
 The Kingfisher. Halcyon Days. Flight of the Kingfisher. Esti- 
 mated Speed. The Swallow and "Martlet." The Swallow's Herb and 
 Swallow's Stone. The "Ostridge." "Eating Iron" Bating with the 
 Wind. The Pelican. Feeding its Young with its Blood. Explanation 
 of the Fable. Former Existence of a Pelican in the English Fens. 
 Conclusion '.....'.'. . . .. . . . . . 271
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 ITHE HEAD AND TAIL PIECES FROM DESIGNS BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, adapted from the Chandos Portrait by 
 
 J. Wolf, engraved by G. Pearson ....... Front is. 
 
 Deer-Shooting, drawn by J. G. Keulemans, engraved by G. Pearson . . i 
 
 Rabbit and Beagle , , , , 22 
 
 Goshawk and Hare ,, ,, . . 23 
 
 White-tailed Eagle in Trap , , , , . . 48 
 
 Falcon and Wild Duck , , , , . . 49 
 
 The Jesses ,, ,, 58 
 
 The Bells ,, ,, . . 60 
 
 The Hood ,, ,, . . 61 
 
 The Cadge ,, ,, . . 63 
 
 Imping ,, ,, 68 
 
 The Keeper's Tree ,, ,, . . 82 
 
 Owl Mobbed by Small Birds ,, ,, 83 
 
 Long-eared Owl , , . , , 98 
 
 Rooks and Magpies , , , , 99 
 
 Jay Stealing Eggs ,, ,, . . 122 
 
 Blackbird, Thrush, Nightingale, ) 
 
 \ .. 12 3 
 and Wren j 
 
 Bird-Trap ,, ,, . . 162 
 
 Birding-Piece of Prince Charles ,, ,, . . 165 
 
 Sparrow and Trap ,, ,, . . 166 
 
 Turkey, Peacock, and Pigeon ,, ,, . 167 
 
 Dog and Wounded Duck , , , , 208 
 
 Pheasant and Partridges ,, ,, .209 
 
 A Springe for Woodcocks , , , , . 229 
 
 Quails Fighting , , -234 
 
 Wild-Fowl Alighting ,, ,, -=35 
 
 Caliver of the Sixteenth Century , , , , .242 
 
 The Barnacle Goose , , , , . 247 
 
 The Barnacle Goose Tree. ) 
 
 > i , .1 2 4 
 From Aldrovandus j 
 
 The Barnacle Goose Tree ) 2 , Q 
 
 From Gerard ) 
 
 Barnacles. From Nature. 2 53 
 
 Black-headed Gull 2 7 
 Kingfisher and Swallows 
 
 Pelican and Young . . . . 298
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 "DEFORE proceeding to examine the ornithology of 
 Shakespeare, it may be well to take a glance ^at 
 his knowledge of natural history in general. 
 
 Pope has expressed the opinion that whatever object of 
 nature or branch of science Shakespeare either speaks of 
 or describes, it is always with competent if not with 
 exclusive knowledge. His descriptions are always exact, 
 his metaphors appropriate, and remarkably drawn from 
 the true nature and inherent qualities of each subject. 
 There can indeed be little doubt that Shakespeare must 
 have derived the greater portion of his knowledge of 
 nature from his own observation, and no one can fail to be 
 delighted with the variety and richness of the images 
 which he has by this means produced. 
 
 Whether we accompany him to the woods and fields, 
 midst "daisies pied and violets blue," or sit with him 
 "under the shade of melancholy boughs," whether we 
 
 B
 
 2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 follow him to " the brook that brawls along the wood," or 
 to that sea " whose rocky shore beats back the envious 
 siege of watery Neptune," we are alike instructed by his 
 observations, and charmed with his apt descriptions. 
 How often do the latter strike us as echoes of our own 
 experience, sent forth in fitter tones than we could find. 
 
 A sportsman is oft-times more or less a naturalist. His 
 rambles in search of game bring him in contact with 
 creatures of such curious structure and habits, with insects 
 and plants of such rare beauty, that the purpose of his 
 walk is for the time forgotten, and he turns aside from 
 sport, to admire and learn from nature. 
 
 That Shakespeare was both a sportsman and a 
 naturalist, there is much evidence to show. During the 
 age in which he lived "hawking" was much in vogue. 
 Throughout the Plays, we find frequent allusions to this 
 sport, and the accurate employment of terms used exclu- 
 sively in falconry, as well as the beautiful metaphors 
 derived therefrom, prove that our poet had much practical 
 knowledge on the subject. We shall have occasion later 
 to discuss his knowledge of falconry at greater length. 
 It will suffice for the present to observe that there are 
 many passages in the Plays which to one unacquainted 
 with the habits of animals and birds, or ignorant of 
 hawking phraseology, would be wholly unintelligible, but 
 which are otherwise found to contain the most beautiful 
 and forcible metaphors. As instances of this may be cited
 
 INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 that passage in Othello (Act iii. Sc. 3), where the Moor 
 compares his suspected wife to a "haggard falcon," and 
 the hawking scene in Act ii. of the Second Part of King 
 Henry VI* 
 
 Shakespeare, although a contemplative man, appears to 
 have found but little*" recreation" in fishing, and the most 
 enthusiastic disciple of Izaak Walton would find it difficult 
 to illustrate a work on angling with quotations from 
 Shakespeare. He might refer us to Twelfth Night (Act ii. 
 Sc. 5), where Maria, on the appearance of Malvolio, ex- 
 claims, " Here comes the trout that must be caught with 
 tickling ;" and to the song of Caliban in The Tempest 
 (Act ii. Sc. 2), "No more dams I'll make for fish." 
 Possibly, by straining a point or two, he might ask with 
 Benedick, in Much Ado about NotJiing (Act i. Sc. i), 
 " Do you play the flouting Jack ?" 
 
 But our poet seems to have considered 
 
 " The pleasant'st angling is to see the fish 
 Cut with her golden oars the silver stream, 
 And greedily devour the treacherous bait." 
 
 Much Ado, Act iii. Sc. i.-f* 
 
 * These passages will be found duly criticised in Chapter II. 
 
 f In the following passage from The Tempest, Shakespeare, apropos offish, gives 
 one of many proofs of his knowledge of human nature. Trinculo comes upon the 
 strange form of Caliban lying flat" on the sands : " What have we here? A man, 
 or a fish? dead or alive? A fish : he smells like a fish : a very ancient and fish- 
 like smell; a kind of, not of the newest, poor-John. A strange fish ! Were I in 
 England now (as once I was), and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool 
 there but would give a piece of silver : there would this monster make a man :
 
 4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 His forte lay more in hunting and fowling than in 
 fishing,* and in all that relates to deer-stalking (as prac- 
 tised in his day, when the deer was killed with cross-bow 
 or bow and arrow), to deer-hunting with hounds, and to 
 coursing, we find him fully informed. 
 
 In the less noble art of bird-catching f he was probably 
 no mean adept, while the knowledge which he displays of 
 the habits of our wild animals, as the fox, the badger, the 
 weasel, and the wild cat, could only have been acquired by 
 one accustomed to much observation by flood and field. 
 
 On each of these subjects a chapter might be written, 
 but it will suffice for our present purpose to draw attention 
 only to some of the more remarkable passages in support 
 of the assertions above made. 
 
 Deer-shooting was a favourite sport of both sexes in 
 Shakespeare's day, and to enable the ladies to enjoy it in 
 safety, "stands," or "standings," were erected in many 
 parks, and concealed with boughs. From these the 
 ladies with bow and arrow, or cross-bow, shot at 
 the deer as they were driven past them by the keepers. 
 
 any strange beast there makes a man : when they will not give a doit to relieve a 
 lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian !" Tempest, Act ii. 
 Sc. 2. 
 
 * The author of "The Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle, 1496," makes the 
 following quaint remarks on the superiority of " Fysshynge" over " Huntynge" : 
 "For huntynge, as to myn entent, is too laboryous, for the hunter must alvvaye 
 renne and followe his houndes : traueyllynge and swetynge full sore. He blowyth 
 tyll his lyppes blyster. And when he weenyth it be an hare, full oft it is an hegge 
 hogge. Thus he chasyth and wote not what." 
 
 f The subject of Bird-catching will be fully discussed in a subsequent chapter.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 Queen Elizabeth was extremely fond of this sport, and 
 the nobility who entertained her in her different pro- 
 gresses, made large hunting parties, which she usually 
 joined when the weather was favourable. She frequently 
 amused herself in following the hounds. " Her Majesty," 
 says a courtier, writing to Sir Robert Sidney, "is well 
 and excellently disposed to hunting, for every second day 
 she is on horseback, and continues the sport long."* At 
 this time Her Majesty had just entered the seventy- 
 seventh year of her age, and was then at her palace at 
 Oatlands. Often, when she was not disposed to hunt 
 herself, she was entertained with a sight of the sport. 
 At Cowdray Park, Sussex, then the seat of Lord Montagu 
 (1591), Her Majesty one day after dinner saw "sixteen 
 bucks, all having fayre lawe, pulled downe with grey- 
 hounds in a laund or lawn."-f- 
 
 No wonder, then, that the ladies of England, with the 
 royal example before their eyes, found such delight in 
 the chase during the age of which we speak, and not 
 content with being mere spectators, vied with each other 
 in the skilful use of the bow. 
 
 To this pastime Shakespeare has made frequent 
 allusion. 
 
 In Love's Labour's Lost, the first scene of the fourth 
 act is laid in a park, where the Princess asks, 
 
 * Letter from Rowland White to Sir Robert Sidney, dated i2th Sept. 1600. 
 f Nichols' ' ' Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities of Queen 
 Elizabeth," vol. iii. p. 90. (17881805.)
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " Then, forester,* my friend, where is the bush 
 That we must stand and play the murtherer in ? " 
 
 To which the forester replies, 
 
 " Hereby, upon the edge of yonder coppice ; 
 A ' stand ' where you may make the fairest shoot." 
 
 And in Henry VI. Part III. Act iii. Sc. i, 
 
 " Under this thickTgrown brake we '11 shroud ourselves ; 
 For through this.laund anon the deer will come ; 
 And in this covert will we make our ' stand,' 
 Culling the principal of all the deer." 
 
 Again, in Cymbeline (Act iii. Sc. 4), " When thou hast 
 ta'en thy ' stand,' the elected deer before thee." Other 
 passages might be mentioned, but it will be sufficient 
 to refer only to The Merry Wives of Windsor (Act v. 
 Sc. 5), and to the song in As You Like It (Act iv. 
 Sc. 2), commencing " What shall he have that kill'd the 
 deer?" 
 
 Deer-stealing in Shakespeare's day was regarded only as 
 a youthful frolic. Antony Wood (" Athen. Oxon." i. 371), 
 speaking of Dr. John Thornborough, who was admitted a 
 member of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1570, at the age 
 
 * " A forester is an officer of the forest sworn to preserve the vert and venison 
 therein, and to attend the wild beasts within his bailiwick, and to watch and 
 endeavour to keep them safe, by day and night. He is likewise to apprehend all 
 offenders in vert and venison, and to present them to the Courts of the Forest, to the 
 end they may be punished according to their offences." The Gentleman s Recrea- 
 tion. 1686.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 of eighteen, and who was successively Bishop of Limerick 
 and Bishop of Bristol and Worcester, informs us, that he 
 and his kinsman, Robert Pinkney, " seldom studied or 
 gave themselves to their books, but spent their time 
 in the fencing schools, and dancing schools, in stealing 
 deer and conies, in hunting the hare and wooing girls." 
 
 Shakespeare himself has been accused of this indiscre- 
 tion. The story is first told in print by Rowe, in his " Life 
 of Shakespeare " : " He had, by a misfortune common 
 enough to young fellows, fallen into ill company, and 
 amongst them some that made a frequent practice of 
 deer-stealing engaged him more than once in robbing a 
 park that belonged to Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, 
 near Stratford. For this he was prosecuted by that 
 gentleman, as he thought somewhat too severely ; and in 
 order to revenge that ill-usage, he made a ballad upon 
 him. And though this, probably the first essay of his 
 poetry, be lost, yet it is said to have been so very bitter, 
 that it redoubled the prosecution against him to that 
 degree, that he was obliged to leave his business and 
 family in Warwickshire, for some time, and shelter him- 
 self in London." 
 
 Mr. Staunton, in his library edition of Shakespeare's 
 Plays, says : " What degree of authenticity the story pos- 
 sesses will never probably be known. Rowe derived his 
 version of it no doubt through Betterton ; but Davies 
 makes no allusion to the source from which he drew his
 
 8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 information, and we are left to grope our way, so far as 
 this important incident is concerned, mainly by the light 
 of collateral circumstances. These, it must be admitted, 
 serve in some respects to confirm the tradition. Shake- 
 speare certainly quitted Stratford-upon-Avon when a young 
 man, and it could have been no ordinary impulse which 
 drove him to leave wife, children, friends, and occupa- 
 tion, to take up his abode among strangers in a distant 
 place. 
 
 " Then there is the pasquinade, and the unmistakable 
 identification of Sir Thomas Lucy as Justice Shallow, 
 in the Second Part of Henry IV., and in the opening 
 scene of The Merry Wives of Windsor. The genuine- 
 ness of the former may be doubted ; but the ridicule 
 in the Plays betokens a latent hostility to the Lucy 
 family, which is unaccountable, except upon the 
 supposition that the deerstealing foray is founded on 
 facts." 
 
 The more legitimate sport in killing deer was by means 
 of blood-hounds, and in The Midsummer NigJrfs Dream 
 we are furnished with an accurate description of the dogs 
 in most repute : 
 
 " My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, 
 So flew'd, so sanded ; and their heads are hung 
 With ears that sweep away the morning dew ; 
 Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls ; 
 Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
 
 INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 Each under each. A cry more tuneable 
 Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn." 
 
 Act. iv. Sc. i. 
 
 In the Comedy of Errors (Act iv. Sc. 2), Dromio of 
 Syracuse alludes to " a hound that runs counter, and yet 
 draws dry foot well," and in the Taming of the Shrew 
 we have the following animated dialogue : 
 
 "Lord. Saw'st thou not, boy, how Silver made it good 
 At the hedge-corner, in the coldest fault ? 
 I would not lose the dog for twenty pound. 
 Huntsman. Why, Belman is as good as he, my lord ; 
 He cried upon it at the merest loss, 
 And twice to-day pick'd out the dullest scent : 
 Trust me, I take him for the better dog." 
 
 Many more such instances might be adduced, but the 
 reader might perhaps be tempted to exclaim, with Timon 
 of Athens : 
 
 " Get thee away, and take thy beagles with thee." 
 
 Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 We will therefore only glance at that amusing scene 
 in the Merry Wives of Windsor (Act v. Sc. 5), where 
 Falstaff appears in Windsor Forest, disguised with a 
 buck's head on. " Divide me," says he, " like a brib'd- 
 buck, each a haunch : I will keep my sides to myself, 
 my shoulders for the fellow of this walk, and my horns 
 I bequeath your husbands." 
 
 C
 
 10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 We have here an allusion to the ancient method of 
 " breaking up " a deer.* " The fellow of this walk " is the 
 forester, to whom it was customary on such occasions to 
 present a shoulder. Dame Juliana Berners, in her "Boke 
 of St. Albans," 1496, says,- 
 
 " And the right shoulder, wheresoever he be, 
 Bere it to the faster, for that is fee." 
 
 And in Turbervile's "Book of Hunting," 1575, the 
 distribution of the various parts of a deer is minutely 
 described. 
 
 The touching description of a wounded stag, hi As Yoti 
 Like It, can scarcely escape notice. Alluding to "the 
 melancholy Jaques," one of the lords says, 
 
 " To-day my lord of Amiens and myself 
 Did steal behind him, as he lay along 
 Under an oak, whose antique root peeps out 
 Upon the brook that brawls along this wood ; 
 To the which place a poor sequestred stag, 
 That from the hunters' aim had ta'en a hurt, 
 Did come to languish ; and, indeed, my lord, 
 The wretched animal heav'd forth such groans, 
 That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat 
 
 * "We say the deer is ' broken up,' the fox and hare are 'cased.' " The Gentle- 
 man's Recreation. 1686. 
 
 From this ancient practice, too, is derived the phrase, "to eat humble pie," 
 more correctly written " umble pie." This was a venison pasty, made of the 
 umbles (heart, liver, and lungs), and always given to inferiors, and placed low 
 down on the table when the squire feasted publicly in the hall.
 
 INTRODUCTION 1 1 
 
 Almost to bursting ; and the big round tears 
 Cours'd one another down his innocent nose 
 In piteous chase ; and thus the hairy fool, 
 Much marked of the melancholy Jaques, 
 Stood on th' extremest verge of the swift brook, 
 Augmenting it with tears." Act ii. Sc. I. 
 
 Although the deer, as the nobler animal, has received 
 more attention from our poet than the fox and the hare, 
 yet the two last-named are by no means forgotten : 
 
 " The fox [who] barks not when he would steal the lamb " 
 (Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Sc. i) ; 
 
 who, when he "hath once got in his nose," will "soon 
 find means to make the body follow" (Henry VI. Part III. 
 Act iv. Sc. 7) ; and 
 
 " Who ne'er so tame, so cherish'd and lock'd up, 
 Will have a wild trick of his ancestors " 
 
 (Cymbeline, Act v. Sc. 2) ; 
 
 receives his share of notice, although it is not always in 
 his praise, and " subtle as the fox " has become a proverb 
 (Cymbeline, Act iii. Sc. 3). 
 
 From the "subtle fox" to the "timorous hare," the 
 transition is easy. What " more a coward than a hare " ? 
 (Twelfth Night, Act iii. Sc. 5.) 
 
 In Roxburgh and Aberdeen, as we learn from Jamie- 
 son's " Scottish Dictionary," a hare is termed " a bawd,"
 
 12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and the knowledge of this fact enables us to understand 
 the dialogue in Romeo and Juliet, which would otherwise 
 be unintelligible : 
 
 " Mcrcutio. A bawd, a bawd, a bawd ! So ho ! 
 Romeo. What hast thou found ? 
 Mercutio. No hare, sir." Act ii. Sc. 4. 
 
 That coursing was in vogue in Shakespeare's day, and 
 practised in the same way as at present, we may infer 
 from such expressions as "a good hare-finder" (Much 
 Ado, Act i. Sc. i), "Holla me like a hare" (Coriolanus, 
 Act i. Sc. 8), and " I see you stand like greyhounds in the 
 slips, straining upon the start" (Henry V. Act iii. Sc. i). 
 
 Rabbits were taken, and no doubt poached, in the 
 same way then as now ; for we read of the coney * " that 
 you see dwell where she is kindled" (As Yon Like It, 
 Act iii. Sc. 2) struggling "in the net." (Henry VI. Part III. 
 Act i. Sc. 4.) 
 
 The Brock f or Badger (Twelfth Night, Act ii. Sc. 5) ; 
 
 * "The coney is called the first year 'a rabbet,' and afterwards 'an old coney.' 
 He is a beast of the warren, and not a beast of venery." The Gentleman's 
 Recreation. 1686. 
 
 f Brock is the old name for badger, and we still find the word occurring in 
 many names of places, possibly thereby indicating localities where the badger was 
 formerly common. Of these may be mentioned, Brockhurst in Shropshire, 
 Brockenhurst in Kent, Brockenborough in Wiltshire, Brockford in Suffolk, 
 Brockhall in Northampton, Brockhampton in Oxford, Dorset, Gloucester, and 
 Herefordshire, Brockham Green in Surrey, Brockholes in Lancashire and York- 
 shire, Brock-le-bank in Cumberland, Brocklesby in Lincolnshire, Brockley in 
 Somersetshire, Brockley in Suffolk, Brockley Hill in Kent, Brockley Hill in 
 Hertfordshire, Brockmoor in Staffordshire, Brockworth in Gloucestershire.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 the Wild Cat who "sleeps by day" (Merck, of Venice, 
 Act ii. Sc. 5, and Pericles, Act iii. Intro.) ; "the quarrelous 
 Weasel" (Cymbeline, Act iii. Sc. 4, and Henry IV. Part I. 
 Act ii. Sc. 3) ; "the Dormouse of little valour" (Twelfth 
 Night, Act iii. Sc. i) ; "the joiner Squirrel" (Romeo and 
 Juliet, Act i. Sc. 4), whose habit of hoarding appears to 
 have been well known to Shakespeare (Midsummer 
 NigJifs Dream, Act iv. Sc. 2) ; and " the blind Mole," who 
 " casts copp'd hills towards heaven " (Pericles, Act i. 
 Sc. i);*- f all these are mentioned in their turn, while 
 the Bat " with leathern wing," f " the venom Toad," " the 
 thorny Hedgehog,"^: " the Adder blue," and the " spotted 
 Snake with double tongue," are all called in most aptly by 
 way of simile or metaphor. 
 
 We cannot forget Titania's directions to her fairies in 
 regard to Bats : 
 
 " Some war with rear mice for their leathern wings, 
 To make my small elves coats " 
 
 (Midsummer Night's Dream, Act ii. Sc. 2) ; 
 
 * See also Winter s Tale, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 f In the Midland Counties, the bat is often called leathern-wings. Compare the 
 high German " leder-maus." 
 
 \ . . . . " hedgehogs which 
 Lie tumbling in my bare-foot way, and mount 
 Their pricks at my footfall." Tempest, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 $ " Rere-mouse" from the old English " hrere-mus," literally a raw mouse. The 
 adjective " rere " is still used in Wiltshire for "raw." The bat is also known as the 
 " rennie-mouse " or " reiny-mouse," although Miss Gurney, in her " Glossary of 
 Norfolk Words," gives " ranny " for the shrew-mouse. The old name of " flitter- 
 mouse," " fluttermouse, " or "fliddermouse," from the high German, " fleder- 
 maus," does not appear in Shakespeare's works.
 
 14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 nor the comfortable seat which Ariel appears to have 
 found " on the bat's back " (Tempest, Act v. Sc. i). 
 
 The following striking passage must also be familiar to 
 readers of Shakespeare : 
 
 " Ere the bat hath flown 
 
 His cloister'd flight ; ere, to black Hecate's summons, 
 The shard-borne beetle, with his drowsy hums, 
 Hath rung night's yawning peal, 
 There shall be done a deed of dreadful note." 
 
 Macbeth, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 In a printed broadside of the time of Queen Anne, 
 in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 
 is the following curious fable relating to the Bat : 
 
 "615. THE BIRDS AND BEASTS. A Fable. 
 
 " Once the Birds and Beasts strove for the prerogative : 
 the neuter Batt, seeing the Beasts prevail, goes to them 
 and shows them her large forehead, long ears, and teeth : 
 afterwards, when the Birds prevail'd, the Batt flies with 
 the Birds, and sings chit, chit, chat, and shows them her 
 wings. 
 
 " Hence Beakless Bird, hence Winged Beast, they cry'd ; 
 Hence plumeless wings ; thus scorn her either side. 
 
 " LONDON. PRINTED FOR EDW. LEWIS, 
 
 FLOWER-DE-LUCE COURT, FLEET STREET. 1710. '
 
 INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 In alluding to the " venom toad " as " mark'd by the 
 destinies to be avoided," Shakespeare probably only treated 
 it as other writers had done before him, and, without any 
 personal investigation of the matter, ranked it with the 
 viper and other poisonous reptiles, when in fact it is per- 
 fectly harmless. 
 
 The habit which the snake has, in common with other 
 reptiles, of periodically casting its skin or slough, is fre- 
 quently alluded to in the Plays, where that covering is 
 sometimes called " the enamell'd skin " (Midsummer 
 Night's Dream, Act ii. Sc. i) ; at other times the " casted 
 slough " (Henry V. Act iv. Sc. i, and Twelfth Night, 
 Act iii. Sc. 4) ; and the " shining checker'd slough " 
 (Henry VL Part II. Act iii. Sc. i). 
 
 It is difficult to say why the Adder is supposed to be 
 deaf, unless because it has no visible ears but then the 
 term would apply to other reptiles. Shakespeare has 
 several times alluded to this. In the Second Part of King 
 Henry VI. Act iii. Sc. 2, Queen Margaret asks the 
 King, 
 
 " What, art thou, like the adder, waxen deaf ? " 
 
 And in Troilus and Cressida, Act ii. Sc. 2, Hector 
 says to Paris and Troilus, 
 
 " Pleasure and revenge 
 
 Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice 
 Of any true decision."
 
 16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Again, in Sonnet cxn., "the adder's sense" is referred 
 to in such a way as to leave no doubt of the poet's 
 impression that adders do not hear. 
 
 " Caliban. Sometime am I 
 
 All wound with adders, who, with cloven tongues 
 Do hiss me into madness." 
 
 Tempest, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 The " eyeless venom'd worm " referred to in Timon of 
 Athens, Act iv. Sc. 3, is of course the Slow-worm (Anguis 
 frag His). 
 
 The observant naturalist must doubtless have remarked 
 the partiality evinced by snakes and other reptiles for 
 basking in the sun. Shakespeare has noticed that 
 
 " The snake lies rolled in the cheerful sun." 
 
 Titus Andronicus, Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 And 
 
 " It is the bright day that brings forth the adder ; 
 And that craves wary walking." 
 
 Julius Ccesar, Act ii. Sc. I. 
 
 In Macbeth, Act iii. Sc. 2, allusion is made to the won- 
 derful vitality which snakes possess, and to the popular 
 notion that they are enabled, when cut in two, to reunite 
 the dissevered portions and recover : 
 
 " We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it ; 
 She '11 close and be herself."
 
 INTRODUCTION. I/ 
 
 Passing to the insect world, we may well be astonished 
 at the number of species to which Shakespeare has alluded. 
 Although the same attention has not been given to the 
 insects as to the birds, the following have, nevertheless, 
 been noted. Many others, doubtless, have been overlooked. 
 
 The Beetle (Macbeth, Act iii. Sc. 2 ; King Lear, Act iv. 
 Sc. 6 ; Measure for Measure, Act iii. Sc. i). The Grass- 
 hopper (Romeo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 4). The Cricket, 
 (Pericles, Act iii. Introduction ; Winter's Tale, Act ii. 
 Sc. i ; Romeo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 4 ; Cymbeline, Act ii. 
 Sc. 2). The Glowworm (Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 5) ; and the 
 Caterpillar (Richard II. Act ii. Sc. 4 ; Henry VI. 
 Part II. Act iii. Sc. i ; T-aelfth Night, Act ii. Sc. i ; 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act. i. Sc. i). The Butterfly (Troilus 
 and Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 3 ; Midsummer Niglifs Dream, 
 Act iii. Sc. i) ; and Moth (Merchant of Venice, Act ii. 
 Sc. 9 ; King John, Act iv. Sc. i). The House-fly (Titus 
 Andronicus, Act iii. Sc. 2). The small Gilded-fly (King 
 Lear, Act iv. Sc. 6). The Blow-fly (Loves Labour's Lost, 
 Act v. Sc. 2 ; Tempest, Act iii. Sc. i) ; and the Gad-fly, 
 or Brize (Troilus and Cressida, Act i. Sc. 3). The Grey- 
 coated Gnat (Romeo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 4 ; Comedy of 
 Errors, Act ii. Sc. 2 ; the Wasp (Taming of the SJirew, 
 Act ii. Sc. i ; Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act i. Sc. 2 ; 
 Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2) ; the Drone (Henry V. Act i. 
 Sc. 2) ; and the Honey-bee (numerous passages). 
 
 To three only of these shall we direct further attention : 
 
 D
 
 1 8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 firstly, because a more extended notice of all would be 
 beyond the limits of the present work ; and, secondly, 
 because the Entomology of Shakespeare has been already 
 dealt with elsewhere.* 
 
 These three are the Bee, the Drone, and the Fly, and we 
 select quotations in reference to these in order to illustrate 
 Shakespeare's knowledge of the subject on which he 
 wrote ; the lessons to be learnt from his allusions ; and the 
 sympathy which he has manifested for all living creatures. 
 
 What better picture of the interior of a hive can be found 
 than the following ? How well are the duties of the 
 inmates described ! 
 
 " For so work the honey bees, 
 Creatures that, by a rule in nature, teach 
 The act of order to a peopled kingdom. 
 They have a king, and officers of sorts : 
 Where some, like magistrates, correct at home ; 
 Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad ; 
 Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, 
 Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds ; 
 Which pillage they with merry march bring home 
 To the tent-royal of their emperor ; 
 Who, busied in his majesty, surveys 
 The singing masons building roofs of gold, 
 The civil citizens kneading-up the honey ; 
 
 * "The Natural History of the Insects mentioned in Shakspeare's Plays," by 
 Robert Patterson, i2mo. Lond. 1841.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 The poor mechanic porters crowding in 
 
 Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate ; 
 
 The sad-ey'd justice, with his surly hum, 
 
 Delivering o'er to executors pale 
 
 The lazy yawning drone. I this infer, 
 
 That many things, having full reference 
 
 To one consent, may work contrariously ; 
 
 As many arrows, loosed several ways, 
 
 Come to one mark ; as many ways meet in one town ; 
 
 As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea ; 
 
 As many lines close in the dial's centre ; 
 
 So may a thousand actions, once afoot, 
 
 End in one purpose, and be all well borne 
 
 Without defeat." 
 
 Henry V. Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 "The lazy yawning drone" is frequently alluded to as 
 the type of idleness and inactivity (Pericles, Act ii. Sc. I ; 
 Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 2). 
 
 And we are counselled 
 
 " Not to eat honey, like a drone, 
 From others' labours." 
 
 Pericles, Act i. Sc. 4. 
 
 Who does not remember the scene in which Titus 
 Andronicus reproves his brother Marcus for killing a fly at 
 dinner ?
 
 20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " Marcus. Alas, my lord, I have but kill'd a fly. 
 Tilns. But how if that fly had a father and mother ? 
 How would he hang his slender gilded wings. 
 And buzz lamenting doings in the air ! 
 Poor harmless fly ! 
 
 That, with his pretty buzzing melody, 
 Came here to make us merry ! and thou hast 
 kill'd him." 
 
 Titus Andronicus, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 This is but one of the many lessons taught us by 
 Shakespeare in his allusions to the animal world, and the 
 kindly spirit which characterizes all his dealings with 
 animals is frequently exemplified throughout the Plays ; 
 perhaps nowhere so clearly as in Measure for Measure, 
 Act iii. Sc. i, where we are told 
 
 " The sense of death is most in apprehension ; 
 And the poor beetle that we tread upon, 
 In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great 
 As when a giant dies." 
 
 Probably enough has been said to show the reader that 
 Shakespeare's knowledge of natural history was by no 
 means slight, and if it be thought to have been only 
 general, it was, at all events, accurate. The use which he 
 has made of this knowledge, throughout his works, in 
 depicting virtue and vice in their true colours, in pointing 
 out lessons of industry, patience, and mercy, and in
 
 INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 showing the profit to be derived from a study of natural 
 objects, is everywhere apparent. 
 
 The words of the banished Duke, in As You Like It 
 (Act ii. Sc. i), seem to no one so applicable as to Shake- 
 speare himself. He 
 
 " Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
 Sermons in stones, and good in everything." 
 
 But to come to the Ornithology. The accurate observa- 
 tions on this subject, the apt allusions, and the beautiful 
 metaphors to be met with throughout the Plays, may be 
 said to owe their origin mainly to three causes. Firstly, 
 Shakespeare had a good practical knowledge of Falconry, 
 a pastime which, being much in vogue in his day, brought 
 under his notice, almost of necessity, many wild birds, 
 exclusive of the various species which were hawked at 
 and killed. Secondly, he was a great reader, and, pos- 
 sessing a good memory, was enabled subsequently to 
 express in verse ideas which had been suggested by 
 older authors. Thirdly, and most important of all, he was 
 a genuine naturalist, and gathered a large amount of 
 information from his own practical observations. In all 
 his walks, he evidently did not fail to note even the 
 most trivial facts in natural history, and these were 
 treasured up in his memory, to be called forth as occasion 
 required, to be aptly and eloquently introduced into his 
 works.
 
 22 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Apart from the consideration that a poet may be 
 expected, almost of necessity, to invoke the birds of song, 
 Shakespeare has gone further, and displays a greater 
 knowledge of ornithology, and a greater accuracy in his 
 statements, than is generally the case with poets. How 
 far we shall succeed in proving this assertion, it will be for 
 the reader of the following pages to determine.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE EAGLE AND THE LARGER BIRDS OF PREY. 
 
 A T the head of the diurnal birds of prey, most authors 
 have agreed in placing the Eagles. Their large size, 
 powerful flight, and great muscular strength, give them a 
 superiority which is universally admitted. In reviewing, 
 therefore, the birds of which Shakespeare has made men- 
 tion, no apology seems to be necessary for commencing 
 with the genus Aquila. 
 
 Throughout the works of our great dramatist, frequent 
 allusions may be found to an eagle, but the word " eagle " 
 is almost always employed in a generic sense, and in a 
 few instances only can we infer, from the context, that a 
 particular species is indicated. Indeed, it is not im- 
 probable that in the poet's opinion only one species of 
 eagle existed. Be this as it may, the introduction of an 
 eagle and his attributes, by way of simile or metaphor, 
 has been accomplished by Shakespeare with much beauty 
 and effect. Considered as the emblem of majesty, the
 
 24 POWER OF VISION. 
 
 eagle has been variously styled "the king of birds," "the 
 royal bird," "the princely eagle," and "Jove's bird," while 
 so great is his power of vision, that an " eagle eye " has 
 become proverbial. 
 
 " Behold, his eye, 
 
 As bright as is the eagle's, lightens forth 
 Controlling majesty." 
 
 Richard II. Act iii. Sc. 3. 
 
 The clearness of vision in birds is indeed extraordinary, 
 and has been calculated, by the eminent French naturalist 
 Lacepede, to be nine times more extensive than that of 
 the farthest-sighted man. The opinion that the eagle 
 possessed the power of gazing undazzled at the sun, is 
 of great antiquity. Pliny relates that it exposes its 
 brood to this test as soon as hatched, to prove if they be 
 genuine or not. Chaucer refers to the belief in his 
 " Assemblie of Foules " : 
 
 " There mighten men the royal egal find, 
 That with his sharp look persith the sonne." 
 
 So also Spenser, in his " Hymn of Heavenly Beauty,"- 
 
 " And like the native brood of eagle's kind, 
 On that bright sun of glory fix their eyes." 
 
 It is not surprising, therefore, that Shakespeare has 
 borrowed the idea :
 
 AN EAGLE EYE. 25 
 
 " Nay, if thou be that princely eagle's bird, 
 Show thy descent by gazing 'gainst the sun." 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
 Again 
 
 " What peremptory eagle-sighted eye 
 Dares look upon the heaven of her brow, 
 That is not blinded by her majesty ? " 
 
 Love's Labour's Lost, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 But in the same play and scene we are told 
 " A lover's eyes will gaze an eagle blind." 
 
 And in this respect Paris was said to excel : 
 
 " An eagle, madam, 
 
 Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye, 
 As Paris hath." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Sc. 5. 
 
 The supposition that the eye of the eagle is green 
 must be regarded as a poetic license. In all the species 
 of this genus with which we are acquainted, the colour of 
 the iris is either hazel or yellow. But it would be absurd 
 to look for exactness in trifles such as these. 
 
 The power of flight in the eagle is no less surprising 
 than his power of vision. Birds of this kind have been 
 killed which measured seven or eight feet from tip to tip 
 of wing, and were strong enough to carry off hares, lambs, 
 
 E
 
 26 POWER OF FLIGHT. 
 
 and even young children. This strength of wing is not 
 unnoticed by Shakespeare : 
 
 " This was but as a fly by an eagle." 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 And- 
 
 " An eagle flight, bold, and forth on, 
 Leaving no track behind." 
 
 Timon of Athens, Act i. Sc. i. 
 
 This last line recalls to mind the following allusion to 
 the flight of the Jerfalcon : " Then prone she dashes 
 with so much velocity, that the impression of her path 
 remains on the eye, in the same manner as that of the 
 shooting meteor or flashing lightning, and you fancy that 
 there is a torrent of falcon rushing for fathoms through 
 the air."* 
 
 Spenser, in the fifth book of his " Faerie Queene " 
 (iv. 42), has depicted the grandeur of an eagle on the 
 wing : 
 
 " Like to an eagle in his kingly pride 
 Soring thro' his wide empire of the aire 
 To weather his brode sailes." 
 
 But notwithstanding his great powers of flight, we are 
 reminded that the eagle is not always secure. Guns, 
 traps, and other engines of destruction are directed against 
 him, whenever and wheresoever opportunity occurs : 
 
 * Mudie, " Feathered Tribes of the British Islands," i. p. 82.
 
 A GOOD OMEN. 2/ 
 
 " And often, to our comfort, shall we find 
 The sharded beetle in a safer hold 
 Than is the full-wing'd eagle." 
 
 Cymbeline, Act iii. Sc. 3. 
 
 With the Romans, the eagle was a bird of good omen. 
 Josephus, the Jewish historian, says the eagle was selected 
 for the Roman legionary standard, because he is the king 
 of all birds, and the most powerful of them all, whence he 
 has become the emblem of empire, and the omen of 
 victory.* 
 
 Accordingly, we read in Julius Ctzsar, Act v. Sc. i : 
 
 " Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign 
 Two mighty eagles fell ; and there they perch'd, 
 Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands." 
 
 This incident is more fully detailed in North's " Plu- 
 tarch," as follows: "When they raised their campe, 
 there came two eagles, that flying with a marvellous force, 
 lighted upon two of the foremost ensigns, and alwaies fol- 
 lowed the souldiers, which gave them meate and fed them, 
 untill they came neare to the citie of Phillipes ; and there 
 one day onely before the battell, they both flew away." 
 
 The ensign of the eagle was not peculiar, however, to 
 the Romans. The golden eagle, with extended wings, 
 was borne by the Persian monarchs,-f- and it is not impro- 
 
 * " De Bello Judico," Hi. 5. t Xenophon, " Cyropaedia, " vii.
 
 28 THE BIRD OF JOVE. 
 
 bable that from them the Romans adopted it ; while the 
 Persians themselves may have borrowed the symbol from 
 the ancient Assyrians, on whose banners it waved until 
 Babylon was conquered by Cyrus. 
 
 As a bird of good omen, the eagle is often mentioned 
 by Shakespeare : 
 
 " I chose an eagle, and did avoid a puttock." 
 
 Cymbeline, Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 The name " Puttock " has been applied both to the 
 Kite and the Common Buzzard, and both were considered 
 birds of ill omen. 
 
 In Act iv. Sc. 2, of the same play, we read, 
 
 " I saw Jove's bird, the Roman eagle, wing'd 
 From the spungy south to this part of the west, 
 There vanish'd in the sunbeams." 
 
 This was said to portend success to the Roman host. 
 In Izaak Walton's " Compleat Angler," we are furnished 
 with a reason for styling the eagle "Jove's bird." The 
 falconer, in discoursing on the merits of his recreation with 
 a brother angler, says, " In the air my troops of hawks 
 soar upon high, and when they are lost in the sight of 
 men, then they attend upon and converse with the gods ; 
 therefore I think my eagle is so justly styled Jove's 
 servant in ordinary." 
 
 " For the Roman eagle, 
 From south to west on wing soaring aloft,
 
 THE ROMAN EAGLE. 29 
 
 Lessen'd herself, and in the beams o' the sun 
 
 So vanish'd : which foreshadow'd our princely eagle, 
 
 The imperial Caesar, should again unite 
 
 His favour with the radiant Cymbeline, 
 
 Which shines here in the west." 
 
 Cymbeline, Act v. Sc. 5. 
 
 In a paper " On the Roman Imperial and Crested 
 Eagles," * Mr. Hogg says, " The Roman Eagle, which 
 is generally termed the Imperial Eagle, is represented with 
 its head plain, that is to say, not crested. It is in appear- 
 ance the same as the attendant bird of the ' king of gods 
 and men,' and is generally represented as standing at the 
 foot of his throne, or sometimes as the bearer of his 
 thunder and lightning. Indeed he also often appears 
 perched on the top of his sceptre. He is always con- 
 sidered as the attribute or emblem of ' Father Jove.' " 
 
 A good copy of this bird of Jupiter, called by Virgil 
 and Ovid " Jovis armiger," from an antique group, repre- 
 senting the eagle and Ganymedes, may be seen in Bell's 
 " Pantheon," vol. i. Also " a small bronze eagle, the 
 ensign of a Roman legion," is given in Duppa's " Travels 
 in Sicily" (2nd ed., 1829, tab. iv.). That traveller states, 
 that the original bronze figure is preserved in the Museum 
 of the Convent of St. Nicholas d'Arcun, at Catania. This 
 Convent is now called Convento di S. Benedetto, ac- 
 
 * " Annals and Magazine of Natural History. " June, 1864.
 
 30 THE ENSIGN OF THE EAGLE. 
 
 cording to Mr. G. Dennis, in his " Handbook of Sicily," 
 (p. 349) ; and he mentions this ensign as " a Roman 
 legionary eagle in excellent preservation." 
 
 From the second century before Christ, the eagle is said 
 to have become the sole military ensign, and it was mostly 
 small in size, because Florus (lib. 4, cap. 12) relates that 
 an ensign-bearer, in the wars of Julius Caesar, in order to 
 prevent the enemy from taking it, pulled off the eagle 
 from the top of the gilt pole, and hid it by placing it 
 under cover of his belt. 
 
 In later times, the eagle was borne with the legion, 
 which, indeed, occasionally took its name, " aquila.? This 
 eagle, which was also adopted by the Roman emperors 
 for their imperial symbol, is considered to be the Aquila 
 heliaca of Savigny (imperialis of Temminck), and resembles 
 our golden eagle, Aquila chrysaetos, in plumage, though 
 of a darker brown, and with more or less white on the 
 scapulars. It differs also in the structure of the foot. It 
 inhabits Southern Europe, North Africa, Palestine, and 
 India. Living examples of this species may be seen at 
 the present time in the Gardens of the Zoological Society. 
 
 Sicilius, in Cymbeline (Act v. Sc. 4), speaking of the 
 apparition and descent of Jupiter, who was seated upon 
 an eagle, says, 
 
 " The holy eagle 
 
 Stoop'd, as to foot us : his ascension is 
 More sweet than our blest fields : his royal bird
 
 HABITS AND ATTITUDES. 3! 
 
 Prunes the immortal wing, and cloys his beak, 
 As when his god is pleas'd." 
 
 "Prune" signifies to clean and adjust the feathers, and 
 is synonymous with plume. A word more generally used, 
 perhaps, than either, \spreen. 
 
 Cloys is, doubtless, a misprint for cleys, that is, claws. 
 Those who have kept hawks must often have observed 
 the habit which they have of raising one foot, and 
 whetting the beak against it. This is the action to 
 which Shakespeare refers. The same word occurs in 
 Ben Jonson's " Underwoods," (vii. 29) thus : 
 
 " To save her from the seize 
 Of vulture death, and those relentless cleys." 
 
 The verb " to cloy " has a very different signification, 
 namely, " to satiate," " choke," or " clog up." Shakespeare 
 makes frequent use of it. 
 
 In " Lucrece " it occurs : 
 
 " But poorly rich, so wanteth in his store, 
 That, cloy'd with much, he pineth still for more." 
 
 And again, in Richard II. (Act i. Sc. 3) : 
 " O, who can hold a fire in his hand, 
 By thinking on the frosty Caucasus ? 
 Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite, 
 By bare imagination of a feast ?" 
 
 See also Henry V. Act ii. Sc. 2.
 
 32 EAGLE'S EGGS. 
 
 Sometimes the word was written "accloy;" as, for in- 
 stance, in Spenser's " Faerie Queene " (ii. 7) 
 
 " And with uncomely weeds the gentle wave accloyes" 
 
 And in the same author's " Shepheard's Calendar" (Feb- 
 ruary," 135)- 
 
 "The mouldie mosse which thee accloy eth" 
 
 It is clear, therefore, that the word occurring in the 
 fourth scene of the fifth act of Cymbeline, should be written 
 cleys, and not cloys. 
 
 But to return from this digression ; there is a passage in 
 the first act of Henry V. Sc. 2, which seems to deserve 
 some notice while on the subject of eagles, i. e. : 
 
 " For once the eagle England being in prey, 
 To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot 
 Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs." 
 
 That the weasel sucks eggs, and is partial to such fare, 
 is very generally admitted. Shakespeare alludes to the 
 fact again in As You Like It (Act ii. Sc. 5), where 
 Jaques says : " I can suck melancholy out of a song, as 
 a weasel sucks eggs." But whether the weasel has ever 
 been found in the same situation or at such an altitude as 
 the eagle, is not so certain. A near relative of the weasel, 
 however, namely, a marten-cat, was once found in an 
 eagle's nest. " The forester, having reason to think that 
 the bird was sitting hard, peeped over the cliff into the
 
 LONGEVITY OF THE EAGLE. 33 
 
 eyrie. To his amazement, a marten was suckling her 
 kittens in comfortable enjoyment."* 
 
 The allusion above made to the " princely eggs," 
 reminds us of the princely bird which laid them, and 
 those who have read the works of Shakespeare and who 
 has not ? must doubtless remember the beautiful simile 
 uttered by Warwick when dying on the field of Barnet : 
 
 " Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge, 
 Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle." 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 The conscious superiority of the eagle is depicted by 
 Tamora, who tells us : 
 
 " The eagle suffers little birds to sing, 
 
 And is not careful what they mean thereby, 
 Knowing that with the shadow of his wing 
 He can at pleasure stint their melody." 
 
 Titus Andronicus, Act iv. Sc. 4. 
 
 The great age to which this bird sometimes attains has 
 been remarked by most writers on Ornithology. The 
 Psalmist has beautifully alluded to it where he says of the 
 righteous man, " His youth shall be renewed like the 
 eagle's." A golden eagle, which had been nine years in 
 the possession of Mr. Owen Holland, of Conway, lived 
 thirty-two years with the gentleman who made him a 
 
 * Colquhoun, "The Moor and the Loch," p. 330. And this is not an isolated 
 instance. See Newton, " Ootheca Wolleyana," Part I. p. ir.
 
 34 LONGEVITY OF THE EAGLE : 
 
 present of it, but what its age was when the latter 
 received it from Ireland is unknown.* Another, that died 
 at Vienna, was stated to have lived in confinement one 
 hundred and four years.'f A white-tailed eagle cap- 
 tured in Caithness, died at Duff House in February, 
 1862, having been kept in confinement, by the late Earl 
 of Fife, for thirty-two years. But even the eagle may 
 be outlived. Apemantus asks of Timon : 
 
 " Will these moss'd trees, 
 That have outliv'd the eagle, page thy heels, 
 And skip when thou point'st out ? " 
 
 Timon of Atliens, Act. iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 The old text has " moyst trees." The emendation, 
 however, which was made by Hanmer, is strengthened 
 by the line in As You Like It (Act iv. Sc. 3) : 
 
 " Under an oak, whose boughs were moss'd with age." 
 
 In an old French " riddle-book," entitled " Demands 
 Joyous," which was printed in English by Wynkyn de 
 Worde in 1511 (a single copy only of which is said to be 
 extant), is the following curious " demande " and " re- 
 sponse." It is here transcribed, as bearing upon the sub- 
 ject of the age of an eagle : 
 
 " Dem. What is the age of a field-mouse ? 
 Res. A year. And the life of a hedge-hog is three 
 
 * Pennant, "British Zoology." f Yarrell, " History of British Birds."
 
 ITS AGE COMPUTED. 35 
 
 times that of a mouse ; and the life of a dog is three 
 times that of a hedge-hog ; and the life of a horse is three 
 times that of a dog ; and the life of a man is three times 
 that of a horse ; and the life of a goose is three times that 
 of a man ; and the life of a swan is three times that of a 
 goose ; and the life of a swallow is three times that of a 
 swan ; and the life of an eagle is three times that of a 
 swallow ; and the life of a serpent is three times that of 
 an eagle ; and the life of a raven is three times that of a 
 serpent ; and the life of a hart is three times that of a 
 raven ; and an oak groweth 500 years, and fadeth 500 
 years." 
 
 The Rev. W. B. Daniel alludes* to " the received 
 maxim that animals live seven times the number of years 
 that bring them to perfection," upon which computation 
 the average life of an eagle would be twenty-one years. 
 But this maxim is founded on a misconception. Fleurens, 
 in his treatise " De la Longevite Humaine," says that the 
 duration of life in any animal is equal to five times the 
 number of years requisite to perfect its growth, and 
 that the growth has ceased when the bones have finally 
 consolidated with their epiphyses, which in the young are 
 merely cartilages. 
 
 Like many other rapacious birds, eagles are very fond 
 of bathing, and it has been found essential to supply them 
 with baths when in confinement, in order to keep them 
 
 * " Rural Sports," vol. i. p. 246.
 
 36 EAGLES TRAINED FOR HAWKING. 
 
 in good health. The freshness and vigour which they 
 thus derive is alluded to in Henry IV. (Part I. Act iv. 
 Sc. i) :- 
 " Hotspur. Where is his son, 
 
 The nimble-footed mad-cap Prince of Wales, 
 
 And his comrades ? 
 
 Vernon. All furnish'd, all in arms ; . . . 
 
 Like eagles having lately bath'd." 
 
 The larger birds of prey are no less fond of washing, 
 though they care so little for water to drink, that it has 
 been erroneously asserted that they never drink. " What 
 I observed," says the Abbe Spallanzani,* " is, that eagles, 
 when left even for several months without water, did not 
 seem to suffer the smallest inconvenience from the want of 
 it, but when they were supplied with water, they not only 
 got into the vessel and sprinkled their feathers like other 
 birds, but repeatedly dipped the beak, then raised the 
 head, in the manner of common fowls, and swallowed 
 what they had taken up. Hence it is evident that they 
 drink." 
 
 In Persia, Tartary, India, and other parts of the East, 
 the eagle was formerly, and is still to a certain extent, 
 used for hunting down the larger birds and beasts. In 
 the thirteenth century, the Khan of Tartary kept upwards 
 of two hundred hawks and eagles, some of which had been 
 trained to catch wolves ; and such was the boldness and 
 
 * " Dissertations,' vol. i. p. 173.
 
 TIRING. 37 
 
 power of these birds, that none, however large, could 
 escape from their talons.* 
 
 Burton, in his "Anatomy of Melancholy," -f- quoting 
 from Sir Antony Shirley's " Travels," says : " The Musco- 
 vian Emperours reclaim eagles, to let fly at hindes, foxes, 
 &c., and such a one was sent for a present to Queen 
 Elizabeth." 
 
 A traveller to the Putrid Sea, in 1819, wrote : " Wolves 
 are very common on these steppes ; and they are so bold 
 that they sometimes attack travellers. We passed by a 
 large one, lying on the ground with an eagle, which had 
 probably attacked him, by his side. Its talons were nearly 
 buried in his back ; in the struggle both had died." 
 
 Owing to the great difficulty in training them, as well 
 as to the difficulty in obtaining them, eagles have rarely 
 been trained to the chase in England. Some years since, 
 Captain Green, of Buckden, in Huntingdonshire, had a 
 fine golden eagle, which he had taught to take hares and 
 rabbits ; and this species has been found to be more 
 tractable than any other. 
 
 Whether Shakespeare was aware of the use of 
 trained eagles or not, we cannot say, but he has in 
 
 * See Pennant's "Arctic Zoology," ii. p. 195; Sir J. Malcolm's "Sketches of 
 Persia; " Johnston's "Sketches of Indian Field Sports; " Atkinson's " Travels in 
 Oriental and Western Siberia," and Burton's " Falconry in the Valley of the 
 Indus." 
 
 t Folio, 1676. Part ii. p. 169. 
 
 J " Memoirs of Stephen Grellet," i. p. 459. 
 
 See " The Naturalist" for May, 1837.
 
 38 THE EAGLE'S EYRIE. 
 
 many cases employed hawking terms in connection with 
 
 this bird : 
 
 " That hateful duke, 
 
 Whose haughty spirit, winged with desire, 
 Will cost my crown, and, like an empty eagle, 
 Tire on the flesh of me and of my son ! " 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act i. Sc. i. 
 
 The meaning of the word tire is thus explained by 
 falconers. When a hawk was in training, it was often 
 necessary to prolong her meal as much as possible, to 
 prevent her from gorging ; this was effected by giving her 
 a tough or bony bit to tire on ; that is, to tear, or pull at. 
 
 " Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast, 
 
 Tires with her beak on feathers, flesh, and bone, 
 Shaking her wings, devouring all in haste, 
 Till either gorge be stuff' d, or prey be gone." 
 
 Venus and Adonis. 
 
 So also, in Timon of Athens (Act iii. Sc. 6), one of the 
 lords says : 
 
 " Upon that were my thoughts tiring when we encounter'd." 
 
 In the following passage, two hawking terms are used in 
 connection with the eagle : 
 
 " Know, the gallant monarch is in arms, 
 And, like an eagle o'er his aiery, towers, 
 To souse annoyance that comes near his nest." 
 
 King Jo] in, Act v. Sc. 2.
 
 THE FATAL SWOOP. 39 
 
 This passage has been differently rendered, by removing 
 the punctuation between " aiery " and " towers," and 
 reading the former "airey" or "airy," and making 
 " towers " a substantive. But the meaning of the passage, 
 as it stands above, seems to us sufficiently clear. 
 
 "Aiery" is equivalent to "eyrie," the nesting-place. 
 The word occurs again in Richard III. (Act i. Sc. 3) : 
 
 " Our aiery buildeth in the cedar's top ;" 
 and, 
 
 " Your aiery buildeth in our aiery 's nest." 
 
 The verb "to tower," in the language of falconry, 
 signifies "to rise spirally to a height." Compare the 
 French "tour'' As a further argument, too, for reading 
 " towers " as a verb, and not as a substantive, compare the 
 following passage from Macbeth, which plainly shows that 
 Shakespeare was not unacquainted with this word as a 
 hawking term : 
 
 "A falcon towering' in her pride of place." 
 
 Macbeth, Act ii. Sc. 4. 
 
 The word " souse," above quoted, is likewise borrowed 
 from the language of falconry, and, as a substantive, is 
 equivalent to "swoop." It would seem to be derived 
 from the German "sausen," which signifies to rush with 
 a whistling sound like the wind ; and this is certainly 
 expressive of the " whish " made by the wings of a falcon 
 when swooping on her prey. 
 
 There is a good illustration of this passage in Drayton's
 
 4O THE VULTURE : 
 
 " Polyolbion," Song xx., where a description of hawking 
 at wild-fowl is given. After the falconers have put 
 up the fowl from the sedge, the hawk, in the words 
 of the author, having previously " towered," " gives it a 
 souse." Beaumont and Fletcher also make use of this 
 word as a hawking term in The Chances, iv. I ; and it 
 occurs in Spenser's "Faerie Queene," Book iv. Canto v. 30. 
 
 A notice of the various hawks made use of by falconers, 
 and mentioned by Shakespeare, might be here properly 
 introduced, but it will be more convenient to reserve this 
 notice for a separate chapter, and confine our attention 
 for the present to the larger diurnal birds of prey which, 
 like the eagles, are seldom, if ever, reclaimed by man. 
 
 Of these, excluding the eagle, Shakespeare makes men- 
 tion of four the Vulture, the Osprey, the Kite, and the 
 Buzzard. 
 
 Those who are acquainted with the repulsive habits of 
 the Vulture, led as he is by instinct to gorge on carrion, 
 will best understand the allusions to this bird which are to 
 be met with in the works of Shakespeare. 
 
 What more forcible expression can be found to indicate 
 a guilty conscience than "the gnawing vulture of the 
 mind "? (Titus Andronicus, Act v. Sc. 2.) 
 
 " There cannot be 
 That vulture in you, to devour so many." 
 
 Macbeth, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 When King Lear would denounce the unkindness of a
 
 ITS REPULSIVE HABITS. 41 
 
 daughter, which he could never forget, laying his hand 
 upon his heart, he exclaims : 
 
 " O Regan, she hath tied 
 Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here." 
 
 King Lear, Act ii. Sc. 4. 
 
 One of the worst wishes to which Falstaff could give 
 vent when in a bad humour, was : 
 
 " Let vultures gripe thy guts !" 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, Act i. Sc. 3. 
 And the same idea is expressed in Henry IV. (Part II. 
 Act v. Sc. 4) : 
 
 " Let vultures vile seize on his lungs also !" 
 Occasionally we find the word " vulture " employed as 
 an adjective : 
 
 " Her sad behaviour feeds her vulture folly." 
 
 Lncrece. 
 And 
 
 " Whose vulture thought doth pitch the price so high." 
 
 Venus and Adonis. 
 
 The structure of the Osprey is wonderfully adapted to 
 his habits, and an examination of the feet of this bird will 
 prove how admirably contrived they are for grasping and 
 holding a slippery fish. Mr. St. John, who had excellent 
 opportunities of studying the Osprey in his native haunts, 
 says :* " I generally saw the osprey fishing about the 
 lower pools of the rivers near their mouths ; and a 
 
 * "Tour in Sutherland," vol. i. p. 113.
 
 42 THE OSPREY : 
 
 beautiful sight it is. The long-winged bird hovers (as a 
 kestrel does over a mouse), at a considerable distance 
 above the water, sometimes on perfectly motionless wing, 
 and sometimes, wheeling slowly in circles, turning his head 
 and looking eagerly down at the water. He sees a trout 
 when at a great height, and suddenly closing his wings, 
 drops like a shot bird into the water, often plunging com- 
 pletely under, and at other times appearing scarcely to 
 touch the water, but seldom failing to rise again with a 
 good-sized fish in his talons. Sometimes, in the midst of 
 his swoop, the osprey stops himself suddenly in the most 
 abrupt manner, probably because the fish, having changed 
 its position, is no longer within range. He then hovers, 
 again stationary, in the air, anxiously looking below for 
 the re-appearance of the prey. Having well examined 
 one pool, he suddenly turns off, and with rapid flight 
 takes himself to an adjoining part of the stream, where 
 he again begins to hover and circle in the air. On 
 making a pounce into the water, the osprey dashes up 
 the spray far and wide, so as to be seen for a consider- 
 able distance." 
 
 After this description, it is easy to understand the allu- 
 sion of Aufidius, who says : 
 
 " I think he'll be to Rome, 
 As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it 
 
 By sovereignty of nature." 
 
 Coriolanus, Act iv. Sc. 7.
 
 ITS POWER OVER FISH. 43 
 
 Mr. Staunton thinks that the image is founded on the 
 fabulous power attributed to the osprey of fascinating the 
 fish on which he preys. In Peele's play of The Battle of 
 Alcazar, 1594 (Act i. Sc. i), we read : 
 
 " I will provide thee of a princely osprey, 
 That, as he flieth over fish in pools, 
 The fish shall turn their glistering bellies up, 
 And thou shalt take thy liberal choice of all." 
 
 Another of the birds of prey mentioned by Shake- 
 speare is "the lazar Kite" (Henry V. Act ii. Sc. i). 
 Although a large bird, and called by some the royal 
 Kite (Milvus regalis), it has not the bold dash of many 
 of our smaller hawks in seizing live and strong prey, but 
 glides about ignobly, looking for a sickly or wounded 
 victim, or for offal of any sort. 
 
 " And kites 
 
 Fly o'er our heads, and downward look on us, 
 As we were sickly prey." 
 
 Julius Ccesar, Act v. Sc. i . 
 
 " Ere this 
 
 I should have fatted all the region kites 
 With this slave's offal." 
 
 Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 " A prey for carrion kites." 
 
 Henry VI. Part II. Act v. Sc. 2.
 
 44 THE KITE, 
 
 From the ignoble habits of the bird, the name " kite " 
 became a term of reproach : 
 
 " You kite ! " 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, Act iii. Sc. 13. 
 And 
 
 " Detested kite ! " 
 
 King Lear, Act i. Sc. 4, 
 
 When pressed by hunger, however, the kite becomes 
 more fearless ; and instances have occurred in which a 
 bird of this species has entered the farmyard and boldly 
 carried off a chicken. 
 
 " Wer 't not all one, an empty eagle were set 
 To guard the chicken from a hungry kite, 
 As place Duke Humphrey for the king's protector ? " 
 Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Sc. i. 
 
 The synonym " puttock " is sometimes applied to the 
 kite, sometimes to the common buzzard. In the following 
 passage, where reference is made to the supposed murder 
 of Gloster by Suffolk, it evidently has reference to the 
 former bird : 
 
 " Who finds the partridge in the puttock's nest, 
 But may imagine how the bird was dead, 
 Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak ? " 
 
 Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 With the ancients the kite appears to have been a bird 
 of ill-omen. In Cymbclinc (Act. i. Sc. 2), Imogen says :
 
 A BIRD OF ILL-OMEN. 45 
 
 " I chose an eagle, and did avoid a puttock." 
 
 And the superiority of the eagle is again adverted to 
 by Hastings, in Richard III. (Act i. Sc. i) : 
 
 " More pity that the eagle should be mew'd, 
 While kites and buzzards prey at liberty." 
 
 The intractable disposition of the kite is thus noticed : 
 
 " Another way I have to man my haggard, 
 To make her come, and know her keeper's call ; 
 That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites, 
 That bate, and beat, and will not be obedient." 
 
 Taming of the Shrew, Act iv. Sc. I . 
 
 A wild hawk was sometimes tamed by watching it 
 night and day, to prevent its sleeping. In " An approved 
 treatyse of Hawks and Hawking," by Edmund Bert, 
 Gent., which was published in London in 1619, the author 
 says : " I have heard of some who watched and kept 
 their hawks awake seven nights and as many days, and 
 then they would be wild, rammish, and disorderly." This 
 practice is often alluded to by Shakespeare : 
 
 " You must be watc/idere you be made tame, must you ?" 
 Troilus and Crcssida, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 " I '11 ii>atc/i him tame." 
 
 Othello, Act iii. Sc. 3.
 
 46 HABITS OF THE KITE. 
 
 " But I will watch you from such watching now." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act iv. Sc. 4. 
 
 The habit which the kite has, in common with other 
 rapacious birds, of rejecting or disgorging the undigested 
 portions of its food, such as bones and fur, in the shape of 
 pellets, was apparently well known to Shakespeare, for 
 he says : 
 
 " If charnel-houses and our graves must send 
 Those that we bury back, our monuments 
 
 Shall be the maws of kites." 
 
 Macbeth, Act iii. Sc. 4. 
 And again, 
 
 " Thou detestable maw .... 
 Gorg'd with the dearest morsel of the earth." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act v. Sc. 3. 
 
 Another curious fact in the natural history of the kite 
 is adverted to in the Winter s Tale (Act iv. Sc. 2). It is 
 there said, 
 
 " When the kite builds, look to lesser linen." 
 
 This line may be perhaps best illustrated by giving a 
 description of a kite's nest which we have seen, and which 
 was taken many years ago in Huntingdonshire. The 
 outside of the nest was composed of strong sticks ; the 
 lining consisted of small pieces of linen, part of a saddle- 
 girth, a bit of a harvest glove, part of a straw bonnet,
 
 THE KITE'S NEST. 47 
 
 pieces of paper, and a worsted garter. In the midst of 
 this singular collection of materials were deposited two 
 eggs. The kite is now almost extinct in England, and a 
 kite's nest, of course, is a great rarity. The Rev. H. B. 
 Tristram, speaking of the habits of the Egyptian kite 
 (Milvus sEgyptitis], says : * " Its nest, the marine store- 
 shop of the desert, is decorated with whatever scraps of 
 bournouses and coloured rags can be collected ; and to 
 these are added, on every surrounding branch, the cast-off 
 coats of serpents, large scraps of thin bark, and perhaps 
 a bustard's wing." 
 
 We have alluded to the Buzzard (Buteo vulgaris) in the 
 passage above quoted from Richard III., and also to the 
 synonym " puttock," which was sometimes applied to this 
 bird, as well as to the kite. 
 
 Mr. St. John, who was well acquainted with the common 
 buzzard, thought that in all its habits it more nearly 
 resembled the eagle than any other kind of hawk.-f- 
 
 In the following passage, it seems probable, as suggested 
 by Mr. Staunton, that a play upon the words is intended, 
 and that " buzzard " in the second line means a beetle, so 
 called from its buzzing noise : 
 
 " O slow-wing'd turtle ! shall a buzzard take thee ? 
 Ay, for a turtle, as he takes a buzzard." 
 
 Taming of the Shrew, Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
 * " The Great Sahara," p. 392. f " Tour in Sutherland," vol. i. p. 121.
 
 4 8 
 
 THE BUZZARD. 
 
 Neither the kite nor the buzzard were ever trained for 
 hawking, being deficient both in speed and pluck. 
 
 The former, however, was occasionally " flown at " by 
 falconers, although oftener for want of a better bird, than 
 because he showed much sport. 
 
 Both are now far less common than in Shakespeare's 
 day. The increased number of shooters, and the war of 
 extermination which is carried on by gamekeepers, 
 inevitably seal their doom.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HAWKS AND HAWKING. 
 
 npO those who have ever taken part in a hawking 
 excursion, it must be a matter of some surprise 
 that so delightful a pastime has ceased to be popular. 
 Yet, at the present day, perhaps not one person in 
 five hundred has ever seen a trained hawk flown. In 
 Shakespeare's time things were very different. Every 
 one who could afford it kept a hawk, and the rank 
 of the owner was indicated by the species of bird which 
 he carried. To a king belonged the gerfalcon ; to a 
 prince, the falcon gentle ; to an earl, the peregrine ; to 
 a lady, the merlin ; to a young squire, the hobby ; while 
 a yeoman carried a goshawk ; a priest, a sparrowhawk ; 
 and a knave, or servant, a kestrel. But the sport was 
 attended with great expense, and much time and attention 
 were required of the falconer before his birds were per- 
 fectly trained, and he himself a proficient. 
 
 This, combined with the increased enclosure and 
 
 H
 
 50 THE AGE OF HAWKING. 
 
 cultivation of waste lands, has probably contributed as 
 much as anything to the decline of falconry in England. 
 
 During the age in which Shakespeare lived, the sport 
 was at its height, and it is, therefore, not surprising that 
 he has taken much notice of it in his works, and has 
 displayed a considerable knowledge on the subject. 
 
 In the second part of King Henry VI. Act 2, we find a 
 scene laid at St. Alban's, and the King, Queen, Gloster, 
 Cardinal, and Suffolk appearing, with falconers halloaing. 
 We quote that portion of the scene which refers more 
 particularly to the sport : 
 
 " Queen. Believe me, lords, far flying at the brook, 
 
 I saw not better sport these seven years' day : 
 Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high ; 
 And, ten to one, old Joan* had not gone out. 
 
 King. But what a point, my lord, your falcon made, 
 And what a pitch she flew above the rest ! 
 To see how God in all his creatures works ! 
 Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high. 
 
 Suff. No marvel, an it like your majesty, 
 
 My lord protector's hawks do tower so well ; 
 They know their master loves to be aloft, 
 And bears his thoughts above his falcon's /? 
 
 Glo. My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind 
 
 That mounts no higher than a bird can soar. 
 
 * The name, no doubt, of a favourite falcon.
 
 HAWKING TERMS. 51 
 
 Card. I thought as much ; he'd be above the clouds. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Believe me, cousin Gloster, 
 
 Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly, 
 We had had more sport." 
 
 " Flying at the brook " is synonymous with " hawking 
 by the river," and shows us that the party were in pursuit 
 of water-fowl. Chaucer speaks of 
 
 " Ryding on, hawking by the river, 
 With grey goshawk in hand." 
 
 "Point" The fluttering or hovering over the spot 
 where the " quarry " has been " put in." 
 
 "Pitch" The height to which a hawk rises before 
 swooping. 
 
 " How high a. pitch his resolution soars !" 
 
 Richard II. Act i. Sc. i . 
 
 " Tower" A common expression in falconry, signifying 
 to rise spirally to a height. Compare the French " tour? 
 The word occurs again in Macbeth, Act ii. Sc. 4, with 
 reference to a fact which we might well be excused for 
 doubting, did we not know that it was related as an 
 unusual circumstance : 
 
 " On Tuesday last, 
 
 A falcon, tow' ring in her pride of place, 
 Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd."
 
 52 THE FALCON AND TERCEL. 
 
 Many of the incidents connected with Duncan's death 
 are not to be found in the narrative of that event, but are 
 taken from the chronicler's account of King Duffe's 
 murder. Among the prodigies there mentioned is the one 
 referred to by Shakespeare. " Monstrous sightes also, 
 that were scene without the Scottishe kingdome that year, 
 
 were these There was a sparhauke also 
 
 strangled by an owle." We have known a Tawny Owl 
 to kill and devour a Kestrel which had been kept in the 
 same aviary with it. 
 
 By " tow'ring in her pride of place," is here understood 
 to mean circling at her highest point of elevation. So in 
 Massinger's play of The Guardian, Act i. Sc. 2 : 
 
 " Then for an evening flight 
 A tiercel gentle which I call, my masters, 
 As he were sent a messenger to the moon, 
 In such a place, flies, as he seems to say 
 See me or see me not." 
 
 By the falcon is always understood the female, as 
 distinguished from the tercel, or male, of the peregrine or 
 goshawk. The latter was probably called the tercel, or 
 tiercel, from being about a third smaller than the falcon. 
 Some authorities, however, state that of the three young 
 birds usually found in the nest of a falcon, two of them are 
 females and the third a male ; hence the name of tercel.* 
 
 * Tardif, "Treatise on Falconry."
 
 THE TERCEL-GENTLE. 53 
 
 By others, again, the term is supposed to have been 
 derived from the French gentil, meaning neat or hand- 
 some, because of the beauty of its form. 
 
 There appears to be a great deal of confusion in the 
 nomenclature of the hawks used in falconry. The same 
 name has been applied to two distinct species, and the 
 same species, in different states of plumage, has received 
 two or more names. With regard to the "tercel," as 
 distinguished from the "tercel-gentle," it would appear 
 that the former name was given to the male goshawk, and 
 the latter to the male peregrine ; for the peregrine being a 
 long-winged hawk, and the more noble of the two, the 
 word "gentle," or "gentil," was applied to it with that 
 signification. 
 
 In this view we are supported to some extent by quaint 
 old Izaak Walton. In his " Compleat Angler," there is 
 an animated conversation between an angler, a hunter, 
 and a falconer, each of whom in turn commends his own 
 recreation. The falconer gives a list of his hawks, and 
 divides them into two classes, viz. : the long-winged and 
 short-winged hawks. In enumerating each species in 
 pairs, he gives first the name of the female, and then that 
 of the male : among the first class we find 
 
 The gerfalcon and jerkin, 
 
 The falcon and tercel-gentle, &c. 
 
 In the second class we have
 
 54 DOCILITY OF THE FALCON. 
 
 The eagle and iron,* 
 
 The goshawk and tercel, &c. 
 
 From this we may conclude that the name tercel- 
 gentle was applied to the male peregrine, a long-winged 
 hawk, to distinguish it from the tercel, or male goshawk, 
 a short-winged hawk. 
 
 The female falcon, from her greater size and strength, 
 was always considered superior to the male stronger in 
 flight : 
 
 " As confident as is the falcon's flight 
 
 Against a bird." 
 
 Richard II. Act i. Sc. 3. 
 
 And possessing more powerful talons : 
 
 " So doves do peck the falcon's piercing talons." 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act i. Sc. 4. 
 
 She was more easily trained, and capable of being flown 
 at larger game. Hence Shakespeare asserts 
 
 " The falcon as the tercel, for all the ducks i' the river." 
 Troilus and Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Sometimes we find the word " tercel " written " tassel," as 
 in Romeo and Juliet (Act ii. Sc. 2) : 
 
 " O, for a falconer's voice, 
 To lure this tassel-gentle back again ! " 
 
 * No doubt a corruption of " erne," a name which is still given to the sea eagle 
 (Aijuila albicilla).
 
 QUALITIES OF A GOOD FALCONER. 55 
 
 Spenser almost invariably spells the word in this way.* 
 To understand the allusion to the falconer's voice, it 
 should be observed that after a hawk had been flown, and 
 had either struck or missed the object of her pursuit, the 
 " lure " (which we shall presently describe) was thrown up 
 to entice her back, and at the same time the falconer 
 shouted to attract her attention. 
 
 Professor Schneider, in a Latin volume published at 
 Leipsic, in 1788,-f- thus enumerates the qualities of a good 
 falconer : " Sit mediocris staturae ; sit perfecti ingenii ; 
 bonae memorise ; levis auditu ; acuti visus ; homo magncz 
 vocis ; sit agilis et promptus ; sciat natare," &c. &c. 
 
 Each falconer had his own particular call, but it was 
 generally somewhat like 
 
 " Hillo, ho, ho, boy ! come, bird, come ! " 
 
 Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 5. 
 
 The " lure " was of various shapes, and consisted merely 
 of a piece of iron or wood, generally in the shape of a 
 heart or horseshoe, to which were attached the wings of 
 some bird, with a piece of raw meat fixed between them. 
 A strong leathern strap, about three feet long, fastened to 
 it with a swivel, enabled the falconer to swing it round his 
 head, or throw it to a distance. With high-flying hawks, 
 
 * See his " Faerie Queene," Book III. Canto 4. 
 
 f This scarce volume, of which we are fortunate enough to possess a copy, 
 contains the work of the Emperor Frederic II., " De arte venandi cum avibus ; " 
 Albertus Magnus, " De Falconibus;" as also a digest of Hubner's work, "Sur le 
 vol des oiseaux de proie," and other ancient and rare works on Falconry.
 
 56 THE LURE AND ITS USE. 
 
 however, it was often found necessary to use a live pigeon, 
 secured to a string by soft leather jesses, in order to recall 
 them.* 
 
 The long-winged hawks were always brought to the 
 lure, the short-winged ones to the hand : 
 
 " As falcon to the lure, away she flies." 
 
 Venus and Adonis. 
 
 The game flown at was called in hawking parlance the 
 " quarry," and differed according to the hawk that was 
 used. The gerfalcon and peregrine were flown at herons, 
 ducks, pigeons, rooks, and magpies ; the goshawk was 
 used for hares and partridges ; while the smaller kinds, 
 such as the merlin and hobby, were trained to take black- 
 birds, larks, and snipe. The French falconers, however, do 
 
 
 
 not appear to have been so particular : 
 
 " We '11 e'en to 't like French falconers, fly at anything 
 we see." Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 The word " quarry " occurs in many of the Plays. 
 " This ' quarry ' cries on havoc." } 
 
 Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 * Salvin and Brodrick, " Falconry in the British Islands," pp. 38. 39. 
 f To " cry on" anything was a familiar expression formerly. In Othello (Act v. 
 Sc. i), we read 
 
 " Whose noise is this that ' cries on ' murder ? " 
 And in Richard III. (Act v. Sc. 3), Richmond says : 
 
 " Methought, their souls, whose bodies Richard murder'd, 
 
 Came to my tent, and ' cried on ' victory." 
 To "cry havoc" appears to have been a signal for indiscriminate slaughter.
 
 THE QUARRY. 57 
 
 In the language of the forest, " quarry " also meant a 
 heap of slaughtered game. So, in Coriolanus (Act iii. 
 Sc. i), Caius Marcius says : 
 
 " And let me use my sword, I 'd make a ' quarry ' 
 With thousands of these quarter'd slaves." 
 
 The beauty of the following passage, from its being 
 clothed in technicalities, will be likely to escape the notice 
 of those who are not conversant with hawking phrase- 
 ology ; but an acquaintance with the terms employed will 
 elicit admiration at the force and beauty of the metaphor. 
 
 Othello, mistrusting the constancy of Desdemona 
 towards him, and comparing her to a hawk, exclaims : 
 
 " If I do prove her haggard, 
 
 Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings, 
 I 'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind, 
 
 To prey at fortune." 
 
 Othello, Act iii. Sc. 3. 
 
 By " haggard " is meant a wild-caught and unreclaimed 
 mature hawk, as distinguished from an " eyess," or nest- 
 ling ; that is, a young hawk taken from the " eyrie " or 
 nest. 
 
 The expression, "Cry havoc, kings!" occurs in King John, Act ii. ~Sc. 2; and 
 again in Julius Ccesar, Act iii. Sc. r : 
 
 " Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war." 
 In Coriolanus (Act iii. Sc. i), Menenius says 
 
 ' ' Do not cry Havoc, where you should but hunt 
 With modest warrant." 
 
 I
 
 58 HAWK'S TRAPPINGS. 
 
 " There is, sir, an aiery of children, little eyases, that cry 
 
 out." 
 
 Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 By some falconers " haggards " were also called " pas- 
 sage hawks," from being always caught when in that state, 
 at the time of their periodical passage or migration. As 
 will be seen hereafter, the word " haggard " occurs fre- 
 quently throughout the Plays. 
 
 The " jesses " were two narrow strips of leather, fastened 
 one to each leg, the other ends being attached to a swivel, 
 from which depended the " leash." When the hawk was 
 flown, the swivel and leash were taken off, the jesses and 
 bells remaining on the bird. 
 
 Some of the old falconers' directions on these points 
 are very quaint. Turbervile, in his " Book of Falconrie," 
 1575, speaking of the trappings of a hawk, says : " Shee 
 must haue jesses of leather, the which must haue knottes 
 at the ende, and they should be halfe a foote long, or 
 there about ; at the least a shaftmeete betweene the 
 hoose of the jesse, and the knotte at the ende, whereby 
 you tye the hauke."
 
 THE JESSES. 59 
 
 In the modern "jesse," however, there are no knots. It 
 is fastened in this wise. The leg of the hawk is placed 
 against the "jesse," between the slits A and B. The end A 
 is then passed through the slit B, and the end C in turn 
 through the slit A. The swivel, with its dependent leash, is 
 then attached to slit C ; and the same with the other leg. 
 
 Othello says : 
 
 " I 'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind, 
 To prey at fortune." 
 
 Falconers always flew their hawk against the wind. If 
 flown down the wind, she seldom returned. When, there- 
 fore, a useless bird was to be dismissed, her owner flew 
 her " down the wind ; " and thenceforth she shifted for her- 
 self, and was said " to prey at fortune." 
 
 The word " haggard," as before observed, is of frequent 
 occurrence throughout the Plays of Shakespeare. In the 
 Taming of the Shrew (Act iv. Sc. 2), Hortensio speaks of 
 Bianca as "this proud disdainful haggard" In Much Ado 
 about Nothing (Act iii. Sc. i), Hero, alluding to Beatrice, 
 says 
 
 " I know, her spirits are as coy and wild 
 As haggards of the rock." 
 
 In Twelfth Night (Act iii. Sc. i), Viola says of the 
 Clown : 
 
 " This fellow 's wise enough to play the fool ; 
 And to do that well craves a kind of wit :
 
 60 THE BELLS. 
 
 He must observe their mood on whom he jests, 
 The quality of persons, and the time ; 
 And, like ttie haggard, check at every feather 
 That comes before his eye." 
 
 To " check " is a term used in falconry, signifying to 
 " fly at," although it sometimes meant to " change the bird 
 in pursuit."* The word occurs again in the same play 
 (Act ii. Sc. 4), and in Hamlet, Act iv. Sc. 7. 
 
 Besides the "jesses," the "bells" formed an indispens- 
 able part of a hawk's trappings. These were of circular 
 form, from a quarter to a full inch in diameter, and made 
 of brass or silver, and were attached, one to each leg of 
 the bird, by means of small slips of leather called 
 "bewits." The use of bells was to lead the falconer by 
 their sound to the hawk when in a wood, or out of 
 sight. 
 
 * Salvin and Brodrick, "Falconry in the British Islands."
 
 THE HOOD. 6 1 
 
 " As the ox hath his bow,* sir, the horse his curb, and 
 the falcon her bells, so man hath his desires." As You 
 Like It, Act iii. Sc. 3. 
 
 So in Henry VI. Part III. Act i. Sc. i 
 
 " Nor he that loves him best, 
 The proudest he that holds up Lancaster, 
 Dares stir a wing, if Warwick shake his bells" 
 
 Again 
 
 " Harmless Lucretia, marking what he tells 
 With trembling fear, as fowl hears falcon 's bells" 
 
 L ucrece. 
 
 The "hood," too, was a necessary appendage to the 
 trained falcon. This was a cap or cover for the head, 
 which was not removed until the " quarry " was started, in 
 order to prevent the hawk from flying too soon. 
 
 * His "bow," that is, his "yoke." Some editions read "low;" an evident 
 mistake.
 
 62 AN "UNMANN'U" HAWK. 
 
 The Constable of France, speaking of the valour of the 
 Dauphin, says : 
 
 " 'Tis a hooded valour, and when it appears it will bate!' 
 
 Henry V. Act iii. Sc. 7. 
 
 The allusion is to the ordinary action of a hawk, which, 
 when unhooded, bates, or flutters. But a quibble may be 
 here intended between " bate," the hawking technical, and 
 " bate," to dwindle or abate. The word occurs again in 
 Romeo and Juliet (Act iii. Sc. 2) 
 
 " Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks." 
 
 And to those not conversant with the terms employed 
 in falconry, this line would be unintelligible. An 
 " unmanned " hawk was one not sufficiently reclaimed to 
 be familiar with her keeper, and such birds generally 
 " bated," that is, fluttered or beat their wings violently in 
 their efforts to escape. 
 
 Petruchio, in The Taming of the Shrew, gives us a 
 lesson in reclaiming a hawk when speaking thus of 
 Catherine : - 
 
 " My falcon now is sharp, and passing empty, 
 And, till she stoop, she must not be full-gorg'd, 
 For then she never looks upon her hire. 
 Another way I have to man my haggard, 
 To make her come, and know her keeper's call, 
 That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites
 
 THE CADGE. 63 
 
 That bate, and beat, and will not be obedient. 
 She eat no meat to-day, nor none shall eat ; 
 Last night she slept not, nor to-night she shall not." 
 Taming of the Shrew, Act iv. Sc. i. 
 
 The word " stoop," sometimes written " stoup " (Spenser's 
 "Faerie Queene," Book I. Canto XI. 18), and "swoop" 
 (Macbeth, " at one fell swoop "), signifies a rapid descent 
 on the " quarry." It occurs again in Henry V. Act iv. 
 Sc. i : 
 
 " And though his affections are higher mounted than 
 ours, yet, when they stoop, they stoop with the like wing." 
 
 The hawks, when carried to the field, were borne on 
 the cadge," as shown in the engraving; the person
 
 64 THE HAWK'S " MEW." 
 
 carrying it being called " the cadger." The modern 
 word " cad," now generally used in an opprobrious sense, 
 is in all probability an abbreviation of " cadger," and 
 therefore synonymous with " servant " or common fellow. 
 Florizel, addressing Perdita, in the , Winter's Tale (Act 
 iv. Sc. 3), says, 
 
 " I bless the time 
 
 When my good falcon made her flight across 
 Thy father's ground ; " 
 
 for this was the occasion of his first meeting her. 
 
 In the following passage from Measure for Measure, 
 (Act iii. Sc. i), there occurs a word in connection with 
 falconry, which requires some explanation, 
 
 " This outward-sainted deputy, 
 Whose settled visage and deliberate word 
 Nips youth i' th' head, and follies doth enmew 
 As falcon doth the fowl." 
 
 The verb " to mew," or " enmew," signifies to enclose or 
 shut up, owing its origin to the word " mews," the place 
 where the hawks were confined : 
 
 " To-night she 's mew'd up." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Sc. 4. 
 
 Gremio, speaking of Bianca to Signer Baptista, says, 
 
 " Why, will you mew her ? " 
 
 Taming of tJie Shrew, Act i. Sc. i .
 
 ORIGIN OF THE WORD " MEW." 65 
 
 A question presently solved by Tranio, who says :- 
 
 " And therefore has he closely mew'd her up, 
 Because she will not be annoy'd with suitors." 
 
 The word " mew," derived from the old French " mue" 
 signifies a change, or moult, when birds and other animals 
 cast their feathers, hair, or horns. Hence Latham 
 observes that " the mew is that place, whether it be 
 abroad or in the house, where you set down your 
 hawk during the time she raiseth or reproduceth her 
 feathers." 
 
 It was necessary to take great care of a hawk in her 
 mewing time. In " The Gentleman's Academic," edited 
 by Gervase Markham, 1595, there are several sections on 
 the mewing of hawks, from one of which it may be learnt 
 that the best time to commence is in the beginning of 
 Lent ; and if well kept, the bird will be mewed, that is, 
 moulted, by the beginning of August. 
 
 " Forthcoming from her darksome mew." 
 
 Faerie Queene, Book I. Canto v. 20. 
 
 The Royal hawks were kept at the mews at Charing 
 Cross during many reigns (according to Stowe, from the 
 time of Richard II., in 1377), but they were removed by 
 Henry VIII., who converted the place into stables. The 
 name, however, confirmed by the usage of so long a period, 
 remained to the building, although, after the hawks were 
 
 K
 
 66 THE ROYAL MEWS. 
 
 withdrawn, it became inapplicable. But, what is more 
 curious still, in later times, when the people of London 
 began to build ranges of stabling at the back of their 
 streets and houses, they christened those places " mews," 
 after the old stabling at Charing Cross. 
 
 The word "enmew," quoted above in the passage from 
 Measure for Measure, would seem rather to signify here, 
 " to seize upon," or " to disable." It is sometimes written 
 " enewe." In Nash's " Quaternio ; or, a Fourefold Way 
 to a Happie Life," published in 1633, it occurs in a 
 spirited description of hawking at water-fowl : " And to 
 hear an accipitary relate againe how he went forth in a 
 cleare, calme, and sunshine evening, about an houre before 
 the sunne did usually maske himselfe, unto the river, 
 where rinding of a mallard, he whistled off* his falcon, 
 and how shee flew from him as if shee would never have 
 turned head againe, yet presently upon a shoote came in ; 
 how then by degrees, by little and little, by flying about 
 and about, shee mounted so high, until shee had lessened 
 herselfe to the view of the beholder to the shape of a 
 pigeon or partridge, and had made the height of the moon 
 the placef of her flight ; how presently, upon the landing 
 of the fowle, shee came downe like a stone and enewed it, 
 and suddenly got up againe, and suddenly upon a second 
 landing came down againe, and missing of it, in the 
 
 Compare, ante, pp. 57-59, " I 'd whistle her off," &c. 
 
 t Compare, ante, p. 52, "A falcon tow' ring in her pride of place," &c.
 
 THE FOWL ENMEWED. 67 
 
 downe course recovered it beyond expectation, to the 
 admiration of the beholder at a long flight." 
 
 Another method of spelling the same word may be 
 instanced by the following quotation from Turbervile's 
 "Book of Falconrie," 1575 : 
 
 " And if shee misse, to mark her how shee then gets up 
 
 amaine, 
 
 For best advantage, to eneaw the springing fowle 
 againe." 
 
 In the days of falconry* a peculiar method of repairing 
 a broken wing-feather was known to falconers by the 
 term " imping." The verb " to imp," appears to be derived 
 from the Anglo-Saxon " impan," signifying to graft, or 
 inoculate ; and the mode of operation is thus described in 
 a scarce pamphlet by Sir John Sebright, entitled " Obser- 
 vations on Hawking " : % 
 
 " When any of the flight or tail-feathers of a hawk are 
 accidentally broken, the speed of the bird is so injured, 
 that the falconer finds it necessary to repair them by an 
 expedient called ' imping.' 
 
 " This curious process consists in attaching to the part 
 that remains an exact substitute for the piece lost. For 
 this purpose the falconer is always provided with pinions 
 (right and left) and with tail-feathers of hawks, or with 
 
 * It will be observed that, in these pages, falconry is treated as a thing of the 
 past, as indeed it is a sport now almost obsolete, and but few comparatively are 
 acquainted with its technicalities.
 
 68 IMPING. 
 
 the feathers separated from the pinion carefully preserved 
 and numbered, so as to prevent mistake in taking a true 
 match for the injured feather. He then with a sharp 
 knife gently parts the web of the feather to be repaired at 
 its thickest part, and cuts the shaft obliquely forward, so 
 as not to damage the web on the opposite edge. He 
 next cuts the substitute feather as exactly as possible at 
 the corresponding point and with the same degree of 
 slope. 
 
 " For the purpose of uniting them, he is provided with 
 an iron needle with broad angular points at both ends, 
 and after wetting the needle with salt-and-water, he 
 thrusts it into the centre of the pith of each part, as 
 truly straight and as nearly to the same length in each 
 as may be. 
 
 "When this operation has been skilfully performed, 
 the junction is so neat, that ain inexperienced eye would 
 hardly discern the point of union, and as the iron rusts 
 from having been wetted with brine, there is little or no 
 danger of separation." 
 
 After this explanation, the meaning of the following 
 lines is clear :
 
 SEELING. 69 
 
 "If then we shall shake off our slavish yoke, 
 Imp out our drooping country's broken wing!' 
 
 Richard II. Act ii. Sc. I. 
 
 Passages such as this are likely enough to be overlooked 
 by the majority of readers, but it is in such chiefly that 
 the ornithologist sees a proof that Shakespeare, for the 
 age in which he lived, possessed a surprising knowledge of 
 ornithology. 
 
 Besides " imping," there was another practice in use, 
 now happily obsolete, termed " seeling," to which we find 
 several allusions in the Plays. It consisted in sewing a 
 thread through the upper and under eyelids of a newly- 
 caught hawk, to obscure the sight for a time, and accustom 
 her to the hood. 
 
 Turbervile, in his " Book of Falconrie," 1575, gives the 
 following quaint directions " how to seele a hawke " : 
 " Take a needle threeded with untwisted thread, and 
 (casting your Hawke) take her by the beake, and put the 
 needle through her eye-lidde, not right against the sight of 
 the eye, but somewhat nearer to the beake, because she 
 may see backwards. And you must take good heede that 
 you hurt not the webbe, which is under the eye-lidde, or 
 on the inside thereof. Then put your needle also through 
 that other eye-lidde, drawing the endes of the thread 
 together, tye them over the beake, not with a straight 
 knotte, but cut off the threedes endes neare to the knotte, 
 and twist them together in such sorte, that the eye-liddes
 
 70 HOW TO SEEL A HAWK. 
 
 may be raysed so upwards, that the Hawke may not see 
 at all, and when the thread shall ware loose or untyed, 
 then the Hawke may see somewhat backwardes, which is 
 the cause that the threed is put nearer to the beake. For 
 a Sparrow-hawke should see somewhat backwardes, and a 
 Falcon forwardes. The reaso is that if the Sparrow- 
 hawke should see forwardes, shee would beate off her 
 feathers, or break them when she bateth upon the fist, and 
 seeing the companie of men, or such like, she would bate 
 too much." 
 
 In Antony and Cleopatra (Act iii. Sc. 13) we read 
 
 " The wise gods seel our eyes." 
 And in the same play (Act v. Sc. 2) Seleucus says : 
 
 " Madam, 
 
 I had rather seel my lips, than, to my peril, 
 Speak that which is not." 
 
 In his beautiful soliloquy on sleep, Henry IV., addressing 
 the fickle goddess, exclaims, 
 
 " Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast 
 Seel up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains 
 In cradle of the rude imperious surge?" 
 
 Henry IV. Part II. Act iii. Sc. I. 
 
 The word occurs again in Othello (Act i. Sc. 3) 
 
 " When light-wing'd toys 
 Of feather'd Cupid seel with wanton dulness," &c.
 
 QUAINT RECIPES. 71 
 
 And in the same play (Act iii. Sc. 3) 
 
 " She that, so young, could give out such a seeming, 
 To seel her father's eyes up close as oak." 
 
 In the last line it is more probable, considering the use 
 of the technical term " seel," above explained, that Shake- 
 speare wrote " close as hawk's." 
 
 Sir Emerson Tennant, in his " Sketches of the Natural 
 History of Ceylon," speaking of the goshawk (p. 246), 
 says : " In the district of Anarajapoora, where it is 
 trained for hawking, it is usual, in lieu of a hood, to 
 darken its eyes by means of a silken thread passed 
 through holes in the eyelids." This practice of " seeling " 
 appears to be of some antiquity, but has happily given way, 
 to a great extent, to the more merciful use of the hood. 
 
 The old treatises on falconry contain numerous quaint 
 recipes for the various ailments to which hawks are 
 subject. From one of these we learn that petroleum is 
 nothing new, as some people now-a-days would have us 
 believe. Turbervile, writing in 1575, says, in his " Booke 
 of Falconrie " : " An other approued medecine is to 
 annoint the swelling of your hawkes foot with Oleum 
 petroclium (which is the oyle of a rocke) and with oyle of 
 white Lillies, taking of each of these like quantity, the 
 blood of a pigeon, and the tallow of a candle, heating 
 all these together a little at the fire. This unguent wil 
 throughly resolue the mischief." P. 258.
 
 72 GOING A-BIRDING. 
 
 Hawking was sometimes called "birding." In the Merry 
 Wives of Windsor (Act iii. Sc. 3), Master Page says, 
 
 " I do invite you to-morrow morning to my house to 
 breakfast ; after, we '11 a-birding together ; I have a fine 
 hawk for the bush." 
 
 This was probably a goshawk, for, being a short-winged 
 hawk and of slower flight, this species was considered the 
 best for a woody district, or, as Shakespeare terms it, " the 
 bush." 
 
 In the same play (Act iii. Sc. 5) Dame Quickly, re- 
 ferring to Mistress Ford, says, " Her husband goes this 
 morning a-birding;" and Mistress Ford, herself, says (Act 
 iv. Sc. 2), " He 's a-birding, sweet Sir John." 
 
 But it seems that birding was not always synonymous 
 with hawking, for, later on in the last-mentioned scene, 
 we read as follows : 
 
 " Falstaff. What shall I do ? I '11 creep up into the 
 chimney. 
 
 Mrs. Ford. There they always use to discharge their 
 b ir ding-pieces. 
 
 The word "hawk," as in the case of the eagle, is 
 almost invariably employed by Shakespeare in its generic 
 sense : 
 
 " Dost thou love hawking ? thou hast hawks will soar 
 Above the morning lark." 
 
 Taming of tJic Shrew, Induction, Sc. 2".
 
 THE KESTREL. 73 
 
 In Henry V. (Act iii. Sc. 7), the Dauphin, when speak- 
 ing in praise of his horse, says, 
 
 " When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk." 
 
 And in the first part of Henry VI. (Act ii. Sc. 4), the 
 Earl of Warwick boasts that 
 
 " Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch ; 
 
 I have perhaps some shallow spirit of judgment." 
 
 Again, 
 
 " Twenty crowns ! 
 
 I '11 venture so much of my hawk or hound, 
 But twenty times so much upon my wife." 
 
 Taming of the Shrew, Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 In two instances only does Shakespeare allude to a 
 particular species of hawk. These are the Kestrel and 
 Sparrowhawk. 
 
 When Malvolio, in Twelfth Night (Act ii. Sc. 5), finds 
 the letter which Maria has purposely dropt in his path, 
 Sir Toby Belch, looking on from ambush, exclaims, in 
 sporting terms : 
 
 " And with what wing the stanniel checks at it ! " 
 
 Here stanniel is a corruption of standgale, a name for 
 the kestrel hawk, and Malvolio is said to " check at " the 
 letter, just as a kestrel hovers over a mouse or other 
 object which has suddenly attracted its attention. 
 
 L
 
 74 THE SPAKROWHAWK. 
 
 It is true that the reading of the folios here is stallion ; 
 but the word wing, and the falconers' term checks, abun- 
 dantly prove that a bird must be meant. Sir Thomas 
 Hanmer, therefore, proposed this correction, which all 
 subsequent editors have received as justifiable. 
 
 The origin of the word " kestrel " is somewhat un- 
 certain. By some it is derived from " coystril," a knave 
 or peasant, from being the hawk formerly used by persons 
 of inferior rank, as we learn from Dame Juliana Berners, 
 in her " Boke of St. Albans." This opinion is strength- 
 ened by the reading " coystril," in Twelfth Night (Act i. 
 Sc. 3), and " coistrel," in Pericles (Act iv. Sc. 6). A 
 different spelling again occurs in " The Gentleman's 
 Recreation," by Ric. Blome (folio, London, 1686), where 
 the word is written " castrell." 
 
 The sparrowhawk is only mentioned once by Shake- 
 speare, and the passage is one which might be very 
 easily overlooked by any one not conversant with the 
 language of falconry. In the Merry Wives of Windsor, 
 Mrs. Ford addresses Falstaff 's page with 
 
 " How now, my eyas-musket ? " 
 " Musket "* was the name given by the falconers of old 
 
 The weapon of this name, the most important of small fire-arms, is said to 
 have borrowed its title from this the most useful of small hawks, in the same way 
 that other arms as the falcon, falconet, and saker have derived their names 
 from larger and more formidable birds of prey. Against this view it is asserted 
 that the musket was invented in the fifteenth century by the Muscovites, and owes 
 its name to its inventors. See Rescherelle, "Diet. Nat.," and "The Target- a 
 Treatise upon the Art Military," 1756.
 
 HAWK AND HERNSHAW. 75 
 
 to the male sparrowhawk ; " eyas " or " eyess," as before 
 explained, signifying a nestling, or young bird from the 
 eyrie or nest. In the above speech, Mrs. Ford probably 
 intended to imply no more than we should now-a-days 
 mean by the expression " a perky little fellow." 
 
 The words of Hamlet with reference to a hawk must be 
 familiar to all readers of Shakespeare, the more so, 
 possibly, because the passage in question appears to have 
 puzzled many commentators : 
 
 " I am but mad north-north-west : when the wind is 
 southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw!' 
 
 Hamlet, Act. ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 The explanation is simple enough. The last word 
 should be " hernshaw," the old name for the heron. It is 
 not every one who knows a hawk from a heron when he 
 sees it, although it is scarcely possible to conceive two 
 birds more unlike in appearance. Hamlet's statement, 
 then, is simply to the effect that he only feigned madness 
 when it suited his purpose ; at other times he could even 
 outwit the many, and see a distinction where they, from 
 ignorance, would fail. 
 
 The ingenuity which has been exercised in a laudable 
 endeavour to interpret this passage is really surprising. 
 " An ingenious friend," says the A t/ienceum* " suggests 
 the following explanation : ' Among the ancient ygyp- 
 
 * December 3oth, 1865.
 
 76 HAWK AND HERNSHAW. 
 
 tians, the hawk signified the Etesian, or northerly wind 
 (which, in the beginning of summer, drives the vapour 
 towards the south, and which, covering Ethiopia with 
 dense clouds, there resolves them into rains, causing the 
 Nile to swell), because that bird follows the direction 
 of that wind (Job xxxix. 26). The heron, hern, or hern- 
 shaw signified the southerly wind, because it takes its flight 
 from Ethiopia into Upper Egypt, following the course of 
 the Nile as it retires within its banks, and living on the 
 small worms hatched in the mud of the river. Hence the 
 heads of these two birds may be seen surmounting the 
 catiopi used by the ancent ./Egyptians to indicate the rising 
 and falling of the Nile respectively. Now Hamlet, though 
 feigning madness, yet claims sufficient sanity to distinguish 
 a hawk from a hernshaw when the wind is southerly ; that 
 is, in the time of the migration of the latter to the north, 
 and when the former is not to be seen. Shakespeare may 
 have become acquainted with the habits of these migrat- 
 ing birds of Egypt through a translation of Plutarch, who 
 gives a particular account of them, published in the middle 
 of the sixteenth century by Thomas North.' " 
 
 The present chapter, embodying, as it does, a treatise 
 on hawking, illustrated by quotations from Shakespeare, 
 would scarcely be complete without some reference to the 
 prices paid for hawks, and to the expenses of keeping 
 them, at the period at which Shakespeare lived. These 
 particulars may be gleaned from scattered entries in
 
 VALUE OF HAWKS. 77 
 
 certain " Household Books " and " Privy Purse Accounts " 
 of noble owners, which the invaluable labours of anti- 
 quaries have placed within reach of the curious. 
 
 We have been at some pains to collect and arrange the 
 following entries, believing that the information which 
 they supply will be far more interesting to the reader if 
 allowed to remain in the form in which we have found 
 
 it: 
 
 PRICES OF HAWKS. 
 
 Itm the viij daye paied to Walshe for 
 
 so moche money by him layed out 
 
 for one goshawke and ij fawcons . iij li. 
 Itm the xv daye paied for v fawcons 
 
 and a tarsell ..... viij li. 
 Itm the iij daye paied in rewarde to 
 
 S r Richard Sandes s'vnt for the 
 
 bringing of a saker to the king at 
 
 hampton courte .... vs. 
 
 I tm the same daye paied for fy ve ffa wcons vij li. vj s. viij d. 
 Itm the iij daye paied to a stranger 
 
 called Jasper, fawconer, for vj sakers 
 
 and v sakeretts at viij corons a pece 
 
 which arnot 3 to jjy viij corons . . xx li. x s. viij d. 
 Itm the viij daye paied to maister 
 
 Walshe for so much money by him 
 
 paied for goshawks the which the 
 
 king's grace bought upon the cage . iij li.
 
 78 VALUE OF HAWKS. 
 
 Itm to iij of maister Skevington's s'vnts 
 in rewarde for bringing iij hobbyes 
 to the king's grace . . ..iij li. 
 
 Itm the xj daye paied to a s'vfit of 
 Maister Saint John in rewarde for 
 bringing a caste of hawks . . xx s. 
 
 Itm the viij daye paied to a s'vnt of 
 the due of Ferrers in rewarde for 
 bringing of a caste of fawcons to 
 the king's grace at Westm . . xxiij li. vj s. viij d. 
 
 Itm the xix daye paid to a s'vnt of 
 Maister Walshe's for bringing of a 
 caste of Laneretts to the king's 
 grace in rewarde .... x 5. 
 
 Itm the xxvij daye paied to the Abbot 
 of Tewxbury s'vnt in rewarde for 
 bringing a caste of Launners to the 
 king's grace ..... xx s. 
 
 Itm the xvj daye paied to Augustyne 
 the fawconer for viij hawks at vj 
 Angells a pece, whiche amounteth to xviij li. 
 
 HAWKS' FURNITURE. 
 
 Itm the iiij daye paied for ij dousin of 
 
 hawks' hoods at iij s. iiij d. le dousin vj s. viij d. 
 
 Itm the same daye paied for iij hawks' 
 
 gloves at vj s. viij d. le glove . . xx s.
 
 KEEP OF HAWKS. 
 
 79 
 
 Itm the same day paied for vj dousin 
 gilte bells at iij corons le dousin 
 
 HAWKS' MEAT. 
 
 Itm the xx daye paied to Philip Clampe 
 for the mete of ij hawks after the 
 rate of ij d. by the daye from the 
 xx daye of Aprill unto the xviij 
 day of Novembre .... 
 
 Itm the xxj daye paied to James the 
 henne taker for hawks' mete . 
 
 Itm the xj daye paied to Hans the 
 fawconer for hawks' mete 
 
 Itm to the same Hugh paied the same 
 daye for the mete of v hawks by 
 the same space that is to saye for 
 one quarter of a yere ; evy hawke 
 at one penny by the daye 
 
 Itm the xyj daye to maister Hennage 
 for the birds' mete . 
 
 Itm the v day to Nicholas Clampe for 
 the mete of iiij hawks fro the x 
 daye of Maye unto the xxiij daye 
 of June after one peny a daye for 
 a hawke 
 
 Itm to the same John Evans for the 
 mete of iiij hawks by the space of 
 
 xxv s. 
 
 x s. 
 
 xiiij s. iiij d. 
 
 xxxviij s. vj d. 
 xij d. 
 
 XV S.
 
 80 KEEP OF HAWKS. 
 
 Ixxxxvij dayes for evy hawke one 
 
 penny by the daye . . . xxxij s. iiij d. 
 
 FALCONERS' WAGES. 
 Itm the vij daye paied to John Evans 
 
 for his bourde wages for one quarter 
 
 due at our Lady daye laste paste . xxx s. v d. 
 
 Itrh the ix daye paied to the same John 
 
 Evans for his bourde wages fro . 
 
 Mydsom tyll Michelmas after iiij d. 
 
 by the daye . . ". . xxx s. v d. 
 
 Itrh the xxvj daye paied to Nicholas 
 
 Clampe one of the fawconers for 
 
 his wages due for one quarter ended 
 
 at Easter laste paste . . . Is. 
 
 Itn the same daye paied to the same 
 
 Clampe for his bourde wages from 
 
 the xxv daye of Decembre unto 
 
 the laste daye of this monethe the 
 
 which amounts to cxxvij dayes, at 
 
 iiij d. by the daye. . . . xlij s. iiij d. 
 
 SUNDRIES. 
 
 Itrh the vth daye paied to old Hugh in 
 rewarde when his hawks went to 
 the mewe xl s. 
 
 Itrh the xxv daye paied to Walter in 
 
 rewarde for a Jerfawcon that dyed . xl s.
 
 SUNDRIES. 8 1 
 
 Itrii the same daye paied to one that 
 
 toke up a Lanner that had been 
 
 lacking a hole yere .... x s. 
 
 Itrii the laste daye paied unto Nicholas 
 
 Clampe for keeping of a lanneret 
 
 called ' Cutte ' for one hole yere at 
 
 j d. a daye ..... xxx is. v d. 
 
 Itrii the xxvij daye paied to a s'vnt of 
 
 my lorde Brayes in rewarde for 
 
 taking up of a fawcon of the kings 
 
 in Bedfordshire . . . . vj s. viij d. 
 
 Itrii the xvij daye paied to one Richard 
 
 Mason for taking up of a fawcon of 
 
 the kings besides Hartford . . vj s. viij d. 
 
 Itrh the xiij daye paied to a s'vnt of 
 
 my lorde Darcys in rewarde for 
 
 taking up of a hawke of the kings 
 
 and bringing hir to Yorke place . vij s. vi d. 
 
 I tin the xiij daye paied to lohn Weste 
 
 of the garde to ryde into the 
 
 contry for an hawke by the kings 
 
 comande* xx s. 
 
 Itrii the xxviij daye paid to Willrn 
 
 Tyldesley, grome of the Chambre, 
 
 for lying oute to take hawkes by 
 
 the kings comande* .... x s. 
 
 Itrii the xiiij paied to a s'vnt of maister 
 
 M
 
 82 SUNDRIES. 
 
 Skevingtons in rewarde for bringing 
 
 hawkes out of Irlande ... xl s. 
 
 Itm the x daye paied to Garard the 
 fawconer in rewarde for taking of a 
 fawcon and a tarsell . . . Ivj s. 
 
 Itm the xj daye of Marche paied to 
 Garrat and Richard the fawconers 
 in rewarde for rinding the Herons . x s. 
 
 The interest which attaches to these curious extracts 
 must excuse us with the reader for their length. 
 
 We cannot peruse them without being carried back, in 
 spirit, to an age in which, for all that concerns sport, we 
 would fain have lived to bear a part. Alas ! that so 
 delightful a pastime as hawking should have declined, and 
 that we should live to see our noble falcons gibbeted, like 
 thieves, upon " the keeper's tree."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE OWL AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 A S Jove assumed the shape of an Eagle, so Juno selected 
 that of an Owl, for, as Aldrovandus tells us, it was not 
 decorous that the queen of heaven should take on herself 
 the likeness of any small or vulgar bird, but rather that 
 she should be embodied in one whose reign by night was 
 equal with that of the eagle by day. The owl has usually 
 been regarded as a bird of ill omen, and superstitiously 
 considered a messenger of woe. The Athenians alone 
 among the ancients seem to have been free from this 
 popular prejudice, and to have regarded the owl with 
 veneration rather than abhorrence, considering it as the 
 favourite of Minerva, and the image of wisdom. The 
 Romans viewed the owl with detestation and dread. By 
 them it was held sacred to Proserpine : its appearance 
 foreboded unfortunate events, and, according to Pliny, the 
 city of Rome underwent a solemn lustration in conse- 
 quence of an owl having accidentally strayed into the 
 Capitol.
 
 84 ITS USE IN MEDICINE. 
 
 In the ancient pharmacopoeia, which savoured not a 
 little of magic, the owl appears to have been "great medi- 
 cine." Ovid tells us that this bird was used wholesale in 
 the composition of Medea's gruel : 
 
 " Et strigis infames ipsis cum carnibus alas." 
 
 While, according to Horace, the old witch Canidia made 
 use of the feathers in her incantations : 
 
 " Plumamque nocturnae strigis." 
 
 The " owlet's wing " was an ingredient of the cauldron 
 wherein the witches prepared their " charm of powerful 
 trouble" (Macbeth, Act iv. Sc. i) ; and, with the character 
 assigned to it by the ancients, Shakespeare, no doubt, felt 
 that the introduction of an owl in a dreadful scene of a 
 tragedy would help to make the subject come home more 
 forcibly to the people, who had, from early times, asso- 
 ciated its presence with melancholy, misfortune, and 
 death. Accordingly, we find the unfortunate owl stig- 
 matized at various times as the "obscure," "ominous," 
 " fearful," and " fatal " " bird of night." Its doleful cry 
 pierces the ear of Lady Macbeth while the murder is 
 being done : 
 
 " Hark ! Peace ! It was the owl that shriek'd, 
 The fatal bellman which gives the stern'st good night." 
 
 Macbeth, Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
 And when the murderer rushes in immediately after- 
 wards, exclaiming,
 
 A BIRD OF ILL OMEN. 85 
 
 " I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise ?" 
 She replies, 
 
 " I heard the owl scream." 
 And later on 
 
 " The obscure bird clamour'd the live-long night." 
 
 Macbeth, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 The awe, no doubt, with which this bird is regarded by 
 the superstitious, may be attributed in some measure to 
 the fact of its flying by night. 
 
 " Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night, 
 
 The time when screech-owls cry and ban-dogs howl." 
 Henry VI. Part II. Act i. Sc. 4. 
 
 And yet, strange to say, the appearance of an owl by day 
 is by some considered equally ominous : 
 
 " The owl by day, 
 If he arise, is mocked and wondered at." 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act v. Sc. 4. 
 
 " For night-owls shriek, where mounting larks should 
 sing." 
 
 Richard I I. Act iii. Sc. 3. 
 
 Should an owl appear at a birth it is said to forbode ill- 
 luck to the infant. King Henry VI., addressing Gloster, 
 says,
 
 86 ITS HABITS MISUNDERSTOOD. 
 
 " The owl shriek'd at thy birth, an evil sign." 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act v. Sc. 6. 
 
 While upon any other occasion its presence was supposed 
 to predict a death, or at least some dire mishap : 
 
 " The screech-owl, screeching loud, 
 Puts the wretch, that lies in woe, 
 In remembrance of a shroud." 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream, Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 When Richard III. is irritated by the ill-news showered 
 thick upon him, he interrupts the third messenger with 
 
 " Out on ye, owls ! nothing but songs of death ? " 
 
 Richard III. Act iv. Sc. 4. 
 
 It is curious how wide-spread is the superstition regard- 
 ing certain birds, and particularly the owl. Even amongst 
 the Land Dayaks of Borneo, the owl is considered a bird 
 of ill omen. Mr. Spenser St. John, in his " Life in the 
 Forests of the Far East," observes with regard to omens 
 (vol. i. p. 202) : 
 
 " If a man be going on a war expedition, and has a slip 
 during his first day's journey, he must return to his village, 
 especially if by the accident blood be drawn, for then, 
 should he proceed, he has no prospect but wounds or 
 death. If the accident occur during a long expedition, 
 he must return to his last night's resting place. In some 
 tribes, if a deer cry near a party who are setting out on
 
 ITS UTILITY TO THE FARMER. 8/ 
 
 a journey, they will return. When going out at night to 
 the jungle, if the scream of a hawk, or an owl, or of a 
 small kind of frog be heard, it is a sign that sickness will 
 follow if the design be pursued ; and again, if the screech 
 of the two former be heard in front of a party on the war- 
 path, it is an evil sign, and they must return. Omens 
 derived from the cry of birds are always sought previously 
 to setting out on a journey, and before fixing on a spot to 
 build new houses, or to prepare their farms." 
 
 Far from bringing any ill-luck to our dwellings, owls 
 are really of the greatest service to us in destroying great 
 numbers of vermin. A Swiss naturalist, speaking of the 
 quantity of field-voles which are annually destroyed by 
 owls and buzzards, says :* 
 
 " C'est un fait curieux que rhomme s'acharne tout 
 particulierement a detruire ses meillures amis, et qu'il 
 poursuive de ses maledictions les etres qui le servent le 
 mieux. Je joindrai done ma faible voix a celle de bien 
 d'autres naturalistes pour demander que Ton protege les 
 premieres de ces bdtes. 
 
 " Les hibous et les chouettes, bien loin de jeter de 
 mauvais sorts sur nos demeures, prennent au contraire, 
 un grand soin de nos interets. Ces oiseaux exterminent ; 
 en effet, bien plus de souris que n'en pourront prendre 
 jamais les meilleurs taupiers. Les buses n'ont nulle- 
 
 * Victor Fatio, "Les Campagnols du Bassin du Leman." Bale, Geneve, et 
 Paris. 1867. P. 16.
 
 88 A CURIOUS TRADITION. 
 
 ment merite leur place sur la porte de nos granges, et 
 plutdt que de les tuer, Ton ferait bien mieux d'etablir 
 chez nous, comme cela s'est fait avec succes dans 
 certaines localites, de hauts perchoirs dans nos campagnes 
 pour attirer ces oiseaux bienfaisants." 
 
 Among the many curious legends which exist with 
 reference to this bird, we may mention one to which 
 Shakespeare has alluded in Hamlet : 
 
 " They say the owl was a baker's daughter." 
 
 Hamlet, Act iv. Sc. 5. 
 
 Mr. Staunton, in his edition of Shakespeare's Plays, says 
 this has reference to a tradition still current in some parts 
 of England. " Our Saviour went into a baker's shop where 
 they were baking, and asked for some bread to eat. The 
 mistress of the shop immediately put a piece of dough into 
 the oven to bake for him, but was reprimanded by her 
 daughter, who, insisting that the piece of dough was too 
 large, reduced it considerably in size. The dough, 
 however, immediately afterwards began to swell, and 
 presently became of an enormous size. Whereupon 
 the baker's daughter cried out, ' Wheugh ! wheugh ! 
 wheugh ! ' which owl-like noise, it is said, probably 
 induced our Saviour, for her wickedness, to transform her 
 into that bird." 
 
 Mr. Douce represents this story as still current amongst 
 the common people in Gloucestershire.* According to 
 
 * " Illustrations of Shakespeare, and of Ancient Manners." 1807.
 
 A CURIOUS TRADITION. 89 
 
 Nuttall, the north country nurses would have it that the 
 owl was a daughter of Pharaoh, and when they heard it 
 hoot on a winter's night, they sang to the wondering child 
 
 " Oh ! o o o, o 5 ; 
 
 I once was a king's daughter, and sat on my father's knee, 
 But now I 'm a poor hoolet, and hide in a hollow tree." 
 
 There is much difference of opinion amongst naturalists 
 as to whether the power of hooting and shrieking is 
 possessed by the same species. In the following passage 
 from Julius Ccesar (Act i. Sc. 3), both sounds are at- 
 tributed to the same bird : 
 
 " Yesterday the bird of night did sit, 
 Even at noonday, upon the market-place, 
 Hooting and shrieking." 
 
 It is generally supposed that the common barn or white 
 owl does not hoot, but only shrieks, and is, in fact, the 
 bird always alluded to as the " screech-owl," while the 
 brown owls (Strix ottts, brachyotus, and aluco] are the 
 hooters 
 
 " The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots." 
 
 Midsummer Nighfs Dream, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 But Mr. Colquhoun, speaking of the white or barn owl, 
 says,* " It does hoot, but very rarely. I heard one six 
 times in succession, arid then it ceased." Sir William 
 
 * " The Moor and the Loch." 
 
 N
 
 9O NOTE OF THE OWL. 
 
 Jardine once shot a white owl in the act of hooting ; 
 and Mr. Boulton, of Beverley, Yorkshire, describes * the 
 note of one of these birds which he had reared from 
 the nest, and kept in confinement for fifteen months, 
 as follows : " It does hoot exactly like the long-eared 
 owl, but not so frequently. I use the term ' hoot ' in 
 contradistinction to ' screech,' which it often does when 
 irritated." 
 
 In Gardiner's " Music of Nature " the note of the brown 
 owl is thus rendered : 
 
 Mr. Colquhoun, to whom allusion has just been made, 
 says, that the music of the white or barn owl is a little 
 different from that of the brown owls. It is only one 
 prolonged cadence, lower and not so mournful as that of 
 the tawny fellow. 
 
 It would appear that owls do not keep to one note. A 
 friend of Gilbert White's remarked that most of his owls 
 hooted in B flat, but that one went almost half a note 
 below A. The pipe by which he tried their notes was a 
 common half-crown pitchpipe. A neighbour, also, of the 
 Selborne naturalist, who was said to have a nice ear, 
 remarked that the owls about Selborne hooted in three 
 different keys : in G flat (or F sharp), in B flat, and A 
 
 * " The Zoologist" for 1863, p. 8,765.
 
 AN OWL ROBBING NESTS. 91 
 
 flat. He heard two hooting to each other, the one in 
 A flat, the other in B flat. 
 
 It did not appear, however, whether the sounds pro- 
 ceeded from different species of brown owls, or from 
 different individuals of the same species. 
 
 Another question in the life-history of the owl is 
 raised by the following passage from Macbeth (Act iv. 
 
 Sc. 2) : 
 
 " For the poor wren, 
 
 The most diminutive of birds, will fight, 
 Her young ones in her nest, against the owl." 
 
 This defence of their young by birds has often been 
 noticed by Shakespeare : 
 
 " Unreasonable creatures feed their young ; 
 And though man's face be fearful to their eyes, 
 Yet, in protection of their tender ones, 
 Who hath not seen them (even with those wings 
 Which sometimes they have us'd with fearful flight) 
 Make war with him that climb'd unto their nest, 
 Off 'ring their own lives in their young's defence ? " 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 We are not aware, however, that an owl has ever been 
 caught in the act of robbing a nest, and, indeed, it would not 
 be easy to detect him, from the fact of his preying by night. 
 Nevertheless, there is presumptive evidence to support 
 the charge. A writer in The Field, of 2Qth June, 1867,
 
 92 EVIDENCE NOT CONCLUSIVE. 
 
 says : " Standing in my garden in Bedford Park, 
 Croydon, an evening or two since, I saw a white owl fly 
 to a sparrow's nest lodged on a water-spout under the 
 roof of the house, and as though that visit was not 
 successful, he repeated it, and then went to a nest on the 
 next house, in the same way. It was too dark for me to 
 see if he succeeded in his marauding expedition against 
 the poor sparrows. Is it a common occurrence for an owl 
 to go robbing nests ? I never saw it done before, though 
 I have lived all my life in the country, and of course seen 
 this favourite bird skimming over the water meadows for 
 its supper." To this communication the editor adds the 
 following note : " This fact is extremely interesting, and, 
 we think, generally unknown. It would, however, have 
 added much to the interest, had the robbery actually 
 been proved ; it does not seem quite certain that this 
 was the owl's object in visiting the roof." 
 
 Some years ago, having made the discovery that some 
 stock-doves were building in the wooden spire of our 
 village church, we commissioned the parish clerk to secure 
 a pair of young birds as soon as they were ready 
 to fly. He made several attempts for this purpose, 
 paying occasional visits to see how the young birds were 
 getting on, when, on going to the nest, as he supposed for 
 the last time, to carry them off, he found it empty. This 
 happened three or four times, and he was much puzzled 
 to account for it. The birds could not have flown they
 
 ITS CHARACTER MALIGNED. 93 
 
 were not old enough. No one else could have taken them, 
 for the church could not be entered without the key, which 
 he always kept. Had rats carried them off? The clerk 
 said there were none. Had there been any, he must have 
 heard or seen them on one or other of his many visits to 
 the church, or at least have found signs of their presence. 
 But this was never the case. He stated, however, that a 
 pair of barn owls lived in the same spire, and he thought 
 that they were the culprits, taking the young ones, as he 
 said, as soon as they were fat enough, to save themselves 
 the trouble of hunting out of doors. Be this as it may, 
 we feel bound to say, on behalf of the owls, they were 
 never caught in the fact, and that the parent stock-doves 
 were not deterred from laying again and again, and at 
 length rearing a brood. Charles Waterton, whose name 
 will be familiar to all naturalists, argues strongly against 
 the notion of the barn owl robbing dove-cotes. He 
 says* : " When farmers complain that the barn owl 
 destroys the eggs of their pigeons, they lay the saddle on 
 the wrong horse. They ought to put it on the rat. 
 
 " Formerly, I could get very few young pigeons till the 
 rats were excluded effectually from the dove-cot. Since 
 that took place, it has produced a great abundance every 
 year, though the barn owls frequent it, and are encouraged 
 all around it. The barn owl merely resorts to it for 
 repose and concealment. If it were really an enemy to 
 
 * " Essays on Natural History," ist Series, p. 14.
 
 94 ITS RETIRING HABITS. 
 
 the dove-cot, we should see the pigeons in commotion as 
 soon as it begins its evening flight, but the pigeons heed 
 it not ; whereas if the sparrowhawk or hobby should 
 make its appearance, the whole community would be up 
 at once proof sufficient that the barn owl is not looked 
 upon as a bad or even a suspicious character by the 
 inhabitants of the dove-cot." 
 
 Its habit of breeding in retired situations is alluded to 
 in Titus Andronicns, Act ii. Sc. 3 : 
 
 " Here never shines the sun ; here nothing breeds, 
 Unless the nightly owl." 
 
 And Shakespeare has truly characterized the appearance 
 of this bird on the wing, when he speaks of 
 
 " The night-owl's lazy flight." 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
 Why the owl has been called the " bird of wisdom " it 
 is not easy to determine. Possibly because it can see in 
 the dark, and is the only bird which looks straightforward. 
 Shakespeare frequently alludes to its " five wits," and the 
 readers of Tennyson's poems will no doubt remember the 
 lines : 
 
 " Alone, and warming \nsfive wits, 
 The white owl in the belfry sits." 
 
 With our early writers the five senses appear to have 
 been generally called the "five wits." Chaucer, in the
 
 ITS FIVE WITS. 95 
 
 " Parsone's Tale," says : " Certes delites been after the 
 appetites of the ' five wittes ; ' as sight, hereing, smelling, 
 savouring, and touching." But it is not clear how this 
 proverbial phrase became connected with the owl, nor 
 what is the origin of " warming " the wits. 
 
 " Petruchio. Am I not wise? 
 
 Katharine. Yes, keep you warm." 
 
 Taming of the Shrew, Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
 " If he have wit enough to keep himself zvarm." 
 
 Muck Ado, Act i. Sc. i. 
 " Bless thy Jive wits'' 
 
 King Lear, Act iii. Sc. 4, and Act iii. Sc. 6. 
 
 The allusion above made to Tennyson's well-known 
 poem, reminds us of the quaint and characteristic song in 
 the last scene of Loves Labour s Lost : 
 
 in. 
 " When icicles hang by the wall, 
 
 And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, 
 And Tom bears logs into the hall, 
 
 And milk comes frozen home in pail ; 
 When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul, 
 Then nightly sings the staring owl, 
 
 To-who ; 
 
 Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note, 
 While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
 
 96 ITS FAME IN SONG. 
 
 IV. 
 When all aloud the wind doth blow, 
 
 And coughing drowns the parson's saw, 
 And birds sit brooding in the snow, 
 
 And Marian's nose looks red and raw ; 
 When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, 
 Then nightly sings the staring owl, 
 
 To-who ; 
 
 Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note, 
 While greasy Joan doth keel the pot." 
 
 Nor do we forget Ariel's song in The Tempest (Act v. 
 Sc. i) 
 
 " Where the bee sucks, there lurk I ; 
 In a cowslip's bell I lie, 
 There I couch when owls do cry." 
 
 Amongst the fairies, at least, the owl seems to have found 
 friends, and is generally represented as a companion in 
 their moonlight gambols : 
 
 " This is the fairy land ! O, spite of spites ! 
 We talk with goblins, owls, and elvish sprites." 
 
 Comedy of Errors, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 The folio of 1623 omits "elvish," but the folio of 1632 
 has " elves," which Rowe changed to " elvish." 
 
 The following quotation we have some hesitation in 
 introducing, for there appears to be a difference of reading, 
 which quite alters the sense :
 
 ITS COMRADES. 97 
 
 " No, rather, I abjure all roofs, and choose 
 
 To be a comrade with the wolf and owl, 
 Necessity's sharp pinch." 
 
 King Lear, Act ii. Sc. 4. 
 
 Mr. Collier, taking into consideration the last line, 
 reads : 
 
 " To be a comrade with the wolf, and howl 
 Necessity's sharp pinch." 
 
 And this seems more likely to be the correct reading. 
 Albeit, in support of the former version, the following 
 passage in Lucrece has been adduced : 
 
 " No noise but owls' and wolves' death-boding cries." 
 
 It is not to be supposed that Shakespeare was always 
 a firm believer in the popular notions respecting animals 
 and birds to which he has made allusion. In many cases 
 he had a particular motive in introducing such notions, 
 although possibly aware of their erroneous nature, and he 
 evidently adopted them only to impart an air of reality to 
 the scenes which he depicted, and to bring them home 
 more forcibly to the impressionable minds of his auditors, 
 to whom such " folks-lore " would be familiar. This is 
 notably the case as regards the owl, and no one can read 
 the first scene in the second act of Macbeth, or the 
 fourth scene in the first act of Henry VI. (Part II.), 
 
 o
 
 9 8 
 
 THK OWLS GOOD NIGHT. 
 
 without feeling the impressive effect produced by the 
 introduction of a bird which is held in such detestation 
 by the ignorant, but which naturalists have shown to be 
 not only harmless, but useful. 
 But 
 " The owl, night's herald, shrieks, 'tis very late." 
 
 Venus and Adonis. 
 
 And, therefore, with Boyet, in Loves Labour s Lost (Act 
 iv. Sc. i), we will say : 
 
 " Good night, my good owl."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CROWS AND THEIR RELATIONS. 
 
 a superficial observer of nature, there may appear 
 to be a much greater resemblance between the Raven, 
 the Crow, the Rook, and the Jackdaw, than we find to be 
 actually the case. At the same time, so different to them 
 in outward appearance are the Jay and Magpie, that it 
 may appear extraordinary to class them all together. 
 Nevertheless, while each, of course, has its distinguishing 
 characters, all are included in the first section of the 
 family of crows. 
 
 The Raven (Corvns corax), from his size and character, 
 naturally takes the lead. Go where we will over the face of 
 the wide world, the well-known hoarse croak of the raven is 
 still to be heard. He was seen perched on the bare rocks, 
 looking over the dreary snows of the highest points visited 
 in the Arctic Expeditions. Under the burning sun of 
 the equator he enjoys his feast of carrion. He was dis- 
 covered in the islands of the Pacific Ocean by Captain
 
 100 THE RAVEN, 
 
 Cook ; and in the lowest Southern or Antarctic regions, 
 other travellers have found him pursuing his cautious 
 predatory life, just as in England.* 
 
 From the earliest times the raven, with his deep and 
 solemn voice, has always commanded attention, and 
 superstitious people have become impressed with the idea 
 that there is something unearthly in his nature and 
 ominous in his voice.f By the Romans this bird was 
 consecrated to Apollo, and regarded as a foreteller of 
 good or evil. Through a long course of centuries this 
 character has clung to him ; and even to this day, there 
 are many who believe that the raven's croak predicts a 
 death. 
 
 No wonder, then, that Shakespeare has taken advantage 
 of this wide-spread belief, and has introduced the raven 
 into many of the solemn passages of his Plays, to carry 
 conviction to the minds of the people, and render his 
 images the more impressive. He frequently alludes to 
 "the ill-boding raven : " 
 
 " It conies o'er my memory, 
 As doth the raven o'er the infectious house, 
 
 Boding to all." 
 
 Othello, Act iv. Sc. i. 
 
 Thersites, in Troilus and Cressida (Act v. Sc. 2), 
 says, 
 
 * Stanley's " Familiar History of Birds," p. 179. 
 
 f An excellent dissertation on the organ of voice in the raven will be found in 
 the second volume of Yarrell's " British Birds," 3rd ed. p. 72
 
 A BIRD OF ILL OMEN. IOI 
 
 "Would I could meet that rogue Diomed ; I would 
 croak like a raven ; I would bode, I would bode." 
 
 In the play of Henry VI. Suffolk vainly endeavours to 
 cheer up the King, who has swooned on hearing of 
 Gloster's death, saying : 
 
 " Comfort, my sovereign ! gracious Henry, comfort ! " 
 
 But the King, likening his message to the ill-boding note 
 of a raven, replies : 
 
 " What, doth my lord of Suffolk comfort me ? 
 Came he right now to sing a raven's note, 
 Whose dismal tune bereft my vital powers ; 
 And thinks he that the chirping of a wren, 
 By crying comfort from a hollow breast, 
 Can chase away the first-conceived sound ? " 
 
 Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 After Balthazar has sung his well-known song, " Sigh no 
 more, ladies," (Much Ado, Act ii. Sc. 3,) Benedick observes 
 to himself, " An he had been a dog that should have 
 howled thus, they would have hanged him : and I pray 
 God his bad voice bode no mischief. I had as lief have 
 heard the night-raven, come what plague could have come 
 after it." 
 
 Willughby thought that the so-called " night-raven " 
 was the bittern. Speaking of the curious noise produced 
 by the latter bird, he says : " This, I suppose, is the
 
 102 THE NIGHT-CROW : 
 
 bird which the vulgar call the night-raven, and have a 
 great dread of."* 
 
 The bittern was one of the very few birds which Gold- 
 smith, in his " Animated Nature," described from personal 
 observation, and he, too, calls it the " night-raven." Its 
 hollow boom, he says, caused it to be held in detestation 
 by the vulgar. " I remember, in the place where I was 
 a boy, with what terror the bird's note affected the whole 
 village ; they considered it as the presage of some sad event, 
 and generally found, or made one to succeed it. If any 
 person in the neighbourhood died, they supposed it could 
 not be otherwise, for the night-raven had foretold it ; but 
 if nobody happened to die, the death of a cow or a sheep 
 gave completion to the prophecy." 
 
 Sometimes it was called the night-crow 
 
 " The night-crow cried, aboding luckless time." 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act v. Sc. 6. 
 
 Shakespeare has introduced an allusion to the raven with 
 much effect, in the fifth scene of the first act in Macbeth, 
 where an attendant enters the chamber of Lady Macbeth 
 to announce 
 
 " The king comes here to-night. 
 Lady M. Thou Vt mad to say it ! 
 
 Is not thy master with him ? who, were't so, 
 Would have informed for preparation. 
 
 Willughby's "Ornithology," folio, 1678. Book I. p. 25.
 
 ITS SUPPOSED PROPHETIC POWER. 103 
 
 Attend. So please you, it is true : our thane is coming : 
 
 One of my fellows had the speed of him ; 
 
 Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more 
 
 Than would make up his message. 
 Lady M. Give him tending ; 
 
 He brings great news. [Exit Attendant. 
 
 The raven himself is hoarse 
 
 That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan 
 
 Under my battlements." 
 
 On this passage Johnson remarks : " The messenger, says 
 the servant, had hardly breath to make up his message ; 
 to which the lady answers mentally, that he may well 
 want breath ; such a message would add hoarseness to 
 the raven. That even the bird whose harsh voice is 
 accustomed to predict calamities, could not croak the 
 entrance of Duncan but in a note of unwonted harsh- 
 ness." 
 
 The preference which the raven evinces for " sickly 
 prey," or carrion, is not unnoticed by the poet : 
 
 " Now powers from home, and discontents at home, 
 Meet in one line ; and vast confusion waits, 
 As doth a raven on a sick-fallen beast, 
 The imminent decay of wrested pomp." 
 
 King John, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 And again
 
 104 ITS PRESENCE ON BATTLE-FIELDS. 
 
 " Ravens 
 
 Fly o'er our heads, and downward look on us, 
 As we were sickly prey." 
 
 Julius Ccesar, Act v. Sc. 3. 
 
 In Henry V. (Act iv. Sc. 2) we have a graphic picture of 
 a distressed army followed by ravens on the look-out for 
 corpses : 
 
 " Yond island carrions, desperate of their bones, 
 Ill-favour'dly become the morning field : 
 Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose, 
 And our air shakes them passing scornfully. 
 And their executors, the knavish crows, 
 Fly o'er them all, impatient for their hour." 
 
 It is most probable that the supposed prophetic 
 power of the raven, respecting battles and bloodshed, 
 originated in its frequent presence on these occasions, 
 drawn to the field of slaughter by an attractive banquet 
 of unburied bodies of the slain. Hence poets have 
 described this bird as possessing a mysterious knowledge 
 of these things. The Icelanders, notwithstanding their 
 endeavours to destroy as many as they can, yet give 
 them credit for the gift of prophecy, and have a high 
 opinion of them as soothsayers. And the priests of the 
 North American Indians wear, as a distinguishing mark 
 of their sacred profession, two or three raven skins, 
 fixed to the girdle behind their back, in such a
 
 ITS FOOD. 105 
 
 manner that the tails stick out horizontally from 
 the body. They have also a split raven skin on the 
 head, so fastened as to let the beak project from the 
 forehead.* 
 
 The solitary habits of this bird during the nesting 
 season are thus alluded to : 
 
 " A barren detested vale, you see, it is ; 
 The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and lean, 
 O'ercome with moss and baleful misseltoe : 
 Here never shines the sun ; here nothing breeds, 
 Unless the nightly owl or fatal raven." 
 
 Tittts Andronicus, Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 
 And a curious belief is mentioned with regard to the 
 rearing of its young : 
 
 " Some say that ravens foster forlorn children, 
 The whilst their own birds famish in their nests." 
 
 Titus Andronicus > Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 
 It would appear, from some passages in the sacred 
 Scriptures, that the desertion of their young had not 
 escaped the observation of the inspired writers. It was 
 certainly a current belief in olden times, that when the 
 raven saw its young ones newly hatched, and covered 
 with down, it conceived such an aversion that it forsook 
 them, and did not return to the nest until a darker 
 plumage had shown itself. And to this belief commenta- 
 tors suppose the Psalmist alludes when he says : " He 
 
 * Stanley's "Familiar History of Birds," p. 188.
 
 106 ALLEGED DESERTION OF YOUNG. 
 
 giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which 
 cry" (Psalm cxlvii. 9.) And again, in Job, " Who pro- 
 videthfor the raven his food? When his young ones cry 
 unto God, they wander for lack of meat." (Job xxxviii. 41.) 
 
 In Batman " upon Bartholome his book, ' De proprieta- 
 tibus Rerum,' folio, 1582," we find the following passage 
 bearing upon the question : " The raven is called Corvus 
 of Corax. It is said that ravens birdes (i.e., young ravens) 
 be fed with deaw of heaven all the time that they have 
 no black feathers by benefite of age." (Lib. xii. c. 10.) 
 
 Izaak Walton, in his " Compleat Angler," speaking of 
 fish without mouths, which "are nourished and take 
 breath by the porousness of their gills, man knows not 
 how," observes that " this may be believed if we con- 
 sider that when the raven hath hatched her eggs, she 
 takes no further care, but leaves her young ones to the 
 care of the God of nature, who is said in the Psalms 
 (Psal. cxlvii. 9) 'to feed the young ravens that call upon 
 him.' And they be kept alive, and .fed by a dew or 
 worms that breed in their nests ; or some other ways that 
 we mortals know not." 
 
 Shakespeare, no doubt, had the words of the Psalmist in 
 his mind when he wrote 
 
 "And He that doth the ravens feed, 
 Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, 
 Be comfort to my age ! " 
 
 As You Like It, Act ii. Sc. 3.
 
 RAVENS' FEATHERS. 107 
 
 We read in the First Book of Kings, xvii. 4, that when 
 the prophet Elijah fled from the tyranny of King Ahab, 
 and concealed himself by the brook Cherith, God com- 
 manded the ravens to feed him there. The remembrance 
 of this passage may have been in our poet's mind when he 
 penned the following lines in the Winter's Tale. Anti- 
 gonus, ordered by Leontes to expose the infant Perdita 
 to death, says, with a touch of pity : 
 
 " Come on, poor babe : 
 Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens 
 
 To be thy nurses ! " 
 
 Winters Tale, Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 
 As in the case of the owl, it appears that ravens' feathers 
 were employed by the witches of old in their incantations ; 
 for it was believed that the wings of this bird carried 
 contagion with them wherever they appeared. Marlowe, 
 in his Jew of Malta, speaks of 
 
 . " the sad presaging raven, that tolls 
 The sick man's passport in her hollow beak, 
 And in the shadow of the silent night 
 Doth shake contagion from her sable wings," 
 
 Hence the curse which Shakespeare puts into the mouth 
 of Caliban : 
 
 " As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd 
 With raven's feather from unwholesome fen, 
 
 Drop on you both !" 
 
 Tempest, Act i. Sc. 2.
 
 108 A BLACK CHARACTER. 
 
 Here " wicked " may be taken to mean pernicious or 
 destructive the antonym being "virtuous," as in the 
 expression "the virtuous properties of plants." A bad 
 sore is described, in an old tract on hawking (Harl. MS. 
 2,340), as "a wykked felone." 
 
 As the type of blackness, both as regards colour and 
 character, we find the raven frequently contrasted with 
 the white dove, the emblem of all that is pure and gentle. 
 
 "Who will not change a raven for a dove ?" 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 " I '11 sacrifice the lamb that I do love, 
 To spite a raven's heart within a dove." 
 
 Twelfth Night, Act v. Sc. i . 
 
 " Beautiful tyrant ! fiend angelical ! 
 Dove-feather 'd raven ! 
 
 Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 The quarto (1599) and folio here read, "ravenous, dove- 
 feather'd raven," &c. 
 
 As colour is intensified by contrast, so we read 
 
 " Whiter than snow upon a raven's back." 
 
 So the undated quarto. Other editions have the emen- 
 dation
 
 VARIATION IN COLOUR. IOQ 
 
 " Whiter than new snow on a raven's back." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 We have seen a variety of the jackdaw of a dirty 
 yellowish-white colour ; it could scarcely be called " amber- 
 colour'd." No doubt other members of the genus Corvus 
 have occasionally been observed to vary quite as much in 
 their plumage. Shakespeare says, 
 
 " An amber-colour'd raven was well noted." 
 
 Love's Labour's Lost, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 No doubt it was ; quite as much as a white blackbird. 
 This apparent contradiction of terms is in reality no myth. 
 We have seen three or four albino varieties of the black- 
 bird, and could give a tolerably long list of dark-plumaged 
 birds of which pure white, or almost pure white, varieties 
 have been found. This may be the result of disease, or 
 of old age, drying up the animal secretions, and causing 
 the absence of colour which we call white. According to 
 ancient authors, ravens were formerly white, but were 
 changed to black for babbling. The great age to which the 
 raven sometimes attains has been alluded to in the first 
 chapter, where some reference is made to "ancient" eagles, 
 and tame ravens have been known to outlive several 
 masters who owned them successively. But birds, like all 
 things else, succumb to time. Shakespeare tells us,
 
 1 10 THE CARRION CROW : 
 
 " Time's glory is to calm contending Kings, .... 
 To fill with worm-holes stately monuments, . . . 
 To pluck the quills from ancient ravens' wings." 
 
 Liter ece. 
 
 Next to the raven, the Carrion-Crow (Corvus corone) 
 claims our attention, from his close relationship to his 
 larger congener. So closely, indeed, does he resemble the 
 raven upon a slightly modified scale, that we might also 
 fancy him 
 
 " A crow of the same nest." 
 
 All's Well tliat Ends Well, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 Like him, he leads a predatory life, carrying off young 
 game-birds, chickens, and eggs ; and where he cannot 
 obtain a fresh meal, he has no objection to carrion and 
 offal of all kinds. Should a sheep die in the field, the 
 crows of the neighbourhood are sure to be attracted to it. 
 
 " The fold stands empty in the drowned field, 
 And crows are fatted with the murrain flock." 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream, Act. ii. Sc. i . 
 
 Gamekeepers, knowing this propensity, and having an 
 eye to the better preservation of pheasants' eggs for the 
 future, avail themselves of the opportunity, when a sheep 
 dies, to place a little strychnine in the mouth and eyes, 
 and on a second visit they are seldom disappointed in 
 finding two or three dead crows.
 
 ITS PREDATORY HABITS. Ill 
 
 Throughout the Plays we meet with frequent allusions 
 to the crow, and its partiality for carrion. In the fifth act 
 of Cymbeline a scene is laid in a field between the British 
 and Roman camps, where the following dialogue takes 
 place : 
 
 " British Captain. Stand ! who's there ? 
 
 Posthumns. A Roman, 
 
 Who had not now been drooping here, if seconds 
 Had answer'd him. 
 
 British Captain. Lay hands on him ; a dog ! 
 A leg of Rome shall not return to tell 
 What crows have peck'd them here." 
 
 Cymbeline, Act. v. Sc. 3. 
 Again 
 
 "Boy. Mine host Pistol, you must come to my 
 master, and you, hostess ; he is very sick, and would 
 to bed 
 
 Host. By my troth, he'll yield the crow a pudding one 
 
 of these days." 
 
 Henry V. Act ii. Sc. I. 
 
 The Duke of York, on the field of St. Albans, boasting 
 of his victory over Lord Clifford, says, in reply to the 
 Earl of Warwick : 
 
 " The deadly-handed Clifford slew my steed, 
 But match to match I have encounter'd him,
 
 112 FOOD FOR CROWS. 
 
 And made a prey for carrion kites and crows 
 Even of the bonny beast he lov'd so well." 
 
 Henry VI. Part II. Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 Cassius, on the eve of battle, augured a defeat because, 
 
 as he said, 
 
 " Crows 
 
 Fly o'er our heads, and downward look on us, 
 As we were sickly prey ; their shadows seem 
 A canopy most fatal, under which 
 Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost." 
 
 Julius Ccesar, Act v. Sc. i . 
 
 In the third act of Cymbeline (Sc. i), when Caius 
 Lucius, the Roman Ambassador, comes to demand tribute 
 from the British King, he is met with a flat refusal, and 
 Cloten, one of the lords in waiting, deriding his threat of 
 war, says : 
 
 " His Majesty bids you welcome. Make pastime 
 with us a day or two, or longer : if you seek us after- 
 wards in other terms, you shall find us in our salt- 
 water girdle : if you beat us out of it, it is yours ; if 
 you fall in the adventure, our crows shall fare the better 
 for you ; and there's an end." 
 
 Alexander Iden, addressing the lifeless body of Jack 
 Cade, whom he had just slain, exclaims : 
 
 " Hence will I drag thee headlong by the heels 
 Unto a dunghill, which shall be thy grave,
 
 BLACK AS A CROW. I 1 3 
 
 And there cut off thy most ungracious head ; 
 Which I will bear in triumph to the king, 
 Leaving thy trunk for crows to feed ttpon." 
 
 Henry VI. Part II. Act iv. Sc. 10. 
 
 Many similar instances might be brought forward. 
 
 As in the case of the raven, we find the crow, as the 
 emblem of blackness, contrasted with the white dove : 
 
 " With the dove of Paphos might the crow 
 Vie feathers white." 
 
 Pericles, Act iv. Introd. 
 
 Again 
 
 " Lawn as white as driven snow ; 
 Cyprus black as e'er was crow." 
 
 Winter s Tale, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 Here we have not only the crow contrasted with snow, 
 but also Cyprus, a thin transparent black stuff, somewhat 
 like crape, placed in contradistinction with lawn, which is 
 a white material, like muslin.* 
 
 " So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, 
 As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 5. 
 
 * Compare, "A Cyprus, not a bosom, hides my heart." 
 
 Twelfth Night, Act iii. Sc. i.
 
 114 CROW-KEEPER AND SCARE-CROW. 
 
 " Compare her face with some that I shall show, 
 And I will make thee think thy swan a crow." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 Beatrice says (Much Ado about Nothing, Act i. Sc. i), 
 " I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a 
 man swear he loves me ;" but then this was meant to be 
 personal, for Benedick, whom she addressed, was not a 
 favoured suitor. She might have added, with Dromio, in 
 the Comedy of Errors, Act iii. Sc. i : 
 
 " We '11 pluck a crow together." 
 
 This saying appears to be of some antiquity, but the 
 origin of it is not very clear. 
 
 The custom of protecting newly sown wheat from the 
 birds by keeping a lad to shout, or putting up a " scare- 
 crow," is no doubt an old one. Shakespeare makes allu- 
 sion to both methods : 
 
 " That fellow handles his bow like a crow-keeper." 
 
 King Lear, Act iv. Sc. 6. 
 
 That is like a boy employed to keep the crows from the 
 corn. So again 
 
 " Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper'' 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 4. 
 
 The rustic, although entrusted with a bow and arrows, 
 was not expected to have much skill in archery, and
 
 THE CHOUGH. 115 
 
 Roger Ascham, in his " Toxophilus," when speaking of a 
 clumsy archer, has a similar comparison to that in the 
 passage just quoted : " Another coureth downe and layeth 
 out his buttockes, as though hee should shoote at crowes." 
 
 " We must not make a scare-crow of the law, 
 Setting it up to fear * the birds of prey, 
 And let it keep one shape, till custom make it 
 Their perch, and not their terror." 
 
 Measure for Measure, Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
 Lord Talbot relates that, when a prisoner in France, he 
 was exhibited publicly in the market-place : 
 
 " Here, said they, is the terror of the French, 
 The scare-crow that affrights our children so." 
 
 Henry VI. Part I. Act i. Sc. 4. 
 
 And Falstaff, alluding to his recruits on the march to 
 Shrewsbury, says of them : 
 
 " No eye hath seen such scare-crows" 
 
 Henry IV. Part I. Act iv. Sc. 2. 
 
 Associated with the crow by many of the poets is the 
 Red-legged Crow, or Chough the Cornish Chough, as it 
 is sometimes called, from its being considered a bird 
 peculiar to the south-west coast of England. Since this 
 last name was applied to it, the study of ornithology has 
 
 * "To fear,' that is, " to frighten."
 
 Il6 THE CHOUGH AND CROW. 
 
 become so universally courted, that it can scarcely be 
 necessary to show that the geographical distribution of 
 the species is much wider than was formerly supposed. 
 
 The old song of " The Chough and Crow " will probably 
 be remembered as long as the English language lasts. 
 
 Shakespeare has introduced both these birds in a fine 
 description of Dover Cliff. It is not improbable that 
 the chough, which affects precipices and sea-cliffs, may 
 once have frequented the cliffs at Dover ; but whatever 
 may have been the case formerly, this haunt, if it ever was 
 one, has long since been deserted. Shakespeare, at all 
 events, has placed this bird in a situation most natural 
 to it : 
 
 " Come on, sir ; here 's the place : stand still. How 
 
 fearful 
 
 And dizzy 't is, to cast one's eyes so low ! 
 The crows and choughs, that wing the midway air, 
 Show scarce so gross as beetles : half way down 
 Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade ! 
 Methinks he seems no bigger than his head : 
 The fishermen, that walk upon the beach, 
 Appear like mice ; and yond tall anchoring bark, 
 Diminish'd to her cock ; her cock, a buoy 
 Almost too small for sight : the murmuring surge, 
 That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes, 
 Cannot be heard so high. I '11 look no more,
 
 CHOUGH'S LANGUAGE. 117 
 
 Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight 
 Topple down headlong." 
 
 King Lear, Act iv. Sc. 6. 
 
 The chough is easily tamed, and a prettier sight than 
 three or four of these birds, with their bright red legs and 
 bills, strutting about on a well-mown lawn, can scarcely be 
 conceived. 
 
 It is to be regretted that the species is not more 
 plentiful and more generally domesticated. 
 
 Instances, we believe, are on record of choughs being 
 taught to speak, but Shakespeare appears to have 
 entertained no great opinion of their talking powers. He 
 speaks of 
 
 " Chough's language, gabble enough, and good enough." 
 AW s Well that Ends Well, Act iv. Sc. i. 
 
 And probably there was a good deal more chattering 
 than talking, as we understand the term. 
 
 " There be 
 
 . . . lords that can prate 
 
 As amply and unnecessarily 
 
 As this Gonzalo ; I myself could make 
 
 A chough of as deep chat." 
 
 Tempest, Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
 In Henry IV., in the scene where Falstaff, with the
 
 Il8 VARIOUS CHOUGHS. 
 
 Prince and Poins, meet to rob the travellers at Gadshill, 
 Falstaff calls the victims " fat chuffs," probably from their 
 strutting about with much noise. 
 
 In the Winter's Tale, the rogue Autolycus appears as 
 a pedlar, and while drawing the attention of those around 
 him to his wares, he takes the opportunity to pick their 
 pockets. His power of persuasion was so great that, as 
 he himself said, 
 
 " They throng who should buy first, as if my trinkets 
 had been hallowed, and brought a benediction to the 
 buyer : by which means I saw whose purse was best in 
 picture ; and what I saw, to my good use I remem- 
 bered." 
 
 He proceeds to compare them to choughs whom he had 
 allured by his chaff, and says : 
 
 " In this time of lethargy, I picked and cut most of 
 their festive purses ; and had not the old man come in 
 with a whoobub against his daughter and the king's son, 
 and scared my choughs from the chaff, I had not left a 
 purse alive in the whole army." Winter's Tale, Act iv. 
 Sc. 3. 
 
 The word " chough," it appears, was not always 
 intended to refer to the bird with red legs and bill, as 
 we may infer from the following passage in O'Flaherty's 
 "West or H'lar Connaught, 1684," p. 13 : "I omit other
 
 THE JACKDAW. IK) 
 
 ordinary fowl and birds, as bernacles, wild geese, swans, 
 cocks-of-the-wood, woodcocks, chotighs, rooks, Cornish 
 chotighs, with red legs and bills" &c. Here the first-men- 
 tioned choughs were in all probability jackdaws. 
 
 Shakespeare alludes to 
 
 " Russet-pated choughs, many in sort, 
 Rising and cawing at the gun's report." 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Now the jackdaw, though having a grey head, would 
 more appropriately bear the designation of " russet-pated " 
 than any of his congeners. We may presume, therefore, 
 that this is the species to which Shakespeare intended 
 to refer. The head of the chough, like the rest of its 
 body, is perfectly black. 
 
 The Jackdaw (Corvus moneduld] has not been so fre- 
 quently noticed by Shakespeare as many other birds, and 
 in the half-dozen instances in which it is mentioned, we 
 find it referred to as the "daw." The word occurs in 
 Coriolanus, Act iv. Sc. 5 ; Troilus and Cressida, Act i. 
 Sc. 2 ; Much Ado about Nothing, Act ii. Sc. 3 ; Twelfth 
 Night, Act iii. Sc. 4 ; and in a song in Loves Labour's 
 Lost. Warwick, expressing his ignorance of legal matters, 
 says : 
 
 " But in these nice sharp quillets of the law, 
 Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw." 
 
 Henry VI. Part I. Act ii. Sc. 4.
 
 120 THE MAGPIE. 
 
 And the crafty and dissembling lago remarks that 
 
 " When my outward action doth demonstrate 
 The native act and figure of my heart 
 In compliment extern, 'tis not long after 
 But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve 
 
 For daws to peck at." 
 
 OtMlo, Act i. Sc. i . 
 
 With the ancients, much superstition prevailed in regard 
 to various species of the crow family ; and Shakespeare has 
 specially mentioned three of these as birds of omen : 
 
 " Augurs that understood relations have, 
 By magot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth 
 The secret'st man of blood." 
 
 Macbeth, Act iii. Sc. 4. 
 
 Even at the present day, there are many who profess to 
 augur good or evil from the flight of a magpie, or from 
 the number of magpies seen together at one time. An 
 old rhyme on the subject runs thus : 
 
 " One for sorrow, two for mirth ; 
 Three for a wedding, four for a birth." 
 
 The origin of the word magpie we have not heard 
 explained, but it is possible, from the manner in which 
 the name is spelled above, that " mag " may be an abbre- 
 viation of " maggot," pointing to a certain propensity of 
 the bird, which, however, is not peculiar. Those who have 
 spent much time in the country, must have observed not
 
 THE ROOK. 121 
 
 only the magpie, but also the jackdaw and starling, busily 
 engaged in searching for insects on the back of a sheep. 
 
 As in the case of the jackdaw, the magpie is sometimes 
 called by the latter half of his name : 
 
 " And chattering pies in dismal discords sung." 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act v. Sc. 6. 
 
 Before taking leave of the crow family, we have yet to 
 notice another bird mentioned by Shakespeare, which is 
 nearly related to the crow. This is the Rook (Corvus 
 frugilcgus). But, notwithstanding the usefulness of the 
 bird, the poet has not said much in its favour. It is 
 noticed in the song in Loves Labours Lost, and is in- 
 cluded amongst the birds of omen in the quotation lately 
 given from Macbeth. 
 
 In the Merry Wives of Windsor, Act i. Sc. 3, we find 
 the expression " bully-rook," and it would seem that this 
 epithet in Shakespeare's time bore much the same sig- 
 nification as "jolly-dog" does now-a-days. But it came 
 subsequently to have a more offensive meaning, and was 
 applied to a cheat and a sharper. 
 
 We had well-nigh forgotten the Jay (Corvus glandarius), 
 
 Winter s Tale (Act iv. Sc. 3), and only allude to it 
 
 now to show that Shakespeare has not omitted it from 
 
 his long list of birds. In Cymbeline, the name is applied 
 
 to a gaudily-dressed person : 
 
 " Some jay of Italy hath betray'd him." 
 
 Cymbeline, Act iii. Sc. 4. 
 R
 
 122 THE JAY. 
 
 No doubt on account of the bright plumage of this bird. 
 " What, is the jay more precious than the lark, 
 Because his feathers are more beautiful ?" 
 
 Taming of tlie Shrew, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 Caliban, addressing Trinculo, in The Tempest (Act ii. 
 Sc. 2), exclaims : 
 
 " I pr'ythee let me bring thee where crabs grow, 
 And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts ; 
 Show thee a jay's nest, and instruct thee how 
 To snare the nimble marmozet ; I '11 bring thee 
 To clust'ring filberds, and sometimes I '11 get thee 
 Young sea-mells from the rock. Wilt thou go with me ?" 
 
 This tempting offer is irresistible, and Stephano inter- 
 rupts him at once by saying, 
 
 " I pr'ythee now, lead the way, without any more 
 talking."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE BIRDS OF SONG. 
 
 T F there is one class of birds more than another to 
 which poets in all ages have been indebted for 
 inspiration, and to which they have directed particular 
 attention, it is that which includes the birds of song. 
 Shakespeare, as a naturalist, could not have overlooked 
 them. Nor has he done so. These " light-wing'd Dryads 
 of the trees " have received at his hands all the praise 
 which they deserve, while oftentimes, for melody and 
 pathos, he may be said to have borrowed from their 
 songs himself. 
 
 Of all the singers in the woodland choir the Nightingale 
 (Luscinia pJtilomcla), by common consent, stands first. For 
 quality of voice, variety of notes, and execution, she is pro- 
 bably unrivalled. Hence, with poets, she has ever been the 
 chief favourite. Izaak Walton has truly said, " The nightin- 
 gale breathes such sweet loud music out of her little in- 
 strumental throat, that it might make mankind to think
 
 124 THE NIGHTINGALE. 
 
 miracles are not ceased. He that at midnight, when the 
 very labourer sleeps securely, should hear, as I have very 
 often, the clear airs, the sweet descants, the natural rising 
 and falling, the doubling and redoubling, of her voice, 
 might well be lifted above earth and say, Lord, what 
 music hast thou provided for the saints in heaven, when 
 thou affordest bad men such music on earth?" To "sing 
 like a nightingale " has passed into a proverb. 
 
 " She sings as sweetly as any nightingale." 
 
 Taming of the Shrew, Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
 In Gardiner's " Music of Nature," the following passage 
 is given from the song of the Nightingale : 
 
 Although the male bird only is the songster, yet we 
 talk of her singing : 
 
 " It was the nightingale, and not the lark, 
 That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear ; 
 Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree ;* 
 Believe me, love, it was the nightingale. 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Sc. 5. 
 
 The origin of this change of sex is to be found, no 
 
 * According to Steevens, this is not merely a poetical supposition. "It is ob- 
 served," he says, "of the nightingale that, if undisturbed, she sits and sings upon 
 the same treefor many weeks together ; " and Russell, in his "Account of Aleppo," 
 tells us " the nightingale sings from the pomegranate groves in the day-time."
 
 LAMENTING PHILOMEL. 125 
 
 doubt, in the old fable which tells us of the transformation 
 of Philomela, daughter of Pandion, King of Athens, into 
 a nightingale, when Progne, her sister, was changed to a 
 swallow.* 
 
 Hence also the name Philomel, which is often applied 
 by the poets to this bird. 
 
 " Philomel, with melody, 
 
 Sing your sweet lullaby." 
 Song Midsummer Nig/it's Dream, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 " By this, lamenting Philomel had ended 
 The well-tun'd warble of her nightly sorrow." 
 
 Lucrece. 
 
 " His Philomel must lose her tongue to-day." 
 
 Titus Andronicns, Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 
 The nightingale is again thus designated by Shake- 
 speare in Cymbeline, Act ii. Sc. 2, and elsewhere ; and 
 " the tragic tale of Philomel " is prettily referred to in 
 Titus Andronicus, Act iv. Sc. i. 
 
 In one, if not more, of his poems he has noticed the odd 
 belief which formerly existed to the effect that the mourn- 
 ful notes of the nightingale are caused by the bird's leaning . 
 against a thorn to sing ! 
 
 " Every thing did banish moan, 
 Save the nightingale alone. 
 
 * "Ovid. Metamorph." Book vi. Fab. 6.
 
 126 SINGING AGAINST A THORN. 
 
 She, poor bird, as all forlorn, 
 Learid Jier breast tip-till a thorn, 
 And there sung the dolefull'st ditty, 
 That to hear it was great pity. 
 ' Fie, fie, fie,' now would she cry, 
 ' Tereu, tereu ! ' by and by ; 
 That, to hear her so complain, 
 Scarce I could from tears refrain ; 
 For her griefs, so lively shown, 
 Made me think upon mine own." * 
 
 The Passionate Pilgrim, xix. 
 
 Again, Lucrece, in her distress, invoking Philomel, says : 
 
 " And whiles against a thorn thou bear'st thy part, 
 To keep thy sharp woes waking." Lucrece. 
 
 The same idea, too, has been variously expressed by 
 other poets than Shakespeare. Fletcher speaks of 
 
 " The bird forlorn 
 
 That singeth with her breast against a thorn ; " 
 and Pomfret, writing towards the close of the seventeenth 
 century, says : 
 
 " The first music of the grove we owe 
 To mourning Philomel's harmonious woe ; 
 
 * These lines, although included in most editions of Shakespeare's Poems, 
 are said to have been written by Richard Barnefield, and published in 1598 in a 
 volume entitled "Poems in Divers Humors." (See Ellis's "Specimens of the 
 Early English Poets," vol. ii. p. 356, and F. T. Palgrave's "Golden Treasury of 
 the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language," p. 21.) The 
 " Passionate Pilgrim" was not published until 1599.
 
 SINGING AGAINST A THORN. 127 
 
 And while her grief in charming notes express' d, 
 A thorny bramble pricks her tender breast. 
 In warbling melody she spends the night, 
 And moves at once compassion and delight." 
 
 Thus it was evidently believed by the poets, whether the 
 idea was founded on fact or not, that the nightingale 
 leaned her breast against a thorn when she gave forth 
 her mournful notes. The origin of such a belief it is not 
 easy to ascertain, but we suspect Sir Thomas Browne was 
 not far from the truth when he pointed to the fact that 
 the nightingale frequents thorny copses, and builds her 
 nest amongst brambles on the ground. He inquires 
 "whether it be any more than that she placeth some 
 prickles on the outside of her nest, or roosteth in thorny, 
 prickly places, where serpents may least approach her?"* 
 In an article upon this subject, published in "The 
 Zoologist," for 1862, p. 8,029, the Rev. A. C. Smith has 
 narrated " the discovery, on two occasions, of a strong 
 thorn projecting upwards in the centre of the nightingale's 
 nest." It can hardly be doubted, however, that this was 
 the result of accident rather than design ; and Mr. Hewit- 
 son, in his " Eggs of British Birds," has adduced two 
 similar instances in the case of the hedge-sparrow. We 
 may accordingly dismiss the idea that there is any real 
 foundation for such belief, and regard it as a poetic 
 license. 
 
 * " Sir Thomas Browne's Works" (Wilkin's ed.), Vol. II. p. 537.
 
 128 SINGING BY DAY AND NIGHT. 
 
 There is no doubt that one great charm in the song of 
 the nightingale is, that it is heard oftenest at eve, when 
 nearly every other bird is hushed and gone to roost. We 
 are thus enabled to pay more attention to it, and hear 
 the entire song. This evidently was Milton's idea when he 
 wrote, in " II Penseroso :" 
 
 " Sweet bird that shunn'st the noise of folly, 
 Most musical, most melancholy ! 
 Thee, chauntress, oft the woods among, 
 I woo, to hear thy evening song." 
 Portia says, in The Merchant of Venice, Act v. Sc. i, 
 
 " I think, 
 
 The nightingale, if she should sing by day, 
 When every goose is cackling, would be thought 
 No better a musician than the wren." 
 
 But although she is usually supposed to withhold her 
 notes until sunset, and then to be the only songstress left, 
 she in reality sings in the day often as sweetly and as 
 powerfully as at night, but, amidst the general chorus of 
 other birds, her efforts are less noticed.* Valentine 
 declares that 
 
 " Except I be by Sylvia in the night, 
 There is no music in the nightingale." 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act iii. Sc. i. 
 
 * Not only does the nightingale sing by day, but she is by no means the only 
 bird which sings at night. We have frequently listened with delight to the wood 
 lark, skylark, thrush, sedge-warbler and grasshopper-warbler long after sunset, 
 and we have heard the cuckoo and corncrake at midnight.
 
 RECORDING. 1 29 
 
 And later on 
 
 " How use doth breed a habit in a man ! 
 This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, 
 I better brook than flourishing peopled towns : 
 Here can I sit alone, unseen of any, 
 And to the nightingale's complaining notes 
 Tune my distresses and record my woes." 
 
 Id. Act v. Sc. 4. 
 
 The word "record " here, refers to the singing of birds, 
 and, according to Douce, is derived from the recorder, a 
 sort of flute, by which they were taught to sing.* 
 
 The " recording " of young birds is indeed always very 
 different from their song, as is also the warble of old birds 
 after moulting, as Herr Bechstein has justly remarked. 
 " It is," he says, " a very striking circumstance, that birds 
 which continue in song nearly the whole year, such as the 
 redbreast, the siskin, and the goldfinch, are obliged, after 
 their moulting is over, to record, as if they had forgotten 
 their song. I am convinced, however, that this exercise 
 is less a study than an endeavour to bring the organs of 
 voice into proper flexibility, what they utter being pro- 
 perly only a sort of warble, the notes of which have 
 scarcely any resemblance to the perfect song ; and by a 
 little attention we may perceive how the throat is gradually 
 brought to emit the notes of the usual song. This view, 
 
 * The "recorder" is mentioned in Midsummer Night's Dream, Act v. Sc. r, 
 and in Hamlet, Act iii. Sc. 2.
 
 130 THE LARK, 
 
 then, leads us to ascribe the circumstance, not to defect of 
 memory, but rather to a roughness in the vocal organs, 
 arising from disuse. It is in this way that the chaffinch 
 makes endeavours during several successive weeks before 
 attaining to its former perfection, and the nightingale tries 
 for a long time to model the strophes of its superb song, 
 before it can produce the full extent of compass and 
 brilliancy." * 
 
 The nightingale has not more happily inspired our poets 
 than the Lark (Alanda arvensis). Chaucer, Spenser, Milton, 
 Shelley, and Wordsworth have all sung the praises of this 
 famed songster ; while Shakespeare, in undying verse, has 
 paid many a tribute to "the blythesome bird." Let us, then, 
 
 " Leave to the nightingale her shady wood," 
 and turn our attention to 
 
 " The lark, that tirra-lirra chants." 
 
 Winter's Tale, Act iv. Sc. 2. 
 
 This " tirra-lirra " with the other notes of the bird is 
 well illustrated in the following lines : 
 
 " La gentille alouette avec son tire-lire, 
 Tire-lire, a lire, et tirelirau, tire 
 Vers la voute du ciel, puis son vol vers ce lieu 
 Vire, et desire dire adieu Dieu, adieu Dieu." 
 
 As the nightingale is called the " bird of eve," so has the 
 
 * Bechstein " OrnithologischesTaschenbuch."
 
 THE HERALD OF THE MORN. 131 
 
 lark been named the " bird of dawn." Shakespeare has 
 made frequent allusion to the early rising of the lark : 
 
 " I do hear the morning lark." 
 
 Midsummer Nighfs Dream, Act iv. Sc. i . 
 
 " It was the lark, the herald of the morn." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Sc. 5. 
 
 " The busy day, 
 Wak'd by the lark, hath rous'd the ribald crows." 
 
 Trail us and Cressida, Act iv. Sc. 2. 
 
 " Lo, here the gentle lark, weary of rest, 
 From his moist cabinet mounts up on high, 
 And -wakes the morning, from whose silver breast 
 The sun ariseth in his majesty." 
 
 Venus and Adonis. 
 
 Milton's allusion to the early singing of this bird will be 
 familiar to all : 
 
 " To hear the lark begin his flight, 
 And, singing, startle the dull night, 
 From his watch-tower in the skies, 
 
 Till the dappled dawn doth rise." 
 
 U Allegro. 
 
 While every musician must remember the song in 
 Cymbclinc, adapted to music since Shakespeare's day by 
 an eminent composer :
 
 132 SINGING AT HEAVEN'S GATE. 
 
 " Hark ! hark ! the lark at heaven's gate sings, 
 
 And Phoebus 'gins arise, 
 His steeds to water at those springs 
 
 On chalic'd flowers that lies ; 
 And winking Mary-buds begin 
 
 To ope their golden eyes ; 
 With everything that pretty is, 
 
 My lady sweet, arise : 
 
 Arise, arise. 
 
 Cymbeline, Act ii. Sc. 3 
 
 The notion of singing " at heaven's gate " has been again 
 introduced by Shakespeare in one of his Sonnets: 
 
 " Like to the lark, at break of day arising 
 From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate." 
 
 While the same idea, coupled with the mention of 
 Phoebus, has been expressed by earlier poets. Chaucer, 
 in his " Knightes Tale," says : 
 
 " The busy larke, messager of daye, 
 Salueth in hire song the morwe gray : 
 And fyry Phebus ryseth up so bright, 
 That al the orient laugheth of the light." 
 
 So also, Spenser, in his "Epithalamion," 1595 : 
 " Hark how the cheerefull birds do chaunt theyr laies, 
 
 And carroll of loves praise. 
 The merry larke hir mattins sings aloft, 
 The thrush replyes, the mavis descant playes,
 
 THE PLOUGHMAN'S CLOCK. 133 
 
 The ouzell shrills, the ruddock warbles soft, 
 So goodly all agree with sweet consent, 
 To this dayes merriment." 
 
 And Milton, in the " Paradise Lost," Book v., has 
 
 " Ye birds 
 That, singing, /// to heavens gate ascend." 
 
 The " rising of the lark " and the " lodging of the 
 lamb" have become synonymous with "morn" and " eve," 
 (Henry V. Act iii. Sc. 7) ; and he that would rise early is 
 counselled to " stir with the lark " (Richard III. Act v. Sc. 3). 
 
 With the labourer whose avocation takes him across 
 the fields at early dawn, the lark is always an especial 
 favourite ; and Shakespeare would have it furnish some 
 indication of the time of day : 
 
 " When shepherds pipe on oaten straws, 
 And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks." 
 
 Song Loves Labour s Lost. 
 Again 
 
 " O happy fair ! 
 
 Your eyes are lode-stars, and your tongue's sweet air 
 More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear, 
 When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear." 
 Midsummer Nighfs Dream, Act i. Sc. I. 
 
 When Juliet spoke disparagingly of the lark's song, it 
 was because she wished the night prolonged, and knew 
 that his voice betokened the approach of day :
 
 134 SONG OF THE LARK. 
 
 " It is the lark that sings so out of tune, 
 Straining harsh discords, and unpleasing sharps. 
 
 Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes ; 
 O, now I would they had changed voices too ! 
 Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Sc. 5. 
 
 The lark has ugly eyes, and the toad very fine ones ; 
 hence arose the saying that the lark and toad changed 
 eyes. Juliet wished they had changed voices too ; for 
 then, as Heath has suggested, the croak of the toad would 
 have been no indication of the day's approach, and conse- 
 quently no signal for Romeo's departure. 
 
 To the naturalist who walks abroad at early dawn, there 
 are few sights more pleasing than the soaring of a lark. 
 As the first ray of sunshine dispels the glistening dew- 
 drop and gently falls to earth, the lark, warmed by its 
 soft touch, mounts high in air, and joyfully proclaims 
 to all the advent of a new day. What glee is expressed 
 in the song of that small brown bird, which, as it soars 
 towards heaven and sings, teaches us the first duty of 
 the day gratitude to our Creator! 
 " Higher still and higher 
 
 From the earth thou springest, 
 Like a cloud of fire ; 
 
 The blue deep thou wingest, 
 And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
 
 SOARING AND SINGING. 135 
 
 What thou art we know not ; 
 What is most like thee ? 
 
 From rainbow clouds there flow not 
 Drops so bright to see 
 As from thy presence showers a rain of melody." * 
 
 The bird which could inspire such thoughts as these is 
 indeed noteworthy, and that poets in all ages have singled 
 it out as an especial favourite, can be no matter of 
 surprise. 
 
 Who does not remember those beautiful lines of 
 Wordsworth ? 
 
 " Leave to the nightingale her shady wood ; 
 
 A privacy of glorious light is thine, 
 Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood 
 
 Of harmony, with instinct more divine ; 
 Type of the wise, who soar but never roam 
 True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home !" 
 
 But to return to Shakespeare. Perhaps no bird has 
 received more notice at his hands than the one now under 
 consideration. To enumerate all the passages in which it 
 is mentioned, would probably only weary the reader. In 
 addition to those already named, " the shrill-gorg'd lark " 
 is alluded to in King Lear (Act iv. Sc. 6) ; while to sing 
 " as sweetly as the lark " has passed into a proverb 
 (Merchant of Venice, Act v. Sc. i). 
 
 Shelley.
 
 136 THE COMMON BUNTING. 
 
 Mention is made of this bird in Titus Andronicus 
 (Act ii. Sc. 3, and Act iii. Sc. i) ; in Cymbeline (Act iii. 
 Sc. 6) ; and in Richard II. (Act iii. Sc. 3). 
 
 Formerly, a curious method of taking larks was prac- 
 tised by means of small pieces of looking-glass and red 
 cloth. These were made to move at a little distance from 
 the fowler by means of a string, and when the birds, 
 impelled by curiosity, came within range, they were taken 
 in a net. This practice is referred to by Shakespeare in 
 
 Henry VIII. 
 
 " Let his grace go forward, 
 
 And dare us with his cap, like larks." 
 
 Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 The cap in this case was the scarlet hat of the Cardinal, 
 which it was intended to use as a piece of red cloth. It 
 seems probable, from the context, that the word "dare" 
 should be " draw." 
 
 A bird which is often taken with larks, and which, 
 indeed, is not unlike one in appearance, is the Common 
 Bunting (Emberiza miliarid). In some parts of the 
 country it is known as the Bunting-Lark, and, from its size 
 and general colouring, a casual observer might easily 
 mistake it for one of the last-named species. No wonder, 
 then, that the old lord Lafeu says : 
 
 " I took this lark for a bunting." 
 
 All's Well that Ends Well, Act ii. Sc. 5.
 
 THE THROSTLE. 137 
 
 It is somewhat singular that the Thrush (Tnrdns musictts), 
 a bird as much famed for song as either the nightingale or 
 the lark, has been so little noticed by Shakespeare. We 
 have failed to discover more than three passages in the 
 entire works of our great poet in which this well-known 
 bird is mentioned. It is referred to once in A Winters 
 Tale (Act iv. Sc. 2) ; once in Midsummer Nights Dream, 
 Act iii. Sc. i, where Bottom the weaver, in a doggrel 
 rhyme, sings of 
 
 "The throstle, with his note so true ;" 
 
 and once again in The Merchant of Venice (Act i. Sc. 2), 
 where Portia, speaking of the French Lord Le Bon, and 
 alluding to his national propensity for a dance on every 
 available opportunity, remarks that 
 
 " If a throstle sing, he falls straight a-capering." 
 
 Many naturalists, who have paid particular attention to 
 the song of the thrush, have insisted upon its taking 
 equal rank as a songster with the more favoured nightin- 
 gale. Certain it is, that the notes of this bird, although 
 not so varied, nor so liquid, so to say, as those of 
 Philomel, are yet of a clear, rich tone, and have some- 
 thing indescribably sweet about them. "Listen," says 
 Macgillivray, "to the clear, loud notes of that speckled 
 warbler, that in the softened sunshine pours forth his 
 
 T
 
 138 THE THROSTLE. 
 
 wild melodies on the gladdened ear. What does it 
 resemble ? 
 
 " Dear, dear, dear 
 
 Is the rocky glen ; 
 Far away, far away, far away 
 
 The haunts of men. 
 Here shall we dwell in love, 
 With the lark and the dove, 
 Cuckoo and corn-rail, 
 Feast on the banded snail, 
 
 Worm and gilded fly : 
 Drink of the crystal rill 
 Winding adown the hill, 
 Never to dry. 
 
 With glee, with glee, with glee, 
 
 Cheer up, cheer up, cheer up, here 
 Nothing to harm us, then sing merrily, 
 Sing to the lov'd ones whose nest is near. 
 Qui, qui, qui, kweeu, quip, 
 Tiurru, tiurru, chipiwi. 
 Too-tee, too-tee, chiu choo, 
 Chirri, chirri, chooee, 
 Ouiu, qui, qui." 
 
 It must be admitted by all who have paid particular 
 attention to the song of the thrush, that this is a won- 
 derful imitation, so far as words can express notes. The
 
 THE OUZEL. 139 
 
 first four lines, lines 7, 13, and 14, and the last five lines in 
 particular, approach remarkably close in sound to the 
 original ; and this is rendered the more apparent if we 
 endeavour to pronounce the words by whistling. 
 
 Intimately associated with the thrush is its congener 
 the Blackbird (Turdus merula). Both visitors to our lawns 
 and shrubberies, they remind us of their presence, when 
 we do not see them, by their sweet, clear notes, and when 
 the cold of winter has made them silent, we are still 
 charmed with their sprightly actions, and the beauty of 
 their plumage. 
 
 The attractive appearance of the blackbird was not 
 overlooked by Shakespeare, who has mentioned him in 
 one of his songs : 
 
 " The ouzel-cock, so black of hue, 
 With orange-tawny bill." 
 
 Midsummer Nighfs Dream, Act iii. Sc. i. 
 
 When Justice Shallow inquires of Justice Silence, 
 "And how doth my cousin ?" he is answered 
 
 " Alas, a black ouzel, Cousin Shallow." 
 
 King Henry IV. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 2 ; 
 
 an expression which was probably equivalent to the 
 modern phrase, a " black sheep." 
 
 Amongst the songsters of less note mentioned by 
 Shakespeare, are the Robin-redbreast (Erythaca rnbeaila}
 
 140 THE REDBREAST. 
 
 and the Wren (Troglodytes vulgar is). These two birds 
 have for centuries, from some unexplained cause, been 
 always associated together. The country people, in 
 many parts of England, still regard them as the male 
 and female of one species, and support their assertion 
 with an old couplet 
 
 " The robin-redbreast and the wren 
 Are God Almighty's cock and hen." 
 
 In these days, when so much more attention is paid to 
 ornithology than formerly, it will be hardly necessary to 
 observe that the two birds thus associated together are 
 not only of very distinct species, but belong to widely 
 different genera. 
 
 An old name for the redbreast is " ruddock " * the 
 meaning of which is illustrated in the word " ruddy ;" and 
 the bird is still known by this name in some parts of 
 England. 
 
 Shakespeare has thus named it in one of his most 
 beautiful passages : 
 
 " With fairest flowers 
 
 Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele, 
 I '11 sweeten thy sad grave : thou shalt no,t lack 
 The flower that 's like thy face, pale primrose, nor 
 The azur'd hare-bell, like thy veins ; no, nor 
 The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander, 
 
 * " The ruddock warbles soft. " SPENSER'S Epithalamium, I. 82.
 
 COVERING THE DEAD WITH LEAVES. 141 
 
 Out-sweeten'd not thy breath : the ruddock would, 
 With charitable bill, O, bill, sore-shaming 
 Those rich-left heirs that let their fathers lie 
 Without a monument ! bring thee all this ; 
 Yea, and furr'd moss besides, when flowers are none, 
 To winter-ground thy corse."* 
 
 Cymbeline, Act iv. Sc. 2. 
 
 Bishop Percy asks, " Is this an allusion to the ' Babes in 
 the Wood,' or was the notion of the redbreast covering dead 
 bodies general before the writing of that ballad ?" Mr. 
 Knight says, " There is no doubt that it was an old popular 
 belief, and the notion has been found in an earlier book 
 of natural history." John Webster, writing in 1638, says : 
 
 " Call for the robin-redbreast and the wren, 
 Since o'er shady groves they hover, 
 And with leaves and flowers do cover 
 The friendless bodies of unburied men." 
 
 Izaak Walton, in his " Compleat Angler," 1653, speaks 
 of " the honest robin that loves mankind, both alive and 
 dead." Possibly Shakespeare intended only to refer to the 
 ancient and beautiful custom of strewing the grave with 
 flowers. 
 
 With all birds it is the habit of the male to sing while 
 
 * Instead of "winter-ground" in the last line, Mr. Collier's annotator reads 
 " winter-guard ; " but " to winter-ground " appears to have been a technical term 
 for protecting a plant from the frost by laying straw or hay over it.
 
 142 THE WREN WITH LITTLE QUILL. 
 
 courting the female. So, when Valentine asks Speed, 
 " How know you that I am in love ?" he gives, amongst 
 other reasons, that he had learnt " to relish a love-song 
 like a robin-redbreast." Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act ii. 
 Sc. i. 
 
 The meaning of the following dialogue does not seem 
 quite clear : 
 
 " Hotspur. Come, sing. 
 Lady Percy. I will not sing. 
 
 Hotspur. ' Tis the next way to turn tailor or be 
 redbreast teacher'' 
 
 Henry IV. Part I. Act iii. Sc. i. 
 
 Possibly the allusion may be to the " recorder," by which 
 instrument birds were taught to sing.* Hotspur pays a 
 high compliment to the vocal powers of Lady Percy by 
 insinuating that her voice would excel the recorder ; and 
 as the bird most frequently taught to pipe is the bullfinch, 
 it is not improbable that this was the bird intended under 
 the title of " redbreast," and not the robin. 
 
 Intimately associated with the robin, as we have before 
 remarked, is 
 
 " The wren, with little quill." 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream Song. 
 
 It must often have struck others, as it has us, that for 
 so small a throat, the wren has a wonderfully loud song. 
 
 * See ante, p. 129.
 
 PUGNACITY OF THE WREN. 143 
 
 There is not much variety or tone in it, but the notes 
 at once attract attention, and would lead any one un- 
 acquainted with them to inquire the author's name. 
 
 Portia evidently had no high opinion of the wren's song, 
 when she said, 
 
 " The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark, 
 When neither is attended ; and, I think, 
 The nightingale, if she should sing by day, 
 When every goose is cackling, would be thought 
 No better a musician than the wren." 
 
 Merchant of Venice, Act v. Sc. i . 
 
 Lady Macduff was reminded of the wren when bewail- 
 ing the flight of her husband. 
 
 "Lady M. His flight was madness. 
 Ross. You know not 
 
 Whether it was his wisdom or his fear. 
 Lady M. Wisdom ! to leave his wife, to leave his 
 
 babes, 
 
 His mansion, and his titles, in a place 
 From whence himself does fly ? He loves us not ; 
 He wants the natural touch : for the poor wren, 
 The most diminutive of birds, will fight, 
 Her young ones in her nest, against the owl." 
 
 Macbeth, Act iv. Sc. 2. 
 
 There are three statements here which are likely to be
 
 144 THE SPARROW. 
 
 criticised by the ornithologist. First, that the wren is 
 the smallest of birds, which is evidently an oversight. 
 Secondly, that the wren has sufficient courage to fight 
 against a bird of prey in defence of its young, which is 
 doubtful. Thirdly, that the owl will take young birds 
 from the nest. As to this last point, see ante, pp. 91-94. 
 Imogen has made mention of the wren, as follows : 
 
 " I tremble still with fear : but if there be 
 Yet left in heaven as small a drop of pity 
 As a wren's eye, fear'd gods, a part of it." 
 
 Cymbeline, Act iv. Sc. 2. 
 
 And allusions to this little bird will be found in Twelfth 
 Night, Act iii. Sc. 2 ; Richard HI. Act i. Sc. 3 ; King 
 Lear, Act iv. Sc. 6 ; Pericles, Act iv. Sc. 3 ; and Henry VI. 
 Part II. Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 " The Finch " is only once mentioned, i. e. in a song in 
 Midsummer Night's Dream, Act iii. Sc. i. In Troilus and 
 Cressida, however, when Thersites and Patroclus are 
 abusing each other (Act v. Sc. i), the former calls the 
 latter "finch-egg." But what species of Finch the poet 
 had in view, it is not easy to determine. It may have 
 been the Bullfinch, but it is more likely to have been the 
 Chaffinch, which has always been a favourite cage-bird 
 with the lower classes. 
 
 The Hedge-sparrow (Accentor modularis}, a frequenter of 
 the same haunts, has been more frequently noticed by
 
 PHILIP SPARROW. 145 
 
 Shakespeare than the wren. In many passages throughout 
 the Plays mention is made of " the sparrow " without the 
 prefix " hedge " or " house." Occasionally we are enabled, 
 from the context, to determine the species ; but as this is 
 not always the case, we propose to consider under one 
 head all that Shakespeare has said of either species. 
 
 The sparrow appears to have been early known by the 
 name of " Philip," perhaps from its note, to which 
 Catullus alludes : 
 
 " Sed circumsiliens, modo hue, modo illuc, 
 Ad solam dominum USQUQ pipilabat." 
 
 In Lyly's " Mother Bombie," 
 
 "Cry 
 
 Phip, phip, the sparrows as they fly." 
 
 And Skelton, the Poet Laureate of Henry VIII.'s reign, 
 wrote a long poem entitled " Phylyppe Sparrow," on the 
 death of a pet bird of this species. Shakespeare thus 
 names it in King- John (Act i. Sc. i) : 
 
 " Gurney. Good leave, good Philip. 
 Bastard. Philip! sparrow!" 
 
 We are told of Cressida, when getting ready to meet her 
 lover, that- - 
 
 " She fetches her breath so short as a new-ta'en sparrow." 
 Troilus and Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Lucio, referring to Angelo, the severe Deputy Duke of 
 Vienna, says : 
 
 u
 
 146 THE FALL OF A SPARROW. 
 
 " This ungenitured agent will unpeople the province 
 with continency ; sparrows must not build in his house, 
 because they are lecherous." Measure for Measure, Act 
 iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Iris tells us that Cupid 
 
 " Swears he will shoot no more, but play with sparrows, 
 
 And be a boy right out." 
 
 Tempest, Act iv. Sc. i. 
 
 In Troilusand Cressida, as well as in Hamlet, are passages 
 in which it is evident the poet had in his mind the words 
 of Matthew x. 29 : 
 
 " Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? And one 
 of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father." 
 
 " I will buy nine sparrows for a penny, and his pia 
 mater is not worth the ninth part of a penny." Troilus 
 and Cressida, Act ii. Sc. I. 
 
 " There 's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow." 
 
 Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 Again, in the following lines, there is an evident allusion 
 to Psalm cxlvii. 9 (" He feedeth the young ravens that 
 call upon him ") : 
 
 " And He that doth the ravens feed, 
 Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, 
 Be comfort to my age !" 
 
 As You Like It, Act ii. Sc. 3.
 
 THE HEDGE-SPARROW. 147 
 
 In Macbeth (Act i. Sc. 2), and Midsummer Nig/it's 
 Dream (Act iii. Sc. i), the sparrow is mentioned ; and the 
 following passage in Henry 1 V. will doubtless be remem- 
 bered by all readers of Shakespeare's Plays : 
 
 " Falstaff. . . . . " That sprightly Scot of Scots, 
 Douglas, that runs o' horseback up a hill perpendicular. 
 
 P. Henry. He that rides at high speed, and with his 
 pistol kills a sparrow flying. 
 
 Falstaff. You have hit it. 
 
 P. Henry. So did he never the sparrow." Henry IV. 
 Part I. Act ii. Sc. 4. 
 
 The Fool in King Lear reminds us that it is in the 
 hedge-sparrow's nest that the Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) 
 frequently deposits her egg : 
 
 " For you know, nuncle, the hedge-sparrow fed the 
 cuckoo so long, that it had its head bit off by its young." 
 King Lear, Act i. Sc. 4. 
 
 Mr. Guest, in adopting the reading of the first folio, 
 observes (Phil. Pro., i. 280) that " in the dialects of the 
 North-western counties, formerly it was sometimes used 
 for its. So in the passage just quoted we have ' For you 
 know,' &c., ' that its had it head bit off by it young ; ' that 
 is, that it has had its head, not that it had its head, as the 
 modern editors give the passage, after the second folio." 
 
 " So likewise, long before its was generally received, we 
 have it self commonly printed in two words, evidently
 
 148 THE HEDGE-SPARROW AND CUCKOO. 
 
 . under the impression that it was a possessive of the same 
 syntactical force with the pronouns in my self, your self, 
 her self."* 
 
 So in Timon of Athens (Act v. Sc. i), we have 
 
 " The public body 
 
 feeling in itself 
 
 A lack of Timon's aid, hath sense withal 
 Of it own fall." 
 
 Again, in Winter's Tale (Act ii. Sc. 3) : 
 
 " to it own protection." 
 
 And 
 
 " The innocent milk in it most innocent mouth." 
 
 Winter's Tale, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 The popular notion referred to by the poet in King 
 Lear, is again mentioned by Worcester in Henry IV. 
 
 " And, being fed by us, you us'd us so 
 As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo's birdft 
 Useth the sparrow ; did oppress our nest, 
 Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk, 
 That even our love durst not come near your sight, 
 For fear of swallowing." 
 
 Henry IV. Part I. Act v. Sc. i. 
 
 * " The English of Shakespeare," by G. L. Craik. 
 
 f That is, the young cuckoo. The expression occurs again in The Merry Wives 
 of Windsor, Act ii. Sc. i : 
 
 " Take heed, ere summer comes, or cuckoo-birds do sing."
 
 THE HEDGE-SPARROW AND CUCKOO. 149 
 
 The ingratitude of the young cuckoo, which is said to 
 turn out the young of its foster parent as soon as it is 
 sufficiently strong, has given rise in France to the proverb 
 " Ingrat comme un coucou." 
 
 The word " gull " above mentioned is usually applied 
 to the person " gulled," i.e. beguiled. Here it must either 
 mean the " guller," or it must have a special application to 
 the voracity of the cuckoo, as the sea-gull is supposed to 
 be so called from gulo onis. 
 
 We gather from Decker's " English Villanies " that for- 
 merly the sharpers termed their gang a warren, and their 
 simple victims rabbit-suckers, or conies. At other times 
 their confederates were called bird-catchers, and their prey 
 gulls ; and hence it was common to say of any person who 
 had been swindled or hoaxed, that he was coney -catcked 
 or gulled. 
 
 "Why, 'tis a gull, a fool !" Henry V. Act iii. Sc. 6. 
 
 In a subsequent chapter we shall have occasion to refer 
 to various other passages in which the word gull is thus 
 employed. But to return to the cuckoo, and its foster 
 parent the hedge-sparrow : 
 
 " Why should the worm intrude the maiden bud, 
 Or hateful cuckoos hatch in sparrows' nests ?" Lticrece. 
 
 The solution of this question is the more puzzling 
 from the fact that this parasitical habit is not common
 
 150 THE CUCKOO. 
 
 to all species of the genus cuckoo. An American species 
 builds a nest for itself, and hatches its own eggs. 
 
 The habits of our English bird must always be as 
 much a marvel to us as its remarkable voice. 
 
 " He knows me, as the blind man knows the cuckoo, 
 
 By the bad voice." 
 
 Merchant of Venice, Act v. Sc. i . 
 
 " The plain song cuckoo gray, 
 Whose note full many a man doth mark, 
 And dares not answer, nay 
 
 for, indeed, who would set his wish to so foolish a 
 bird ? who would give a bird the lie, though he cry 
 'cuckoo ' never so ?" Midsummer Night's Dream, Act iii. 
 Sc. i. 
 
 This passage always brings to our recollection those 
 beautiful lines which Wordsworth addressed "To the 
 Cuckoo," and which must be so well known to all. 
 
 The cuckoo, as long ago remarked by John Hey wood,* 
 begins to sing early in the season with the interval of a 
 minor third ; the bird then proceeds to a major third, 
 next to a fourth, then a fifth, after which its voice 
 breaks, without attaining a minor sixth. It may, 
 therefore, be said to have done much for musical 
 science, because from this bird has been derived the 
 
 * " Epigrams (Black Letter), 1587."
 
 THE CUCKOO. 151 
 
 minor scale, the origin of which has puzzled so many ; 
 the cuckoo's couplet being the minor third sung down- 
 wards. Kircher, however,* gives it thus : 
 
 In Gardiner's " Music of Nature " it is rendered as 
 follows : 
 
 Cue - koo, Cue - koo. 
 
 A friend of Gilbert White's found upon trial that the 
 note of the cuckoo varies in different individuals. About 
 Selborne Wood he found they were mostly in D. He 
 heard two sing together, the one in D, the other in D 
 sharp, which made a very disagreeable duet. He after- 
 wards heard one in D sharp, and about Wolmer Forest 
 some in C. 
 
 Gungl, in his " Cuckoo Galop," gives the note of the 
 cuckoo as B natural and G sharp. Dr. Arne, in his music 
 to the cuckoo's song in Love's Labours Lost, gives it as 
 C natural and G. 
 
 And now "will you hear the dialogue that the two 
 learned men have compiled in praise of the owl and the 
 cuckoo ? This side is Hiems, Winter ; this Ver, the 
 Spring ; the one maintained by the owl, the other by the 
 cuckoo. 
 
 " Ver, begin : 
 
 * " Musurgia Universalis." 1650. p. 30.
 
 152 THE CUCKOO. 
 
 I. 
 
 " When daisies pied,* and violets blue, 
 And lady-smocks -f- all silver white, 
 
 And cuckoo-buds : of yellow hue, 
 Do paint the meadows with delight ; 
 
 The cuckoo then, on every tree, 
 
 Mocks married men, for thus sings he, 
 
 Cuckoo ; 
 
 Cuckoo, cuckoo, O word of fear, 
 Unpleasing to a married ear. 
 
 * Pied, that is parti-coloured, of different hues. So in The Merchant of Venice, 
 Act i. Sc. 3 : 
 
 " That all the yeanlings (i.e. young lambs) which were streaked and pied." 
 
 And in The Tempest, Caliban, alluding to the parti-coloured dress which Trin- 
 culo, as a jester, wore, says : 
 
 " What a pied ninny 's this." 
 
 Milton, in " L' allegro," speaks of " meadows trim with daisies pied." 
 f " Lady-smocks" (Cardamine pratensis), a common meadow plant appearing 
 early in the spring, and bearing white flowers. Sir J. E. Smith says they cover the 
 meadows as with linen bleaching, whence the name of "ladysmocks" is supposed 
 to come. Some authors say it first flowers about Ladytide, or the Feast of the 
 Annunciation, hence its name. 
 
 J Botanists are not agreed as to the particular plant intended by "cuckoo-buds." 
 Miller, in his "Gardener's Dictionary," says the flower here alluded to is the 
 Ranunculus bulbosus. One commentator on this passage has mistaken 'Cue. Lychnis 
 fios cuculi, or "cuckoo-flower" for "cuckoo-buds." Another writer says, 
 " cuckoo-flower " must be wrong, and believes "cowslip-buds " the true reading, 
 but this is clearly a mistake. Walley, the editor of Ben Jonson's Works, 
 proposes to read "crocus-buds," which is likewise incorrect. Sidney Beisley, 
 the author of "Shakespeare's Garden," thinks that Shakespeare referred 
 to the lesser celandine, or pilewort (Ranunculus ficaria), as this flower appears 
 early in Spring, and is in bloom at the same time as the other flowers named 
 in the song.
 
 THE CUCKOO. 153 
 
 II. 
 When shepherds pipe on oaten straws, 
 
 And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks ; 
 When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws ; 
 
 And maidens bleach their summer smocks ; 
 The cuckoo then, on every tree, 
 Mocks married men, for thus sings he, 
 
 Cuckoo ; 
 
 Cuckoo, cuckoo, O word of fear, 
 Unpleasing to a married ear." 
 
 In the old copies the four first lines of the first stanza 
 are arranged in couplets thus : 
 
 " When daisies pied, and violets blue, 
 And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue, 
 And lady-smocks all silver white, 
 Do paint the meadows with delight." 
 
 But, as in all the other stanzas the rhymes are alternate, 
 this was most probably an error of the compositor. The 
 transposition now generally adopted was first made by 
 Theobald. 
 
 The notion which couples the name of the cuckoo with 
 the character of the man whose wife is unfaithful to him, 
 appears to have been derived from the Romans, and is 
 first found in the middle ages in France, and in the 
 countries of which the modern language is derived from 
 the Latin. We are not aware that it existed originally 
 
 X
 
 154 THE CUCKOO. 
 
 amongst the Teutonic race, and we have doubtless 
 received it from the Normans. The opinion that the 
 cuckoo made no nest of its own, but laid its eggs in that 
 of another bird, which brought up the young cuckoo to 
 the detriment of its own offspring, was well-known to the 
 ancients, and is mentioned by Aristotle and Pliny. 
 So in Antony and Cleopatra (Act ii. Sc. 6) : 
 
 " Thou dost o'ercount me of my father's house ; 
 But since the cuckoo builds not for himself, 
 Remain in 't as thou may'st." 
 
 But the ancients more correctly gave the name of the 
 bird, not to the husband of the faithless wife, but to her 
 paramour, who might justly be supposed to be acting the 
 part of the cuckoo. They gave the name of the bird in 
 whose nest the cuckoo's eggs were usually deposited 
 " curruca" to the husband. It is not quite clear how, 
 in the passage from classic to mediaeval, the application of 
 the term was transferred to the husband.* In allusion to 
 this are the following lines of Shakespeare : 
 
 " For I the ballad will repeat, 
 
 Which men full true will find ; 
 Your marriage comes by destiny, 
 Your cuckoo sings by kind." 
 
 All's Well that Ends Well, Act i. Sc. 3. 
 
 * See Chambers' s " Rook of Days," i. 531.
 
 CUCKOO SONGS. 155 
 
 This would appear to be only a new version of an old 
 proverb, for in "Grange's Garden," 4to, 1577, we have 
 
 " Content yourself as well as I, 
 Let reason rule your minde, 
 As cuckoldes come by destinie. 
 So cuckowes sing by kinde." 
 
 If Shakespeare is to be believed, marriage is not the 
 only thing that goes by destiny : 
 
 " The ancient saying is no heresy, 
 Hanging and wiving goes by destiny." 
 
 Merchant of Venice, Act ii. Sc. 9. 
 
 King Henry IV., alluding to his predecessor, says : 
 
 " So when he had occasion to be seen, 
 He was but as the cuckoo is in June, 
 Heard, not regarded." 
 
 Henry IV. Part I. Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 For in June the cuckoo has been in song for a month, 
 and is therefore less noticed than on its first arrival in 
 April, when listened to as the harbinger of Spring. 
 
 Apropos of the cuckoo's song, the following ballad is 
 considered to be the earliest in the English language now 
 extant. Its date is about the latter part of the reign of 
 Henry III., and it affords a curious example of the altera- 
 tions which our language has undergone since that time ;
 
 i 5 6 
 
 CUCKOO SONGS. 
 
 while the descriptions, which breathe of rural sights and 
 sounds, show that nature has suffered no change : 
 
 Sumer is icumen in, 
 Lhude sing cuccu ; 
 Groweth sed and bloweth med, 
 And springeth the wde nu ; 
 
 Sing cuccu. 
 
 Awe bleteth after lamb, 
 Lhouth after calve cu ; 
 Bulluc sterteth, bucke verteth, 
 Murie sing cuccu; 
 
 Cuccu, cuccu ; 
 Wei singes thu cuccu, 
 Ne swik thu naver nu." 
 
 Summer is come in, 
 
 Loud sing cuckoo ; 
 
 The seed groweth and the mead bloweth , 
 
 And the wood shoots now ; 
 
 Sing cuckoo. 
 
 The ewe bleats after the lamb, 
 The cow lows after the calf; 
 The bullock starts, the buck verts, 
 Merrily sing cuckoo ; 
 
 Cuckoo, cuckoo ; 
 Well singest thou cuckoo, 
 Mayest thou never cease . 
 
 This song is preserved amongst the Harleian MSS., 
 No. 978, and is remarkable for being accompanied with 
 musical notes, and as being the oldest sample of English 
 secular music. 
 
 The Wagtail (Motacilla Yarrellii) has no claim to be 
 included amongst the birds of song, but as the latter are 
 chiefly small birds, and as Shakespeare has only alluded 
 to it once, we may be excused for introducing it in the 
 present chapter. 
 
 In an opprobrious sense, the word " wagtail " would 
 doubtless denote a pert, flippant fellow. Kent, in King 
 Lear (Act ii. Sc. 2), says, 
 
 " Spare my grey beard, you wagtail 7" 
 
 In many parts of the country this bird is called " dish- 
 washer," and the name appears to be of some antiquity. 
 Turbervile, in his " Booke of Falconrie," 1575, speaking
 
 BIRU-CATCHING. 157 
 
 of the various kinds of animals and birds whose flesh 
 is proper for hawks to feed on, says (p. 137), "The 
 flesh of these flesh-crowes (i.e. carrion crows), and of the 
 wagtayles (or dishwasher, as we tearme them, in Latin 
 called Motacilld), and the cormorant, is of euil nourish- 
 ment and digestion." 
 
 While on the subject of small birds in general, and 
 song birds in particular, it will be interesting to glance at 
 the methods which were formerly practised for catching 
 them. These methods were many and various in kind. 
 Springes, gins, bat-fowling, bird-lime, bird-bolts, and bird- 
 ing-pieces are all mentioned by Shakespeare. 
 
 The "springe" and the "gin" we shall have occasion to 
 notice later in our remarks upon the Woodcock, for which 
 bird these snares were usually employed. The ancient 
 practice of " bat-fowling," or " bat-folding/' is noticed in 
 " The Tempest" Act ii. Sc. i : 
 
 " He would so, and then go a bat-fowling" 
 
 In Markham's " Hunger's Prevention," 1600, are some 
 curious directions on this subject, which afford a very good 
 idea of the way in which this sport was practised 
 formerly : 
 
 " For the manner of bat-fowling, it may be used either 
 with nettes or without nettes. 
 
 "If you vse it without nettes (which indeed is the most 
 common of the two), you shall then proceed in this manner.
 
 1 58 BAT-FOWLING. 
 
 First, there shall be one to carry the cresset of fire * (as 
 was showed for the low-belt), then a certaine number, as 
 two, three, or foure (according to the greatness of your 
 company), and these shall have poales bound with dry 
 round wispes of hay, straw, or such like stuffe, or else 
 bound with pieces of linkes or hurdes dipt in pitch, rosen, 
 grease, or any such like matter that will blaze. Then 
 another company shall be armed with long poales, very 
 rough and bushy at the vpper endes, of which the 
 willow, byrche, or long hazell are best, but indeede 
 according as the country will afford, so you must be 
 content to take. 
 
 " Thus being prepared, and comming into the bushy or 
 rough grounde, where the haunts of byrdes are, you shall 
 then first kindle some of your fiers, as halfe or a third part, 
 according as your prouision is, and then with your other 
 bushy and rough poales you shall beat the bushes, trees, 
 and haunts of the birds, to enforce them to rise, which 
 done you shall see the birds which are raysed, to flye and 
 playe about the lights and flames of the fier, for it is their 
 nature through their amazednesse and affright at the 
 strangenes of the light and the extreame darknesse round 
 about it, not to depart from it, but, as it were, almost to 
 scorch their wings in the same : so that those whice haue 
 the rough bushye poales may (at their pleasures) beat 
 
 * The "cresset-light" was a large lanthorn placed upon a lohg pole, and 
 carried upon men's shoulders. (See Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes," Introduction.)
 
 BAT-FOWLING. 159 
 
 them down with the same and so take them. Thus you 
 may spend as much of the night as is darke, for longer is 
 not conuenient, and doubtlesse you shall find much pastime, 
 and take great store of birds, and in this you shall obserue 
 all the obseruations formerly treated of in the Low-bell ; 
 especially that of silence, until your lights be kindled, but 
 then you may use your pleasure, for the noyse and the 
 light when they are heard and scene afarre of, they make 
 the byrdes sit the faster and surer. 
 
 " The byrdes which are commonly taken by this labour 
 or exercise are, for the most part, the rookes, ring-doues, 
 blackbirdes, throstles, feldyfares, linnets, bul finches, and 
 all other byrdes whatsouer that pearch or sit vpon small 
 boughes or bushes." 
 
 The term " bat-fowling," however, had another significa- 
 tion in Shakespeare's day, and it may have been in this 
 secondary sense that it is used in the last quotation. 
 It was a slang word for a particular mode of cheating, 
 just as other modes, in the same age, were known as 
 " gull-groping/' "sheep-shearing," " lime-twigging " " spoon- 
 dropping," "stone-carrying," &c. 
 
 " Bat-fowling " was practised about dusk, when the rogue 
 pretended to have dropped a ring or a jewel at the door 
 of some well-furnished shop, and, going in, asked the 
 apprentice of the house to light his candle to look for it. 
 After some peering about, the bat-fowler would drop the 
 candle, as if bv accident.
 
 l6o BIRD-LIME. 
 
 " Now, I pray you, good young man," he would say, " do 
 so much as light the candle again." While the boy was 
 away the rogue plundered the shop, and having stole 
 everything he could find, stole away himself.* 
 
 " Birdlime," which, as most people know, is made from 
 the bark of the holly, has long been in use for taking 
 small birds. Shakespeare makes frequent mention of it : 
 
 " The bird that hath been limed in a bush, 
 With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush ; 
 And I, the hapless mate to one sweet bird, 
 Have now the fatal object in my eye 
 Where my poor young was litn'd, was caught and kill'd." 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act v. Sc. 6. 
 
 A similar idea will be found in Lucrece : 
 
 " Birds never lim'd, no secret bushes fear." 
 Again 
 
 " They are limed with the twigs that threaten them." 
 
 All's Well that ends Well, Act iii. Sc. 5. 
 And 
 
 " She 's limed, I warrant you." 
 
 Much Ado, Act iii. Sc. i. 
 
 Suffolk, speaking to Queen Margaret of Duke Hum- 
 phrey's wife, says : 
 
 * Thornbury, "Shakespeare's Kngland," vol. i. p. 339.
 
 BIRD-LIME. l6l 
 
 " Madam, myself have lim'd a bush for her, 
 And plac'd a quire of such enticing birds, 
 That she will light to listen to their lays, 
 And never mount to trouble you again." 
 
 Henry VI. Part II. Act i. Sc. 3. 
 
 And the Duchess of Gloucester, addressing her husband, 
 warns him that 
 
 " York and impious Beaufort, that false priest, 
 Have all lim'd bushes to betray thy wings, 
 And, fly thou how thou cans't, they '11 tangle thee." 
 
 Henry VI. Part II. Act ii. Sc. 4. 
 
 Further allusions to the use of birdlime will be found 
 in Othello (Act ii. Sc. i), and Twelfth Night (Act iii. Sc. 4). 
 
 Now-ardays the practice is to set up a stuffed bird of 
 the species required against a tree by means of a wire, 
 and surround it with three or four other wires well 
 smeared with birdlime, placing a live call-bird in a 
 small dark cage at the foot of the tree to attract the 
 attention of the wild birds. These latter, on hearing the 
 notes of the captive, fly towards the spot, and deceived by 
 the appearance of the stuffed specimen, perch close to it 
 upon a limed wire and are caught, the owner of the snare 
 generally coming out of ambush to take them before they 
 have time to free themselves. 
 
 A simple and effective bird-trap was made as follows : 
 
 Y
 
 1 62 BIRD-TRAPS. 
 
 Procure a square frame covered on one side with wire 
 netting, as shown in the woodcut. 
 
 Tie each end of a pliant stick to two corners of the 
 frame, to form a hoop. Cut a straight stick, forked at 
 one end, and a shorter pliant stick. 
 
 Lift the front of the trap ; place the forked stick 
 in an upright position against the outside of the front, 
 and also outside the hoop. Insert one end of pliant 
 twig between fork and front, and after raising hoop 
 about two inches, insert the other end of the twig, 
 so as to rest against the hoop, and press outwards. This 
 will hold the hoop up. A bird, on approaching the trap, 
 hops on the hoop to get at the grain within it, when the 
 hoop will go down with- the weight and let go the twig, 
 which being pliant flies out, and the fork (being only 
 outside the front) of course falls, and so does the trap. 
 
 The " bird bolts " mentioned by Shakespeare in Twelfth 
 Night (Act i. Sc. 5), Love's Labour's Lost (Act iv. Sc. 3), 
 and Much Ado about Nothing (Act i. Sc. i), were the
 
 BIRD-BOLTS. 163 
 
 " bolts," or " quarrels " as they were sometimes called, 
 which were shot from the cross-bow, or " stone-bow," 
 TwelftJi Night (Act ii. Sc. 5). The latter was simply a 
 cross-bow made for propelling stones or bullets, in con- 
 tradistinction to a bow that shot arrows. Sir John 
 Bramston, in his Autobiography (p. 108) says: "Litle 
 more than a yeare after I maried, I and my wife being 
 at Skreenes with my father (the plague being soe in 
 London, and my building not finished), I had exercised 
 myself with a stone-bow, and a spar-hawke at the bush." 
 
 There were two denominations of cross-bows latches 
 and prodds. The former were the military weapons, and 
 were bent with one or both feet, by putting them into a 
 kind of stirrup at the extremity, and then drawing the 
 cord upward with the hands ; the latter were chiefly used 
 for sporting purposes. They were bent with the hand, by 
 means of a small steel lever, called the goat's-foot, on 
 account of its being forked or cloven on the side that 
 rested on the cross-bow and the cord. The bow itself was 
 usually made of steel, though sometimes of wood or 
 horn.* 
 
 The missiles discharged from them were not only 
 arrows, which were shorter and stouter than those of 
 the long-bow, but also bolts (bolzcn, German ; quarrcaux, 
 or carricaux, French ; qnadrclli, Latin, corrupted into 
 
 * Sir S. D. Scott, "The British Army : its Origin, Progress, and Equipment," 
 vol. ii. pp. 80, 8r.
 
 1 64 BIRDING-PIECES. 
 
 " quarrels," from their pyramidal form), and also stones or 
 leaden balls. 
 
 Apropos of " bolts," who does not remember Oberon's 
 poetical story of the wild pansy ( Viola tricolor) marked 
 by Cupid's "bolt ?" 
 
 " Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell : 
 It fell upon a little western flower, 
 Before, milk white, now purple with love's wound, 
 And maidens call it ' Love-in-idleness.' " 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream, Act ii. Sc. i . 
 
 The " birding-pieces " which Mrs. Ford tells Falstaff are 
 always " discharged " up the chimney, were no doubt 
 the old-fashioned fowling-pieces which were in use in 
 those days. 
 
 According to Sir S. D. Scott,* the " birding-piece " 
 was identical with the " snap-hance," the early form of 
 that process of ignition the flint and steel lock which 
 has survived nearly 300 years, and specimens of which, 
 although now becoming rare, may occasionally be met 
 with in use, even at the present day. It was a Dutch 
 invention ; and is said to have been brought into use by 
 marauders, whom the Dutch called snap-haans, or poultry 
 stealers. The light from the burning match, which 
 necessarily accompanied the match-lock, exposed them to 
 
 * "The British Army : its Origin, Progress, and Equipment," London, 1868, 
 vol. ii. pp 284-286.
 
 BIRDING-PIECES. 
 
 I6 5 
 
 detection ; and the wheel-lock was an article too expensive 
 for them to purchase, as well as being liable to get out of 
 order ; so this lock was devised, and was suggested, no 
 doubt, by the wheel-lock. It consisted in the substitution 
 of flint for pyrites, and a furrowed plate of steel in lieu of 
 the wheel. When the trigger was pulled, it brought this 
 jagged piece of steel in collision with the flint, which 
 threw down its shower of sparks into the open pan, and 
 lighted the priming. This improvement apparently took 
 place about the close of the sixteenth century. 
 
 There is a very early " snap-hance " in the Tower 
 Collection, numbered \^. It is a " birding-piece " of 
 Prince Charles, afterwards King Charles I., date 1614, and 
 furnishes a good illustration of the form of gun in use in 
 Shakespeare's day. It is engraved both on lock and 
 barrel. The butt is remarkably thin ; the length of the 
 
 whole arm is four feet two inches, and was consequently
 
 1 66 
 
 DANGER. 
 
 adapted for a youth like the Prince, who, at the date 
 above mentioned, was fourteen years of age. 
 
 On looking at the curious specimens which are still 
 treasured up as heirlooms, or in museums, one cannot 
 help thinking that the person who pulled the trigger must 
 have been in far greater danger than the bird at which 
 he aimed.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE BIRDS UNDER DOMESTICATION. 
 
 T T would hardly be supposed that the birds under 
 domestication could inspire much poetical feeling, or 
 indeed that they could furnish the dramatist with much 
 imagery. Those, however, who may entertain this view, on 
 reading the works of Shakespeare, must admit that in his 
 case at least they are mistaken. The Cock, the Peacock, 
 the Turkey, the Pigeon, the Goose, the Duck and the Swan, 
 are all noticed in their turn, and indeed, in the ordinary 
 list of poultry, hardly a species has escaped mention. In 
 the succeeding chapter, when treating of the game-birds, 
 we shall notice the Pheasant, Partridge, and Quail, which 
 are occasionally domesticated. For the present, it will be 
 as well to confine our attention to the birds above 
 mentioned. 
 
 "The early village cock" (Richard III. Act v. Sc. 3), 
 " the trumpet to the morn " (Hamlet, Act i. Sc. i), is often
 
 1 68 THE COCK. 
 
 noticed by Shakespeare. In the prologue to the fourth 
 act of King Henry V. 
 
 " The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll, 
 And the third hour of drowsy morning name." 
 
 Steevens has shown that the popular notion of a phantom 
 disappearing at cock-crow is of very ancient date. The 
 conversation of Bernardo, Horatio, and Marcellus, on the 
 subject of Hamlet's ghost, affords a good illustration of 
 this : 
 
 "Bern. It was about to speak, when the cock crew ! 
 Hor. And then it started like a guilty thing 
 Upon a fearful summons. I have heard, 
 The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, 
 Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat 
 Awake the god of day ; and, at his warning, 
 Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, 
 The extravagant * and erring spirit hies 
 To his confine : and of the truth herein, 
 This present object made probation. 
 Mar. It faded on the crowing of the cock. 
 
 Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes 
 Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, 
 The bird of dawning singeth all night long : 
 And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad ; 
 
 * Note here the use of the word "extravagant ' in its primary signification, 
 implying, of the ghost, its wandering beyond its proper sphere.
 
 COCK-CROW. 169 
 
 The nights are wholesome ; then no planets strike, 
 No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, 
 So hallow'd and so gracious is the time." 
 
 Hamlet, Act i. Sc. i. 
 
 " Hark ! hark ! I hear the strain of strutting chanticleer 
 cry cockadidle-dowe. Tempest, Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 Just as " cock-crow " denotes the early morning, so is 
 " cock-shut-time " or " cock-close," expressive of the even- 
 ing ; although some consider that the latter phrase owes its 
 origin to the practice of netting woodcocks at twilight, 
 that is, shutting or enclosing them in a net. 
 
 The origin of the phrase " cock-a-hoop," which occurs 
 in Romeo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 5, is very doubtful : the 
 passage is 
 
 " You'll make a mutiny among my guests ! 
 You will set cock-a-hoop ! you '11 be the man !" 
 
 Some commentators consider that this refers in some 
 way to the boastful crowing of the cock, but we do- not 
 think that Shakespeare intended any allusion here to the 
 game-fowl. We take it that the reference is to a cask of 
 ale or wine, and that the phrase "to set cock-a-hoop" means 
 to take the cock, or tap, out of the cask and set it on the 
 hoop, thus letting all the contents escape. The man who 
 would do such a reckless act, would be just the sort of 
 man to whom Shakespeare refers. 
 
 z
 
 I/O COCK-A-HOOP. 
 
 The ale-house sign of "The Cock and Hoop " repre- 
 sents a game-fowl standing upon a hoop, but we have 
 little doubt that the original sign was a cask flowing, with 
 the tap laid on the top. The modern version is no doubt 
 a corruption, just as we have " The Swan with Two 
 Necks " for " The Swan with Two Nicks" i. e. marks on 
 the bill to distinguish it ; " The Devil and the Bag o' 
 Nails " for " Pan and the Bacchanals ;" " The Goat and 
 Compasses " for the ancient motto " God encompasseth 
 us ;" &c., &c.* 
 
 The popular adjuration, " by cock and pye," which 
 Shakespeare has put in the mouth of Justice Shallow, was 
 once supposed to refer to the sacred name, and to the 
 table of services, called " the pie ;" but it is now thought 
 to be what Hotspur termed a mere " protest of pepper 
 gingerbread," as innocent as Slender's, " By these gloves," 
 or, "By this hat." In " Soliman and Perseda" (1599,) it 
 occurs coupled with " mousefoot ;" " By cock and pye and 
 mousefoot." Again, in "The Plaine Man's Pathway to 
 Heaven," by Arthur Dent (1607), we have the following 
 dialogue : 
 
 Asunetus. " I know a man that will never swear but by 
 cock or py, or mousefoot. I hope you will not say these be 
 
 * Apropos of ale-house signs, Shakespeare gives us the origin of "The Bear 
 and Ragged Staff." It is the crest of the Earls of Warwick. 
 
 Waiivick. " Now, by my father's badge, old Neville's crest, 
 The rampant bear chain'd to the ragged staff." 
 
 Henry VI. Part II. Act v. Sc. r.
 
 COCK AND PYE. 17 1 
 
 oaths. For he is as honest a man as ever brake bread. 
 You shall not hear an oath come out of his mouth." 
 
 Theologus. " I do not think he is so honest a man as 
 you make him. For it is no small sin to swear by 
 creatures." 
 
 The Cock and Pye (i. e. Magpie) was an ordinary ale- 
 house sign, and may thus have become a subject for the 
 vulgar to swear by. Douce, however, ascribes to it a less 
 ignoble origin, and his interpretation is too ingenious to 
 be passed over in silence : " It will no doubt be re- 
 collected that in the days of ancient chivalry it was 
 the practice to make solemn vows or engagements for 
 the performance of some considerable enterprise. This 
 ceremony was usually performed during some grand feast 
 or entertainment, at which a roasted peacock or pheasant 
 being served up by ladies in a dish of gold or silver, was 
 thus presented to each knight, who then made the par- 
 ticular vow which he had chosen with great solemnity. 
 When this custom had fallen into disuse, the peacock 
 nevertheless continued to be a favourite dish, and was 
 introduced on the table in a pie, the head, with gilded 
 beak, being proudly elevated above the crust, and the 
 splendid tail expanded. Other birds of less value were 
 introduced in the same manner, and the recollection of 
 the old peacock vows might occasion the less serious, or 
 even burlesque, imitation of swearing not only by the bird
 
 1/2 COCK-FIGHTING. 
 
 itself, but also by the pye ; and hence, probably, the oath 
 'by cock and pye,' for the use of which no very old 
 authority can be found." 
 
 Shallow, " By cock and pye, sir, you shall not away to- 
 night." Henry IV. Part II. Act v. Sc. I. 
 
 The pastime of cock-fighting, to which Shakespeare has 
 alluded in Antony and Cleopatra, is no doubt of some 
 antiquity. Strutt, in his " Sports and Pastimes of the 
 People of England," does not give any history of its 
 introduction, but quotes from Burton (1660), and Powell 
 (1696), to show that the sport was well known at those 
 dates. It was much in vogue in Shakespeare's day, and 
 the great dramatist is probably not wrong in leading us to 
 suppose that it was first introduced by the Romans : 
 
 " His cocks do win the battle still of mine, 
 When it is all to nought." 
 
 Antony -and Cleopatra, Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 
 ." Cock-fighting took place generally between August 
 and May. Six weeks before a battle, the champions were 
 confined in separate pens, and fed with bread. Their 
 spurs were then wrapped in leather, and they were allowed 
 to spar, and sweated in straw baskets, and fed with sugar- 
 candy, chopped rosemary, and butter, to strengthen them 
 and give them wind. Roots dipped in wine, and oatmeal 
 kneaded with ale and eggs, were also allowed them, as 
 purges and diaphoretics. Every day the feeder had to
 
 COCK-FIGHTING. 173 
 
 lick his bird's eye, and lead and encourage him to pursue 
 a dunghill fowl which he held in his arms, and ran with 
 before him. The last fortnight the sparring was discon- 
 tinued, and four days next allowed before the bird was 
 brought into the pit, and always fasting. 
 
 " In matching birds, it was necessary to consider their 
 strength and length the weak, long bird rising with more 
 ease, and the short, strong bird giving the surer and 
 deadlier blow. 
 
 " The game cocks were prepared for battle by cutting off 
 the mane all but a small ruff, and clipping off the feathers 
 from the tail. The wings were cut short, and sharp points 
 left, to endanger the eye of the antagonist. The spurs 
 were scraped and sharpened, but steel spurs were not used 
 at this early period, though the sport was as old as the 
 Athenians. The preparation was completed by removing 
 all the feathers from the crown of the head. The feeder, 
 then licking his pupil all over, turned him into the pit, to 
 win his gold and move his fortune. 
 
 " The birds were generally brought into the arena in 
 linen bags, in which they came from Norwich or Wis- 
 beach. 
 
 " They began the combat by whetting their beaks upon 
 the ground, and continued the fight till they were both 
 blind, or faint from loss of blood. The feeder had to suck 
 the wounds of the living bird, and powder them with 
 dust of the herb Robert. If the eye were hurt, the
 
 1/4 ANCESTRY OF DOMESTIC COCK. 
 
 cocker chewed ground ivy, and applied the juice to the 
 wound."* 
 
 Whether the various breeds of domestic fowls have 
 diverged by independent and different roads from a singk 
 type, which is most probable, or whether they have de- 
 scended from several distinct wild species, as some natu- 
 ralists maintain, is a question which can scarcely be 
 answered in the present treatise. A separate volume 
 might be written on the subject. Nevertheless, the general 
 opinion is that all the various breeds have descended from 
 a common wild ancestor the Gallus bankiva of India. 
 This species has a wide geographical range. It inhabits 
 Northern India as far west as Scinde, and ascends the 
 Himalaya to a height of 4,000 feet. It is found in 
 Burmah, the Malay Peninsula, the Indo-Chinese countries, 
 the Philippine Islands, and the Malayan Archipelago, as far 
 eastward as Timor. Mr. Darwin has shown f that it varies 
 considerably in the wild state, and observes \ that " from 
 the extremely close resemblance in colour, general struc- 
 ture, and especially in voice, between Gallus bankiva and 
 the game-fowl ; from their fertility, as far as this has been 
 ascertained, when crossed ; from the possibility of the wild 
 species being tamed, and from its varying in the wild 
 state, we may confidently look at it as the parent of the 
 
 * " The Compleat Gamester," 1709. 
 
 f "The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication," i. 235. 
 
 J Id. i. 236, 237.
 
 THE PEACOCK. 175 
 
 most typical of all the domestic breeds, namely, the game- 
 fowl. It is a significant fact that almost all the naturalists 
 in India, namely, Sir W. Elliot, Mr. S. N. Ward, Mr. 
 Layard, Mr. T. C. Jerdon, and Mr. Blyth, who are familiar 
 with Gallus bankiva, believe that it is the parent of most 
 or all of our domestic breeds." 
 
 Another species of Eastern origin noticed by Shake- 
 speare is the Peacock (Pavo cristatus) : 
 
 " Let frantic Talbot triumph for awhile, 
 And, like a peacock, sweep along his tail ; 
 We '11 pull his plumes and take away his train." 
 
 Henry VI. Part I. Act iii. Sc. 3. 
 And elsewhere 
 
 " Why, he stalks up and down like a peacock, a 
 stride and a stand." Troilus and Cressida, Act iii 
 Sc. 3* 
 
 ^Elian says peacocks were brought into Greece from 
 some barbarous country, and were held in such estimation 
 that a pair was valued at Athens at 1,000 drachmae, or 
 32 $s. iod. Peacocks' crests in ancient times were 
 among the ornaments of the Kings of England. 
 
 Ernald de Aclent paid a fine to King John in 150 
 palfreys, with sackbuts, lorains, gilt spurs, and peacocks' 
 crests, such as would be for his credit. 
 
 * See also Taming of the Shrew, Act iv. Sc. i, and Tempest, Act iv. Sc. i.
 
 176 ITS INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Whether our birds are descended from those introduced 
 into Europe in the time of Alexander, or have been 
 subsequently imported, is doubtful. They vary but little 
 under domestication, except in sometimes being white or 
 piebald.* 
 
 A curious fact with respect to the peacock may here be 
 noticed, namely, the occasional appearance in England of 
 the " japanned " or " black-shouldered " kind. This form 
 has been regarded by Mr. Sclater as a distinct species, 
 under the name of Pavo nigripennis, and he believes it 
 will hereafter be found wild in some country, but not in 
 India, where it is certainly unknown.-^ These japanned 
 birds differ conspicuously from the common peacock, and 
 can be propagated perfectly true. Nevertheless, Mr. 
 Darwin gives it as his opinion that " the evidence seems 
 to preponderate strongly in favour of the black-shoul- 
 dered breed being a variation, induced either by the 
 climate of England, or by some unknown cause, such 
 as reversion to a primordial and extinct condition of the 
 species." \ 
 
 Formerly the peacock was in much request for the 
 table, but now-a-days the species appears to be preserved 
 for ornament rather than use. According to the "Nor- 
 
 * Darwin, "Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication," i. 290. 
 f Pro. Zool. Soc. April 24th, 1860. 
 I Darwin, op. cit.
 
 THE TURKEY. 177 
 
 thumberland Household Book," the price of a peacock 
 for the table in 1512 was twelvepence ; but we must 
 recollect that this was a much larger sum in those days 
 than it is now considered to be. 
 
 Shakespeare has committed a curious anachronism 
 in introducing the domestic Turkey in the play of 
 Henry IV,, the species being unknown in England until 
 the later reign of Henry VIII. The passage referred to 
 runs thus : 
 
 First Carrier. " 'Odsbody ! the turkeys in my pannier 
 are quite starved. What, ostler ! " Henry IV, Part I. 
 Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
 The turkey was imported into Spain by the Spanish 
 discoverers in the New World, early in the sixteenth 
 century, its wild prototype being the Gallipavo Mexicana 
 of Gould, and from Spain it was introduced into England 
 in 1524. In 1525 a rhyme was composed, celebrating the 
 introduction of this bird, as well as other good things, 
 into this country : 
 
 " Turkies, carps, hoppes, piccarell, and beere, 
 Came into England all in one yeare." * 
 
 A writer in the " Encyclopaedia Britannica " says : 
 " This fowl was first seen in France in the reign of 
 Francis I., and in England in that of Henry VIII. By 
 
 * 'Baker's " Chronicle." 
 
 A A
 
 1/8 ITS INTRODUCTION INTO ENGLAND. 
 
 the date of the reigns of these monarchs, the first turkies 
 must have been brought from Mexico, the conquest of 
 which was completed A.D. 1521." * 
 
 " These facts," observes Mr. Blyth,f " are generally 
 known, but not the fact for which there is abundant 
 evidence, that the domestic turkey was introduced from 
 Europe into the North American colonies, where a 
 kindred wild species abounded in the forest." 
 
 The origin of the English name turkey, as applied to 
 a bird indigenous to America, has provoked much dis- 
 cussion. The best explanation is that given by Mr. 
 Blyth, in the work last quoted \ : 
 
 " It is certain," he says, " that the Guinea-fowl was 
 commonly termed the Turkey-hen in former days, and 
 hence a difficulty sometimes in knowing which bird is 
 meant by sundry old authors. As the Portuguese dis- 
 coveries along the west coast of Africa preceded those 
 of the Spaniards in America, there is reason to infer that 
 our British ancestors became acquainted with the guinea- 
 fowl prior to their knowledge of the turkey ; and the 
 English trade being then chiefly with the Levantine 
 countries, our ancestors may well have fancied that it 
 came from thence. Referring to a curious old dictionary 
 in my possession (published in 1678) for the word 
 
 * It is observable, however, that in "The Privy Purse Expenses of King 
 Henry VIII." turkies are not once mentioned amongst the fowls to be provided 
 for the table. 
 
 f "Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal," vol. xxix. p. 38. J Pp. 390, 391.
 
 TURKEY-FOWL AND GUINEA-FOWL. 179 
 
 Meleagris, I find it translated ' a Guinny or Turkey 
 Hen : ' Gallince Africaner seu Numidicce, Van ' sine quae 
 vulgo Indicae ' (Coq d 'Inde of the French, corrupted into 
 Dinde and Dindon!}. Again, Numidic'a guttata of Martial 
 is rendered 'a Ginny or Turkey Hen.' Looking also 
 into an English and Spanish Dictionary of so late a 
 date as 1740, I find Gallipavo rendered 'a Turkey or 
 Guinea Cock or Hen.' Well, it is known that our British 
 forefathers originally derived the domestic turkey from 
 Spain, and meanwhile they are likely to have obtained 
 a knowledge of the true habitat of the guinea-fowl, and 
 therefore may very probably have supposed the former 
 to be the real turkey-fowl, as distinguished from the 
 guinea-fowl ; and if the word ' fowl ' be dropped in the 
 one instance and not in the other, be it remembered 
 that there was another special meaning for the word 
 Guinea, having reference to the Gold Coast, otherwise 
 the bird might have come to be known as the 'guinea,' 
 as the bantam-fowl is now currently designated the 
 ' bantam,' and the canary-bird as the ' canary,' or the 
 turkey-fowl the ' turkey.' The Latin - sounding name 
 Gallipavo seems to be of Spanish origin, and obtains 
 among the Spaniards to this day ; but their earliest name 
 for it was ' Pavon de las Indias,' ' c'est-a-dire,' as Buffon 
 remarks, ' Paon des Indes Occidentals;' which explains the 
 reference to India perpetuated in ' Dindon! " 
 
 The turkey is again mentioned by Shakespeare in
 
 l8o THE PIGEON : 
 
 Twelfth Night, where Fabian, speaking of Malvolio to 
 Andrew Aguecheek, says : 
 
 " Contemplation makes a rare turkey-cock of him : how 
 he jets under his advanc'd plumes ! "- Twelfth Night, 
 Act ii. Sc. 5. 
 
 The Pigeon and the Dove are repeatedly mentioned in 
 the works of Shakespeare, although on different grounds. 
 The former bird is noticed as a letter-carrier (Titus An- 
 dronicus, Act iv. Sc. 3), as an article of food (Henry IV. 
 Part II. Act v. Sc. i), and as an example of conjugal 
 fidelity and attachment to offspring (As You Like It, Act i. 
 Sc. 2, and Act iii. Sc. 3). The latter is alluded to 
 as the emblem of peace (Henry IV. Part I. Act iv. 
 Sc. i.; Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. i), modesty (Taming of 
 the Shrew, Act iii. Sc. 2), patience (Hamlet, Act v. 
 Sc. i), innocence (Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Sc. i), 
 fidelity (Troilus and Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 2 ; Winter's Talc, 
 Act iv. Sc. 3), and love (Venus and Adonis ; Henry VI. 
 Part I. Act ii. Sc. 2 ; Romeo and Juliet, Act ii. Sc. 5). 
 
 In one passage only is the word " dove " used synony- 
 mously for " pigeon." In Romeo and Juliet we are told of 
 the nurse " sitting in the sun under the afo^-house wall " 
 (Act i. Sc. 3). 
 
 The practice, here alluded to, of keeping pigeons in a 
 domesticated state is of very ancient date. Mr. Darwin 
 has been at considerable pains to collect information
 
 ITS EARLY DOMESTICATION. l8l 
 
 upon this point, and in his admirable work " On the 
 Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication," 
 he gives the following results : 
 
 " The earliest record, as has been pointed out to me by 
 Professor Lepsius, of pigeons in a domesticated condition, 
 occurs in the fifth Egyptian dynasty, about 3000 B.C. ; but 
 Mr. Birch, of the British Museum, informs me that the 
 pigeon appears in a bill of fare in the previous dynasty.* 
 Domestic pigeons are mentioned in Genesis, Leviticus, 
 and Isaiah. In the time of the Romans, as we hear from 
 Pliny, immense prices were given for pigeons ; ' nay, they 
 are come to this pass, that they can reckon up their 
 pedigree and race.' In India, about the year 1600, 
 pigeons were much valued by Akber Khan : 20,000 birds 
 were carried about with the court, and the merchants 
 brought valuable collections. ' The monarchs of Iran and 
 Turan sent him some very rare breeds. His Majesty,' 
 says the courtly historian, ' by crossing the breeds, which 
 method was never practised before, has improved them 
 astonishingly. Akber Khan possessed seventeen distinct 
 kinds, eight of which were valuable for beauty alone. At 
 
 * In the ruined temple of Medineet Haboo is a representation of the coronation 
 of the famous warrior, King Rameses III. (B.C. 1297). "The conquering hero, 
 among the clamours of the populace, and shouts of his victorious army, is depicted 
 proceeding to the temple to offer his grateful thanks to the gods ; and whilst 
 certain priests in their gorgeous robes are casting incense about, and offering up 
 sacrifices at many a smoking altar, others are employed in letting off carrier- 
 pigeons to announce the glad tidings to every quarter of the globe." LKITH 
 ADAMS, No/es of a Xaluralist in the Nile Valley and Malta, p. 27.
 
 1 82 PIGEON-FANCIERS. 
 
 about this same period of 1600, the Dutch, according to 
 Aldrovandus, were as eager about pigeons as the Romans 
 had formerly been. The breeds which were kept during 
 the fifteenth century in Europe and in India, apparently 
 differed from each other. Tavernier, in his ' Travels,' in 
 1677, speaks as does Chardin, in 1735, of the vast num- 
 bers of pigeon-houses in Persia ; and the former remarks, 
 that as Christians were not permitted to keep pigeons, 
 some of the vulgar actually turned Mahometans for this 
 sole purpose. The Emperor of Morocco had his favourite 
 keeper of pigeons, as is mentioned in Moore's treatise, 
 published 1737. In England, from the time of 1678 to 
 the present day, as well as in Germany and in France, 
 numerous treatises have been published on the pigeon. 
 In India, about a hundred years ago, a Persian treatise 
 was written ; and the writer thought it no light affair, for 
 he begins with a solemn invocation, ' In the name of God, 
 the gracious and merciful.' Many large towns in Europe 
 and ftie United States now have their societies of 
 devoted pigeon-fanciers : at present there are three such 
 societies in London. In India, as I hear from Mr. Blyth, 
 the inhabitants of Delhi and of some other great cities 
 are eager fanciers. Mr. Layard informs me that most of 
 the known breeds are kept in Ceylon. In China, accord- 
 ing to Mr. Swinhoe of Amoy, and Dr. Lockhart of 
 Shangai, carriers, fantails, tumblers, and other varieties 
 are reared with care, especially by the bonzes, or priests.
 
 CARRIER-PIGEONS. 183 
 
 " The Chinese fasten a kind of whistle to the tail- 
 feathers of their pigeons, and as the flock wheels through 
 the air, they produce a sweet sound.* In Egypt, the 
 late Abbas Pacha was a great fancier of fantails. Many 
 pigeons are kept at Cairo and Constantinople, and these 
 have lately been imported by native merchants, as I hear 
 from Sir W. Elliot, into Southern India, and sold at high 
 prices. 
 
 " The foregoing statements show in how many countries, 
 and during how long a period, many men have been pas- 
 sionately devoted to the breeding of pigeons. "-f- 
 
 In Titus Andronicus (Act iv. Sc. 3), upon the entry of 
 a clown with two pigeons Titus exclaims : 
 
 " News, news from heaven ! Marcus, the post is come. 
 Sirrah, what tidings ? have you any letters ?" 
 
 The practice of using pigeons as letter-carriers, here 
 alluded to by Shakespeare, is doubtless of very ancient 
 origin. The old historian Diodorus Siculus, informs us 
 that above two thousand years ago they were employed 
 for this purpose ; and five hundred years since relays of 
 carrier-pigeons formed part of a telegraphic system 
 adopted by the Turks. " Regular chains of posts were 
 established, consisting of high towers between thirty and 
 
 * A good description of these whistles, by Mr. Tegetmeier, with illustrations, 
 will be found in the Field of the i2th March, 1870. 
 
 t Darwin, "Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication," i. pp. 204,
 
 1 84 PIGEON-POST. 
 
 forty miles asunder, provided with pigeons, and sentinels 
 stood there constantly on the watch, to secure the intelli- 
 gence communicated by the birds as they arrived, and to 
 pass it on by means of others. The note was written on 
 a thin slip of paper, enclosed in a very small gold box, 
 almost as thin as the paper itself, suspended to the neck 
 of the bird ; the hour of arrival and departure were 
 marked at each successive tower, and for greater security 
 a duplicate was always despatched two hours after the 
 first. The despatches were, however, not always enclosed 
 in gold, but merely in paper, in which case, to prevent the 
 letters being defaced by damp, the legs of the pigeon 
 were first bathed in vinegar, with a view to keep them 
 cool, so that they might not settle to drink, or wash 
 themselves on the way, which in that hot climate they 
 were often doing." 
 
 The modern mode of transmitting messages by pigeon- 
 post is much more ingenious, and less irksome to the 
 bird. The slip of paper is rolled up very tightly, and 
 inserted in a small quill, which is stitched to one of the 
 tail-feathers. 
 
 Formerly it was not an uncommon thing to send a pair 
 of doves or pigeons as a present 
 
 " I have brought you a letter and a couple of pigeons 
 here." Titus Andronicus, Act iv. Sc. 4. 
 
 The constancy evinced by pigeons towards each other,
 
 " PIGEON-LI VER'D." 185 
 
 when paired, has been already referred to. (As You Like 
 It, Act iii. Sc. 3 ; Winter's Tale, Act iv. Sc. 3, &c.) 
 
 It has been stated that the absence of a gall-bladder in 
 pigeons is compensated for by the extraordinary develop- 
 ment of the crop, by the aid of which the food becomes so 
 thoroughly digested, that the gall is rendered unnecessary. 
 This, however, is not strictly correct, as the food is only 
 macerated in the crop ; and the gall, as it is secreted, 
 passes, by two ducts, from the liver into the duodenum, 
 instead of into a gall-bladder. Shakespeare has alluded 
 to this peculiarity in the digestive organs of pigeons in 
 Hamlet, where the Prince says : 
 
 " I am pigeon-liver'd, and lack gall 
 To make oppression bitter." 
 
 Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 The manner in which they feed their young, to which 
 allusion is made in As You Like It (Act i. Sc. 2), is very 
 remarkable. 
 
 Most birds collect for their young, but in the case of 
 pigeons and some others, there exists a provision very 
 similar to that of milk in quadrupeds. " I have disco- 
 vered," says John Hunter,* "in my enquiries concerning 
 the various modes in which young animals are nourished, 
 that all the dove kind are endowed with a similar power. 
 
 " The young pigeon, like the young quadruped, till it is 
 capable of digesting the common food of its kind, is fed 
 
 * Hunter " On the Animal Economy," p. 194. 
 
 B B
 
 1 86 "AS PIGEONS FEED THEIR YOUNG." 
 
 with a substance secreted for that purpose by the parent 
 animal ; not, as in the mammalia, by the female alone, but 
 also by the male, which perhaps furnishes this nutriment 
 in a degree still more abundant. 
 
 " It is a common property of birds, that both male and 
 female are equally employed in hatching and in feeding 
 their young in the second stage, but this particular mode 
 of nourishment, by means of a substance secreted in their 
 own bodies, is peculiar to certain kinds, and is carried on 
 in the crop. 
 
 " Besides the dove kind, I have some reason to suppose 
 parrots to be endowed with the same faculty, as they have 
 the power of throwing up the contents of the crop, and 
 feeding one another. 
 
 " I have seen the cock parrakeet regularly feed the hen, 
 by first filling his own crop, and then supplying her from 
 his beak. Parrots, macaws, cockatoos, Sec., when they are 
 very fond of the person who feeds them, may likewise be 
 observed to have the action of throwing up the food, and 
 often do it. The cock pigeon, when he caresses the hen, 
 performs the same kind of action as when he feeds his 
 young, but I do not know if at this time he throws up 
 anything from the crop. 
 
 " During incubation, the coats of the crop in the pigeon 
 are gradually enlarged and thickened, like what happens 
 to the udder of females of the class mammalia, in the 
 term of uterine gestation. On comparing the state of the
 
 "AS PIGEONS FEED THEIR YOUNG." 187 
 
 crop when the bird is not sitting, with its appearance 
 during incubation, the difference is very remarkable. In 
 the first case it is thin and membranous, but by the time 
 the young are about to be hatched, the whole, except 
 what lies on the trachea or windpipe, becomes thickened, 
 and takes on a glandular appearance, having its internal 
 surface very irregular. It is likewise evidently more 
 vascular than in its former state, that it may convey a 
 quantity of blood, sufficient for the secretion of this sub- 
 stance, which is to nourish the young brood for some days 
 after they are hatched. Whatever may be the consistence 
 of this substance when just secreted, it most probably 
 soon coagulates into a granulated white curd, for in such a 
 form I have always found it in the crop ; and if an old 
 pigeon is killed just as the young ones are hatching, the 
 crop will be found as above described, and in its cavity 
 pieces of white curd, mixed with some of the common 
 food of the pigeon, such as barley, beans, &c. 
 
 " If we allow either of the parents to feed the young, its 
 crop, when examined, will be discovered to contain the 
 same curdled substance, which passes thence into the 
 stomach, where it is to be digested. The young pigeon is 
 fed for some time with this substance only, and about the 
 third day some of the common food is found mingled with 
 it ; and as the pigeon grows older, the proportion of 
 common food is increased, so that by the time it is seven, 
 eight, or nine days old, the secretion of the curd ceases in
 
 1 88 "AS PIGEONS FEED THEIR YOUNG." 
 
 the old ones, and of course will no more be found in the 
 crop of the young. 
 
 " It is a curious fact that the parent pigeon has at first 
 the power to throw up this curd without any mixture of 
 common food, although afterwards both are thrown up 
 according to the proportion required for the young ones. 
 I have called this substance curd, not as being literally so, 
 but as resembling that more than anything I know ; it 
 may, however, have a greater resemblance to curd than 
 we are perhaps aware of; for neither this secretion, nor 
 curd from which the whey has been pressed, seem to 
 contain any sugar, and do not run into the acetous 
 fermentation. The property of coagulating is confined to 
 the substance itself, as it produces no such effect when 
 mixed with milk. This secretion in the pigeon, like all 
 other animal substances, becomes putrid by standing, 
 though not so readily as either blood or meat, it resisting 
 putrefaction for a considerable time ; neither will curd 
 much pressed become so putrid as soon as either blood or 
 meat." 
 
 Selby says,* " The young remain in the nest till they 
 are able to fly, and are fed by the parent birds, who 
 disgorge into their mouths the food that has undergone 
 a maceration, or semi-digestive process, in that part of the 
 oesophagus usually called the crop or craw." 
 
 Colonel Montagu appears to be one of the few original 
 
 * " Illustrations of British Ornithology."
 
 THE BARBARY PIGEON. 189 
 
 observers who has confirmed the account given by Hunter. 
 " The rook," he says, " has a small pouch under the 
 tongue, in which it carries food to its young. It is prob- 
 able the use of the craw may be extended further than is 
 generally imagined, for, besides the common preparation 
 of the food to assist its digestion in the stomach, there are 
 some species that actually secrete a lacteal substance in 
 the breeding season, which, mixing with the half-digested 
 food, is ejected to feed and nourish the young. The 
 mammae from which this milky liquor is produced, are 
 situated on each side of the upper part of the breast, 
 immediately under the craw. In the female turtle-dove 
 we have met with these glands tumid with milky secretion, 
 and we believe it common to both sexes of the dove genus."* 
 It is not surprising that so great an authority on the sub- 
 ject as Mr. Tegetmeier should have adverted to Shake- 
 speare's knowledge of these birds. At p. 133 of his work 
 upon Pigeons,-f- he says : " The Barb, or Barbary Pigeon, 
 is one of those varieties whose history can be traced back 
 for a considerable period : it was certainly well known in 
 England during the sixteenth century, for Shakespeare, 
 in As You Like It, which was entered at Stationers' Hall 
 in 1600, makes Rosalind, when disguised as a youth, say, 
 ' I will be more jealous of thee than a Barbary cock- 
 pigeon over his hen.' Act iv. Sc. i. Our intercourse with 
 
 * " Ornithological Dictionary," Preface, ist edition. 
 
 f "Pigeons: their Structure, Varieties, Habits, and Management." By W. B. 
 Tegetmeier, F.Z.S. London, 1868.
 
 190 THE ROCK-DOVE. 
 
 the north of Africa was at that period not unfrequent, and 
 many of the domestic animals of the district had been 
 imported into this country. Shakespeare frequently 
 alludes to Barbary horses ; and in the Second Part of 
 King Henry IV. Act ii. Sc. 4, makes Falstaff say, ' He's 
 
 no swaggerer, hostess he'll not swagger 
 
 with a Barbary hen, if her feathers turn back with any 
 show of resistance.' This allusion was most probably to 
 a frizzled fowl. In this singular variety the feathers upon 
 the head and neck are reversed or curled, which gives the 
 hen at all times the appearance of a cock in fighting 
 attitude. Hence Shakespeare's apt allusion." 
 
 There seems to be no doubt that all the various races 
 of the domestic pigeon are descended from a single stock, 
 namely, the wild rock-pigeon (Columba livid). A mass 
 of interesting evidence on this subject will be found 
 in Darwin's "Variation of Animals and Plants under 
 Domestication," vol. i. chap. 5. 
 
 Frequent allusion has been made by Shakespeare to 
 the " Doves of Venus " (Lucrece, Venus and Adonis, and 
 Midsummer Nighfs Dream, Act i. Sc. i), and "Venus' 
 Pigeons " (Merchant of Venice, Act ii. Sc. 6). 
 
 Some explanation of this is to be found in the follow- 
 ing passage from Venus and Adonis : 
 
 " Thus weary of the world, away she (Venus) hies, 
 And yokes her silver doves ; by whose swift aid
 
 THE DOVES OF VENUS. 191 
 
 Their mistress, mounted, through the empty skies 
 In her light chariot quickly is convey'd ; 
 Holding their course to Paphos, where their queen 
 Means to immure herself and not be seen." 
 
 This will also explain the reference to 
 
 " The dove of Paphos." 
 
 Pericles, Act iv. Introd. 
 
 The towns of Old and New Paphos are situate on the 
 S.W. extremity of the coast of Cyprus. Old Paphos is 
 the one generally referred to by the poets, being the 
 peculiar seat of the worship of Venus, who was fabled to 
 have been wafted thither after her birth amid the waves. 
 The " dove of Paphos " therefore, may be considered as 
 synonymous with the "dove of Venus." Sometimes by 
 Paphos is understood the city of Cyprus, which is said to 
 have been founded by Paphos, son of Pygmalion, and 
 was known by his name : 
 
 " Ilia Paphon genuit : de quo tenet insula nomen." 
 
 Ovid Metam. Bk. 10, Fab. 8. 
 
 The Turtle-dove (Columba turtur) has been noticed by 
 poets in all ages as an emblem of love and constancy. 
 Shakespeare has 
 
 " When arm in arm they both came swiftly running, 
 Like to a pair of loving turtle-doves." 
 
 Henry VI. Part I. Act ii. Sc. 2.
 
 192 PLANTAGE. 
 
 And elsewhere 
 
 " So turtles pair that never mean to part." 
 
 Winters Tale, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 Again 
 
 " As true as steel, as plantage to the moon, 
 As sun to day, as turtle to her mate." 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 An inquiry into the meaning of the word plantage 
 leads to some curious information. Archdeacon Nares 
 observes * that " plantage " is probably for anything that 
 is planted. Plants were supposed to improve as the 
 moon increased, and from an old book entitled "The 
 Profitable Art of Gardening," by Thos. Hill, the third 
 edition of which was printed in 1579, we learn that 
 neither sowing, planting, nor grafting was ever under- 
 taken without a scrupulous attention to the increase 
 or waning of the moon. Dryden does not appear 
 to have understood the above passage, and has accord- 
 ingly altered it to " As true as flowing tides are to 
 the moon." But the meaning of the original words seem 
 sufficiently clear, and may be fully illustrated by the 
 following quotation from Scott's " Discoverie of Witch- 
 craft " : " The poore husband man perceiveth that the 
 increase of the moone maketh plants frutiful, so as in the 
 full moone they are in the best strength ; decaieing in 
 
 * " Glossary," 410. Lond. 1822.
 
 MAHOMED'S DOVE. 193 
 
 the wane, and in the conjunction do utterlie wither and . 
 vade." 
 
 The following lines from Pericles are somewhat to the 
 point : 
 
 " How dare the plants look up to heaven, from whence 
 They have their nourishment ?" 
 
 Pericles, Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 It is possible that particular reference may be had to 
 the plant " Honesty," or " Lunary " (Lunar iti), which was 
 so named from the circular shape of its pod, which was 
 thought to resemble the moon (Luna), not only in its 
 form, but in its silvery brightness. The title of " Honesty " 
 appears to have been given it from the transparent nature 
 of the pod, which discovers those seed-vessels that contain 
 seed from such as are barren or have shed their seed. 
 We learn from Chaucer that " Honesty " (Litnarid), was 
 one of the plants used in incantations. Drayton calls it 
 " Lunary " : 
 
 "Then sprinkles she the juice of rue, 
 
 With nine drops of the midnight dew 
 
 From Lunary distilling." 
 
 Nymphid. 
 
 But to return to our doves. It is related that Mahomed 
 had a dove which he used to feed with wheat out of his 
 ear, which dove, when it was hungry, lighted on Mahomed's 
 shoulder and thrust its bill in to find its breakfast, 
 
 C C
 
 194 EMBLEMS. 
 
 Mahomed persuading the rude and simple Arabians that 
 it was the Holy Ghost that gave him advice.* Hence 
 Shakespeare's query 
 
 " Was Mahomed inspired with a dove ? " 
 
 Henry VI. Part I. Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 As the crow has been held the type of blackness, so has 
 the dove been considered the emblem of the opposite 
 colour: 
 
 " So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, 
 As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 5. 
 
 " As soft as dove's down, and as white as it." 
 
 Winter's Tale, Act iv. Sc. 4. 
 
 In the very humorous Interlude which is introduced 
 by the clowns in Midsummer Night's Dream, we have the 
 gentle voice of the dove contrasted with the mighty roar 
 of the lion : 
 
 " Bottom. Let me play the lion too : I will roar, that 
 I will do any man's heart good to hear me ; I will roar, 
 that I will make the Duke say, ' Let him roar again, let 
 him roar again.' 
 
 Quince. An you should do it too terribly, you would 
 fright the Duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek ; 
 and that were enough to hang us all. 
 
 * Sir W. Raleigh, " History of the World," Book I. Part i. c. 6.
 
 TIMIDITY OF THE DOVE. 195 
 
 All. That would hang us, every mother's son. 
 
 Bottom. I grant you, friends, if that you should fright 
 the ladies out of their wits, they would have no more 
 discretion but to hang us ; but I will aggravate my voice 
 so, that I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove ; I 
 will roar you an't were any nightingale." Midsummer 
 Nights Dream, Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 We have before drawn attention to the fact that birds 
 which are by nature weak and timid, flying at the 
 approach of man, will nevertheless show fight in defence 
 of their young. Shakespeare has noticed this in the case 
 of the wren,* and the dove : 
 
 " And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood." 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 And in the same play 
 
 " So doves do peck the falcon's piercing talons." 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act i. Sc. 4. 
 Again 
 
 " To be furious, 
 
 Is to be frighted out of fear ; and in that mood 
 The dove will peck the ostrich." 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, Act iii. Sc. 13. 
 
 And yet there can scarcely be a more timid bird than 
 the dove, as Falstaff well knew, when he said ironically : 
 
 * See ante, p. 143.
 
 196 A DISH OF DOVES. 
 
 " Thou wilt be as valiant as the wrathful dove, or most 
 magnanimous mouse." Henry IV. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 The custom of bestowing a pair of doves as a present 
 or peace-offering has been before alluded to (Titus 
 Andronicus, Act iv. Sc. 4). 
 
 Izaak Walton tells us that " for the sacrifice of the Law 
 a pair of turtle-doves or young pigeons were as well 
 accepted as costly bulls and rams." When Gobbo 
 wished to curry favour with Bassanio he began by 
 saying : 
 
 " I have here a dish of doves, that I would bestow on 
 your worship." Merchant of Venice, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 These were no doubt intended to be eaten. Paris, speak- 
 ing to Helen of Pandarus, says, 
 
 " He eats nothing but doves, love." Troilns and 
 Cressida, Act iii. Sc. I. 
 
 A weakness which he deprecates as being heating to 
 the blood. Justice Shallow, when ordering dinner, showed 
 his appreciation of pigeons as well as of other good cheer. 
 He says : 
 
 " Some pigeons, Davy ; a couple of short-legged hens ; 
 a joint of mutton, and any pretty little tiny kickshaws, 
 tell William cook." Henry IV. Part II. Act v. Sc. I. 
 
 The price of a pigeon at this time, as we learn from
 
 THE GOOSE. 197 
 
 " The Northumberland Household Book," was " iij for a 
 penny," while hens could be bought "at ijd. a pece." 
 
 " Item, it is thoughte goode to by PlDGlONS for my 
 Lords Meas, Maister Chambreleyne, ande the Stewardes 
 Meas, so they be boughte after iij for a penny. 
 
 " Item, it is thoughte goode HENNES be boughte from 
 Cristynmas to Shroftide, so they be good and at ijd. 
 a pece. Ande my Lorde Maister Chambreleyne and the 
 Stewardes Meas to be syrved with theym and noon 
 outher." 
 
 A much more notable bird for the table is the Goose. 
 
 " Item, it is thoughte goode to by GEYSSE so that 
 they be good and for iijd. or iiijd. at the moste seynge 
 that iij or iiij Meas may be served thereof." 
 
 This bird is mentioned in As You Like It, Act iii. Sc. 4 ; 
 Loves Labour's Lost, Act iii. Sc. I, and Act iv. Sc. 3 ; Mid- 
 summer Nighf s Dream, Act v. Sc. i ; Tempest, Act ii. Sc. 2 ; 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, Act v. Sc. i ; Romeo and Juliet, 
 Act ii. Sc. 4 ; Coriolanus, Act i. Sc. 4 ; and Merchant of 
 Venice, Act v. Sc. i. 
 
 Shakespeare draws a distinction between a grass-fed and 
 a stubble-fed goose : 
 
 " The spring is near, when green geese are a-breeding." 
 
 Love's Labour's Lost, Act i. Sc. i. 
 
 May is the time for a green or grass-fed goose, while the
 
 198 GREEN GEESE AND STUBBLE GEESE. 
 
 stubble-goose comes in at Michaelmas. King, in his "Art 
 of Cookery," has 
 
 " So stubble-geese at Michaelmas are seen 
 Upon the spit ; next May produces green." 
 
 In the old " Household Books," it is not unusual to find 
 such entries as the following : 
 
 "Itrn, the xxvij daye to a s'vfit of 
 maister Becks in rewarde for bringing a 
 present of Grene Gees .... iiijs. viijd. 
 
 A " green goose " is mentioned again in Love's Labour's 
 Lost, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 Launce, enumerating the various occasions on which he 
 had befriended his dog, says, 
 
 " I have stood on the pillory for geese he hath killed, 
 otherwise he had suffered for 't." Two Gentlemen of 
 Verona, Act iv. Sc. 4. 
 
 " Goose, if I had you upon Sarum plain, 
 I 'd drive you cackling home to Camelot." 
 
 King Lear, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 There appears to be some difference of opinion as to 
 what place is meant by the ancient name Camelot. 
 Selden, in his notes to Drayton's " Polyolbion," says : 
 " By South Cadbury is that Camelot ; a hill of a mile 
 compass at' the top ; four trenches encircling it, and 
 betwixt every of them an earthen wall ; the contents of
 
 THE WILD-GOOSE CHASE. 199 
 
 it within about twenty acres full of ruins and relics of old 
 buildings." 
 
 In the " History of King Arthur " (Chap. 26), Camelot 
 is located in the west of England, Somersetshire ; while in 
 Chapter 44, it is related that Sir Balen's sword " swam 
 down the stream to the citie of Camelot, that is, in 
 English, Winchester." When Caxton finished the print- 
 ing of the " Mort d'Arthur," * he says of the hero : 
 " He is more spoken of beyond the sea, .... and 
 yet of record remain witness of him in Wales, in the 
 town of Camelot, the great stones and marvelous 
 works," &c. Tennyson, in his " Mort d'Arthur," twice 
 mentions Camelot, and in his " Lady of Shalott " 
 frequently alludes to " many-tower'd Camelot," but in 
 neither poem is any clue to its precise situation 
 given. 
 
 " Mercutio. Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I 
 am done ; for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of 
 thy wits, than, I am sure, I have in my whole five. Was 
 I with you there for the goose ? 
 
 Romeo. Thou wast never with me for anything, when 
 thou wast not there for the goose. 
 
 Mer. I will bite thee by the ear for that jest. 
 
 Rom. Nay, good goose, bite not. 
 
 * Translated from the French by Sir Thos. Mallory,. Knt., and first printed by 
 Caxton, A.D. 1481.
 
 200 THE WILD-GOOSE CHASE. 
 
 Mer. Thy wit is very bitter sweeting ; it is a most 
 sharp sauce. 
 
 Rom. And is it not well served in to a sweet goose ? 
 
 Mer. O, here 's a wit of cheverel, that stretches from an 
 inch narrow to an ell broad ! 
 
 Rom. I stretch it out for that word broad : which, added 
 to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act ii. Sc. 4. 
 
 The " wild-goose chase " above alluded to was a reck- 
 less sort of horserace, in which two horses were started 
 together, and the rider who first got the lead, compelled 
 the other to follow him over whatever ground he 
 chose.* 
 
 Burton, in his "Anatomy of Melancholy," 1660, gives 
 us a general view of the sports most prevalent in the 
 seventeenth century, and after naming the "common 
 recreations of country folks," he alludes to " riding of 
 great horses, running at rings, tilts and tournaments, 
 and wild-goose chases, which are disports of greater men 
 and good in themselves, though many gentlemen by such 
 means gallop quite out of their fortunes." 
 
 Shakespeare has many observations relating to Ducks, 
 but as his remarks illustrate more appropriately what we 
 shall have to say under the head of " wild-fowl," we 
 reserve them accordingly for a future chapter. 
 
 * See " Chambers's Dictionary," last ed., article "Chase;" also Holt White's 
 note to this passage in the " Variorum Shakespeare."
 
 THE SWAN. 201 
 
 The Swan (Cygnus olor) y being identified with Orpheus, 
 and called also the bird of Apollo, the god of music, 
 powers of song have been often attributed to it, and as 
 often denied : 
 
 " I will play the swan, and die in music." 
 
 Othello, Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 " A swan-like end, fading in music." 
 
 Merchant of Venice, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Prince Henry, at his father's death-bed, exclaims, 
 
 " Tis strange that death should sing ! 
 I am the cygnet to this pale, faint swan, 
 Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death ; 
 And, from the organ-pipe of frailty, sings 
 His soul and body to their lasting rest." 
 
 King John, Act v. Sc. 7. 
 Again, in Lucrece, we read 
 
 " And now this pale swan in her watery nest, 
 Begins the sad dirge of her certain ending." 
 
 But although the swan has no "song," properly so 
 called, it has a soft and rather plaintive note, monotonous, 
 but not disagreeable. I have often heard it in the spring, 
 when swimming about with its young. 
 
 Colonel Hawker, in his " Instructions to Young Sports- 
 men " (nth ed. p. 269), says: "The only note which I 
 ever heard the wild swan, in winter, utter, is his well- 
 
 D D
 
 202 SONG OF THE SWAN. 
 
 known 'whoop.' But one summer evening I was amused 
 with watching and listening to a domesticated one, as he 
 swam up and down the water in the Regent's Park. He 
 turned up a sort of melody, made with two notes, C and 
 the minor third, E flat, and kept working his head as if 
 delighted with his own performance. 
 
 " The melody, taken down on the spot by a first-rate 
 musician, Auguste Bertini, was as follows : 
 
 The Abbe Arnaud has written some interesting remarks 
 upon the voice of the swan.* He says : 
 
 "The swan, with his wings expanded, his neck out- 
 stretched, and his head erect, places himself opposite his 
 mate, uttering a cry to which the female replies by 
 another half a note lower. The voice of the male rises 
 from A (la), to B flat (si bemol) ; that of the female from 
 G sharp (sol diese), to A.-f- The first note is short and 
 transient, and has the effect which our musicians term 
 sensible ; so that it is not separated from the second, but 
 seems to glide into it. Observe that, fortunately for the 
 ear, they do not both sing at once ; in fact, if, while the 
 male sounded B flat, the female gave A, or if the male 
 
 * Wood's " Buffon," xix. p. 511, note. 
 
 t This, it will be observed, differs materially from Col. Hawker's observation.
 
 SONG OF THE SWAN. 203 
 
 uttered A while the female gave G sharp, there would 
 result the harshest and most insupportable of discords. 
 We may add that this dialogue is subjected to a constant 
 and regular rhythm, with the measure of two times (?). 
 The keeper assured me that during their amours, these 
 birds have a cry still sharper, but much more agreeable." 
 
 The late Charles Waterton once had an opportunity, 
 which rarely occurs, of seeing a swan die from natural 
 causes. " Although I gave no credence," he says,* " to the 
 extravagant notion which antiquity had entertained of 
 melody from the mouth of the dying swan, still I felt 
 anxious to hear some plaintive sound or other, some soft 
 inflection of the voice, which might tend to justify that 
 notion in a small degree. But I was disappointed. He 
 nodded, and then tried to recover himself, and then 
 nodded again, and again held up his head ; till, at last, 
 quite enfeebled and worn out, his head fell gently on the 
 grass, his wings became expanded a trifle or so, and he 
 died whilst I was looking on. He never even uttered his 
 wonted cry, nor so much as a sound to indicate what he 
 felt within. 
 
 " The silence which this bird maintained to the last 
 tends to show that the dying song of the swan is nothing 
 but a fable, the origin of which is lost in the shades of 
 antiquity. Its repetition can be of no manner of use, 
 save as a warning to ornithologists not to indulge in the 
 
 * " Essays on Natural History," second series, p. 128.
 
 204 HABITS OF THE SWAN. 
 
 extravagancies of romance a propensity not altogether 
 unknown in these our latter times." 
 
 Yarrell has remarked, in his " History of British Birds," 
 that " the young, when hatched, which is generally about 
 the end of May, are conducted to the water by the 
 parent bird, and are even said to be carried there : it is 
 certain that the cygnets are frequently carried on the 
 back of the female when she is sailing about in the water. 
 This I have witnessed on the Thames, and have seen the 
 female, by raising her leg, assist the cygnets in getting 
 upon her back." Mr. Jesse, also, in his " Gleanings in 
 Natural History," correctly observes : " Where the stream 
 is strong the old swan will sink herself sufficiently low 
 to bring her back on a level with the water, when the 
 cygnets will get upon it, and in this manner are conveyed 
 to the other side of the river, or into stiller water." 
 
 From a passage in King Henry VI. we may presume 
 that this habit had been noticed by Shakespeare : 
 
 " So doth the swan her downy cygnets save, 
 Keeping them prisoner underneath her wings." 
 
 Henry VI. Part I. Act v. Sc. 3. 
 
 By the expression "underneath her wings" we may 
 understand under shelter of her wings, which she arches 
 over her back whereon the young are seated. 
 
 This habit of carrying the young has been observed in 
 the case of many other water birds. Mr. W. Proctor, of
 
 THE SWAN'S NEST. 205 
 
 Durham, speaking of the habits of the horned grebe 
 (Podiceps cornntns), as observed by him in Iceland, says : 
 " One day, having seen one of these birds dive from its 
 nest, I placed myself with my gun at my shoulder, waiting 
 its reappearance. As soon as it emerged I fired and killed 
 it, and was surprised to see two young ones, which it 
 seems had been concealed beneath the wings of the parent 
 bird, drop upon the water. I afterwards shot several other 
 birds of this- species, all of which dived with their young 
 under their wings. The young were placed with their 
 heads towards the tail, and their bills resting on the back 
 of the parent bird." 
 
 But to return to the swan : 
 
 " For all the water in the ocean 
 Can never turn a swan's black legs to white, 
 Although she lave them hourly in the flood." 
 
 Titus Andronicns, Act iv. Sc. 2. 
 
 " I have seen a swan 
 
 With bootless labour swim against the tide, 
 And spend her strength with overmatching waves." 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act i. Sc. 4. 
 
 Those who are familiar with the late Mr. Wolley's 
 sketch of the wild swan's nest, published by Professor 
 Newton in the " Ootheca Wolleyana " (Part I. Plate 9),
 
 2o6 SWAN'S DOWN. 
 
 will recognize in it an excellent illustration to the fol- 
 lowing, passage : 
 
 " F the world's volume 
 
 Our Britain seems as of it, but not in 't ; 
 In a great pool, a swan's nest." 
 
 Cymbeline, Act iii. Sc. 4. 
 
 For the purpose of comparison, Shakespeare has found 
 the swan very useful in metaphor. 
 
 Benvolio, referring to Rosaline, says, 
 
 " Compare her face with some that I shall show, 
 And I will make thee think thy swan a crow." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 Troilus, descanting on the charms of Cressida, speaks 
 
 of 
 
 " Her hand 
 
 to whose soft seizure 
 The cygnet's down is harsh." . 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, Act i. Sc. i . 
 
 Amongst the numerous classical allusions to be found 
 throughout the Plays, we are reminded in the present 
 chapter of Juno's chariot drawn by swans : 
 
 " And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans, 
 Still we went coupled and inseparable." 
 
 As You Like It, Act i. Sc. 3. 
 
 Falstaff, too, with some humour, thus alludes to the 
 loves of Leda :
 
 CYGNETS. 2O7 
 
 " O powerful love ! that, in some respects, makes a beast 
 a man ; in some other, a man a beast. You were also, 
 Jupiter, a swan, for the love of Leda ; O, omnipotent love ! 
 how near the god drew to the complexion of a goose !" 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, Act v. Sc. 5. 
 
 The swan, in Shakespeare's day, was in much request 
 for the table, and, for those who could afford it, was served 
 up at all the principal feasts. In "The Northumberland 
 Household Book," such items as the following constantly 
 occur : 
 
 " ITEM. It is thoughte goode that my Lordis SWANNES 
 be taken and fedde to serve my Lordis house and to be 
 paide fore as they may be boughte in the countrey, seeing 
 that my Lorde hath Swannes enoughe of his owne. 
 
 " ITEM a Warraunte to be servide oute yerely at Michael- 
 mas for xx SWANNES for th' expencez of my Lordis house 
 as too say for Cristynmas Day v Saynt Stephyns Day ij 
 Saynt John Day ij Childremas Day ij Saint Thomas 
 Day ij New Yere Day iij ande for the xij 111 Day of 
 Cristynmas iiij Swannys." 
 
 These were not to be old birds, however. The " War- 
 raunt" referred to expressly provides that they should 
 be "signetts." 
 
 In the case of the swan, as with many other species, 
 were we to call attention to every passage throughout the
 
 208 
 
 CYGNETS. 
 
 works of Shakespeare wherein it is mentioned or referred 
 to, we fear the reader's patience might become exhausted. 
 Where such allusions, therefore, are trifling, we have thought 
 it well to pass them by. 
 
 In the present chapter, enough has probably been said 
 to show that while more attractive species have claimed 
 a larger share of the poet's attention, the birds under 
 domestication have been by no means neglected. 

 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE GAME-BIRDS AND " QUARRY " FLOWN AT KV 
 FALCONERS. 
 
 AME-PRESERVING, as we now understand the term, 
 was probably unknown in Shakespeare's days, for 
 sportsmen at that time had not the means of making such 
 large bags, and consequently the necessity for breeding and 
 rearing game artificially did not exist. Nature's liberal 
 supply sufficed to satisfy the moderate demand, and the 
 sportsman always returned home well pleased. We 
 take it, however, that this satisfaction resulted more from 
 an appreciation of sport than from the possession of a 
 heavy bag. What more enjoyable than the pursuit of 
 partridges. " with grey gos-hawk in hand," as Chaucer 
 hath it, or a flight at heron with a falcon ? 
 
 The skill, too, which was required to kill a bird or 
 rabbit with a single bolt from a cross-bow was far greater 
 than that which is needed to achieve the same result 
 with an ounce of shot from a breech-loader. Not that 
 
 E E
 
 2IO THE PHEASANT : 
 
 guns were unknown in Shakespeare's day, for the old- 
 fashioned " birding-piece " was then in use, as we have 
 already noticed.* But, partly in consequence of its 
 inferiority and cost, and partly because its use was so 
 little understood, the majority of folks preferred to carry 
 a weapon with which they were more skilled, and on 
 which they could consequently place more reliance. 
 Gradually, as the fowling-piece became more and more 
 perfect, the long-bow and cross-bow were laid aside, and 
 hawking became almost forgotten. 
 
 Notwithstanding that the Pheasant (PJiasianus colchicns) 
 must have been well-known in Shakespeare's day, the poet 
 has only once made mention of this bird. The passage 
 occurs in The Winter s Tale, Act iv. Sc. 3, and runs thus : 
 
 " Shepherd. My business, sir, is to the king. 
 
 Autolycus. What advocate hast thou to him ? 
 
 Shepherd. I know not, an 't like you. 
 
 Clown (jokingly aside to Shepherd}. Advocate 's the 
 court -word for a pheasant : say you have none. 
 
 Shepherd. None, sir ; I have no pheasant, cock nor hen. 
 
 Autolycus. How blessed are we that are not simple 
 men ! " 
 
 The precise date of the introduction of the pheasant 
 into Great Britain is uncertain, but there is evidence to 
 show that it was prior to the invasion of the Normans, 
 
 * See end of Chapter V.
 
 ITS INTRODUCTION INTO BRITAIN. 211 
 
 and that we are probably indebted for this game-bird to 
 the enterprise of the Romans. The earliest record, we 
 believe, of the occurrence of the pheasant in this country 
 will be found in the tract " De inventione Sanctae Crucis 
 nostrae in Monte Acuto et de ductione ejusdem apud 
 Waltham," edited by Prof. Stubbs from manuscripts in 
 the British Museum, and published in 1861.* In one of 
 these manuscripts, dated about 1177, is the following bill 
 of fare prescribed by Harold for the Canons' Households, 
 in 1059: 
 
 " Erant autem tales pitantiae unicuique canonico : a 
 festo Sancti Michaelis usque ad caput jejunii, aut xii. 
 merulae, aut ii. agauseae, aut ii. perdices, aut nnus p/iasiamts, 
 reliquis temporibus aut ancae, aut gallinae." 
 
 Yarrell, in his " History of British Birds," gives an ex- 
 tract from Dugdale's " Monasticon Anglicanum " to the 
 effect that the Abbot of Amesbury obtained a licence from 
 the king to kill pheasants, in the first year of Henry I. 
 (IIOO). 
 
 Leland, in his account of the feast given at the inthro- 
 nisation of George Nevell, Archbishop of York, in the 
 reign of Edward IV., tells us that, amongst other good 
 things, two hundred " fesauntes " were provided for the 
 guests. 
 
 In the " Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York," 
 
 * See " The Ibis," 1869, p. 358.
 
 212 
 
 ANCIENT VALUE OF GAME. 
 
 under date "the xiiij 111 day of Novembre," the following 
 
 entry occurs : 
 
 " Itm. The same day to Richard Myl- 
 ner of Byndfeld for bringing a 
 present of fesauntes cokkes to the 
 Queene to Westminster . . . vs." 
 
 In the " Household Book" of Henry Percy, fifth Earl 
 of Northumberland, which was commenced in 1512, the 
 pheasant is thus referred to : 
 
 " Item, FESAUNTES to be hade for my Lordes own Mees 
 at Principall Feestes and to be at xijd. a pece." 
 
 "Item, FESSAUNTIS for my Lordes owne Meas to be hadde 
 at Principalle Feistis ande to be at xijd. a pece."* 
 
 * As a copy of the " Northumberland Household Book " is not readily acces- 
 sible, we give the following interesting extract, showing the price, at that date, of 
 various birds for the table : 
 
 Capons at iid. a pece leyn (lean). 
 Chickeyns at d. a pece. 
 Hennys at iid. a pece. 
 Swannys (no price stated). 
 Ueysse iiid. or iiiid. at the moste. 
 Pluvers id. or iid. at moste. 
 Cranys xvid. a pece. 
 Hearonsewys (i.e. Heronshaws or 
 
 Herons) xiid. a pece. 
 Mallardes iid. a pece. 
 Teylles id. a pece. 
 Woodcokes id. or i|d. at the 
 
 moste. 
 
 Wypes (i.e. Lapwings) id. a pece. 
 Seegulles id. or iid. at the moste. 
 Styntes after vi. a id. 
 Quay lies iid. a pece at moste. 
 Snypes after iii. a id. 
 
 Perttryges at iid. a pece. 
 
 Redeshankes i^d. 
 
 Bytters (i.e. Bitterns) xiid. 
 
 Fesauntes xiid 
 
 Keys (i.e. Ruffs and Reeves) iid. a 
 
 pece. 
 
 Sholardes vid. a pece. 
 Kyrlewes xiid. a pece. 
 Pacokes xiid. a pece 
 See-Pyes (no pnce). 
 Wegions at id. the pece. 
 Knottes id. a pece. 
 Dottrells id. a pece. 
 Bustardes (no price) . 
 Ternes after iiii. a id. 
 Great byrdes after iiii. a id. 
 Small byrdes after xii. for iid. 
 Larkvs after xii. for iid.
 
 GAME-PRESERVING. 2 13 
 
 In the year 1536, Henry VIII. issued a proclamation 
 in order to preserve the partridges, pheasants, and herons 
 " from his palace at Westminster to St. Giles-in-the- 
 Fields, and from thence to Islington, Hampstead, 
 Highgate, and Hornsey Park." Any person, of whatever 
 rank, who should presume to kill, or in any wise molest 
 these birds, was to be thrown into prison, and visited by 
 such other punishments as to the King should seem 
 meet. 
 
 Some interesting particulars in regard to pheasants are 
 furnished by the " Privy Purse Expenses of King Henry 
 VIII." For example, under date xvj th Nov. 1532, we 
 have : 
 
 " Itrh the same daye paied to the 
 
 fesaunt breder in rewarde . . ixs. iiijd. 
 
 " Itrh the xxv daye paied to the preste 
 
 the fesaunt breder at Elthm in 
 
 rewarde ij corons . . . . ixs. iiijd. 
 
 And in December of the same year : 
 " Itm the xxijd. daye paied to the french 
 
 Preste the fesaunt breder for to bye 
 
 him a gowne and other necesarys . xls." 
 
 From these entries it would appear that even at this 
 date some trouble and expense was incurred in rearing 
 pheasants. No allusion, however, is made to their being 
 shot. They must have been taken in a net or snare, or
 
 214 GAME-PRESERVING. 
 
 killed with a hawk. The last-named mode is indicated 
 from another source * : 
 
 " Item, a Fesant kylled with the Goshawke. 
 "A notice, two Fesants and two Partridges killed with 
 the hawks." 
 
 As a rule, they are only referred to as being " brought 
 in," the bearer receiving a gratuity for his trouble. 
 " Jany- 1536-7. Itm. geuen to Hunte 
 
 yeoman of the pultry, bringing to 
 
 hir gee two qwicke (i.e. live) phe- 
 
 sants . . . . . . vijs. vjd. 
 
 " Ap 1 - 1537. Itfn. geuen to Grene the 
 
 ptrich taker bringing a cowple of 
 
 Phesaunts to my lady's grace . . iijs. ixd. 
 
 "Jan. 1537-8. Itm. geuen to my lady 
 
 Carow's s'ufit bringing a qwicke 
 
 Phesaunt ..... ijs. 
 
 "Jan. 1543-4.. Itm. geuen to Hawkyn, 
 
 s'unte of Hertford bringing a phe- 
 
 sant and ptriches-f- . . . . iijs. iiijd." 
 
 In a survey of the possessions of the Abbey of 
 
 Glastonbury made in 1539, mention is made of a "game" 
 
 of sixteen pheasants in the woods at Meare, a manor 
 
 near Glastonbury belonging to the Abbey. 
 
 * " Extracts from the Household and Privy Purse Accounts of the L'estranges 
 of Hunstanton, 1519 1578." (Trans. Roy. Soc. Antiq. 1833.) 
 
 f " The Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary, 15361544." (Edited by 
 Sir V. Madden, 1831.)
 
 GAME-LAWS. 21$ 
 
 According to Fynes Morrison ("Itinerary," 1617), there 
 was in Ireland " such plenty of pheasants as I have known 
 readie served at one feast." 
 
 The value set upon pheasants and partridges at various 
 periods, as shown by the laws fixing penalties for their 
 destruction, seems to have fluctuated considerably. 
 
 By a statute passed in the eleventh year of the reign 
 of Henry VII. it was forbidden "to take pheasants or 
 partridges with engines in another's ground without license 
 in pain of ten pound, to be divided between the owner of 
 the ground and the prosecutor." By 23 Eliz. c. 10, "None 
 should kill or take pheasants or partridges by night in 
 pain of 2os. a pheasant, and IDS. a partridge, or one 
 month's imprisonment, and bound with sureties not 
 to offend again in the like kind." By I Jac. I. c. 27, "No 
 person should kill or take any pheasant, partridge, (&c.), 
 or take or destroy the eggs of pheasants, partridges, (&c.), 
 in pain of 2Os., or imprisonment for every fowl or egg, 
 and to find sureties in 20 not to offend in the like kind." 
 Under the same statute, no person was permitted "to 
 buy or sell any pheasant or partridge, upon pain to forfeit 
 2Os. for every pheasant, and icxr. for every partridge." 
 By 7 Jac. I. c. n, "every person having hawked at or 
 destroyed any pheasant or partridge between the ist of 
 July and last of August, forfeited 40^. for every time so 
 hawking, and 2Os. for every pheasant or partridge so 
 destroyed or taken." Lords of manors and their servants
 
 2l6 THE PARTRIDGE. 
 
 might take pheasants or partridges in their own grounds 
 or precincts in the day-time between Michaelmas and 
 Christmas. But every person of a mean condition having 
 killed or taken any pheasant or partridge, forfeited 2Os. 
 for each one so killed, and had to find surety in 20 
 not to offend so again. 
 
 In some of these old statutes, however, it was expressly 
 stated that although pheasants and partridges could not 
 be killed by any one with impunity, no penalty should 
 attach for killing such birds as crows, kites, and buzzards, 
 as these were well known to be destructive to the game 
 which the statutes were framed to protect. 
 
 In the second part of Henry VI. Act iii. Sc. 2, we find 
 the Partridge (Perdix cinered) appropriately placed by 
 Shakespeare in the nest of the kite : 
 
 " Who finds the partridge in the puttock's nest, 
 But may imagine how the bird was dead, 
 Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak." 
 
 Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Such was the beautiful metaphor uttered by the Earl 
 of Warwick upon the occasion of the Duke of Gloucester's 
 death. The unfortunate Duke was discovered dead in his 
 bed, with marks of violence upon his features, and grave 
 suspicion fell upon the Duke of Suffolk, who " had him in 
 protection." This circumstance, coupled with the fact that 
 Suffolk was a sworn enemy of Duke Humphrey, placed a 
 heavy weight in the balance against him.
 
 PARTRIDGE-HAWKING. 2 1/ 
 
 The provincial name of " puttock," which occurs in the 
 above quotation, is sometimes applied to the kite, some- 
 times to the common buzzard. In this case, as shown by 
 the context, the kite is the bird referred to. A greater 
 enemy to the partridge than either of these birds is the 
 peregrine, whose skill in taking this game was early 
 turned to advantage by falconers. Partridge-hawking was 
 formerly a favourite pastime, and is still, to a certain ex- 
 tent, with those few who still maintain the practice of 
 falconry. For this sport either the peregrine or the goshawk 
 may be used. Aubrey has recorded a curious event which 
 happened when he was a freshman at Oxford in 1642. 
 He frequently supped with Charles I., who then resided at 
 the University; and on one of these occasions he heard 
 the King say that " As he was hawking in Scotland, he 
 rode into the quarry, and found the covey of partridges 
 falling upon the hawk." He adds that the King said " I 
 will swear upon the book that it is true." Mr. F. H. Salvin 
 has been very successful in taking pheasants with the male 
 goshawk, which he found required no " entering," but flew 
 and killed even old cocks, threading his way through the 
 trees in a wonderfully rapid manner.* 
 
 Those who made their living by fowling, and could not 
 afford to hawk, took their birds by springe and net ; and 
 
 * Some interesting remarks on pheasant and partridge-hawking will be found in 
 Freeman and Salvin's " Falconry ; its Claims, History, and Practice," pp. 233, 235. 
 
 F F
 
 2l8 PARTRIDGE-NETTING. 
 
 partridge-netting was, perhaps, as much in vogue in 
 Shakespeare's day as now. 
 
 In Much Ado about Nothing, allusion is again made to 
 the partridge by Beatrice, who, referring to the ill-humour 
 of Benedick, says, 
 
 " He '11 but break a comparison or two on me ; which, 
 peradventure, not marked or not laughed at, strikes him 
 into melancholy ; and then there 's a partridge wing saved, 
 for the fool will eat no supper that night." Much Ado 
 about Nothing, Act ii. Sc. i . 
 
 As we speak of a " covey " of partridges, so we say a 
 " bevy " of quails : 
 
 "And many more of the same bevy." 
 
 Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 It was formerly the practice to keep Quails, and make 
 them fight like game-cocks. Solon directed that quails 
 should be made to fight in the presence of the Athenian 
 youths, in order to inflame their courage, and the Romans 
 held quail-fighting in still higher estimation. Augustus 
 punished a prefect of Egypt with death for buying and 
 bringing to table a quail which had acquired celebrity by 
 its victories.* 
 
 Shakespeare was doubtless alluding to this sport when 
 he wrote: 
 
 .. * Vide Julius Pollux, " De ludis," lib. ix.
 
 THE QUAIL. 219 
 
 " Here 's Agamemnon, an honest fellow enough, and 
 one that loves quails." Troilus and Cressida, Act v. Sc. i. 
 
 Even at the present day this sort of amusement is 
 common in some parts of Italy, and still more so in 
 China. In Italy, the practice is to feed up two quails 
 very highly, and then place them opposite to each other at 
 the end of a long table, throwing between them a few 
 grains of millet-seed to make them quarrel. At first they 
 merely threaten, lowering the head and ruffling all the neck 
 feathers, but at length they rush on furiously, striking with 
 their bills, erecting their heads, and rising upon their spurs, 
 until one is forced to yield. 
 
 In Antony and Cleopatra (Act ii. Sc. 3), Antonius says of 
 Caesar : 
 
 " His cocks do win the battle still of mine, 
 When it is all to nought ; and his quails ever 
 Beat mine inhoop'd at odds.". 
 
 That there was some foundation for this assertion, we 
 may gather from the following extract from North's 
 " Plutarch " : 
 
 " With Antonius there was a soothsayer or astronomer 
 in Egypt that coulde cast a figure and judge of men's 
 nativities, to tell them what should happen to them. He 
 told Antonius plainly that his fortune (which of itself was 
 excellent good and very great) was altogether blemished
 
 220 (^UAIL-FIGHTING. 
 
 and obscured by Caesar's fortune ; and therefore he coun- 
 selled him utterly to leave his company, and get him as 
 farre from him as he coulde. Howsoever it was, the event 
 ensuing proved the Egyptian's words true ; for it is said 
 that as often as they drew lots for pastime, who should 
 have anything, or whether they played at dice, Antonius 
 always lost. Oftentimes when they were disposed to see cock- 
 fights, or quails that were taught to fight one with another, 
 C&sar's cocks or quails did ever overcome. The which 
 spited Antonius in his mind, although he made no out- 
 ward show of it, and therefore he believed the Egyptian 
 the better." 
 
 In Kircher's " Musurgia" the note of this bird is thus 
 faithfully rendered*: 
 
 Bi - ke - bik, Bi - ke - bik, Bi - ke - bik. 
 
 Quails have always been considered a delicacy for the 
 table, and those who may have the curiosity to visit the 
 London markets in the spring of the year, will see large 
 boxes full of live quails, which have been taken in nets 
 and imported to this country for food. 
 
 In the same way immense numbers of Lapwings 
 ( Vanellus cristatus], or Green Plovers, as they are called, 
 find their way into the London markets. This bird has 
 been noticed by Shakespeare chiefly on account of a 
 peculiar trait in its character, with which most naturalists 
 
 * " Musurgia Universalis," 1650, p. 30.
 
 THE LAPWING. 221 
 
 are very familiar. Like the partridge and some other 
 birds, it has a curious habit of trying to draw intruders 
 away from its nest or young by fluttering along the 
 ground in an opposite direction, or by feigning lameness, 
 or uttering melancholy cries at a distance : 
 
 " Far from her nest the lapwing cries away." 
 
 Comedy of Errors, Act iv. Sc. 2. 
 
 Allusions to this habit are not unfrequent in our older 
 poets. Lily, in his " Campaspe," 1584, says : 
 
 " You resemble the lapwing, who crieth most where her 
 nest is not." 
 
 So also Greene, in the second part of his " Coney 
 Catching," 1592 : 
 
 " But again to our priggers, who, as before 
 I said, cry with the lapwing farthest from her nest." 
 
 And in Ben Jonson's Underwoods we are told, 
 
 " Where he that knows will like a lapwing flie, 
 Farre from the nest, and so himselfe belie." 
 
 Hence the phrase " to seem the lapwing," which occurs in 
 Measure for Measure, Act i. Sc. 4. So also in Much Ado 
 about Nothing, 
 
 " For look where Beatrice, like a lapwing, runs, 
 Close by the ground, to hear our conference." 
 
 Act iii. Sc. T.
 
 222 THE LAPWING. 
 
 It is rather curious that Shakespeare has not alluded to 
 this bird under its popular name of " Peewit," a name 
 which, derived from its cry, we believe to be of some 
 antiquity. Nor has he referred to it by another name, 
 which must have been commonly applied to it in his day, 
 i.e., " Wype." In the old " Household Books" and " Privy 
 Purse Expenses," we frequently meet with such entries as 
 the following : 
 
 " Item, it is thought goode that wypes* be hade for my 
 Lordes own mees onely and to be at jd. a pece." 
 
 The young of this, and many other, species run almost 
 as soon as hatched, and Shakespeare has not overlooked 
 this peculiarity : 
 
 " This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head." 
 
 Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 We have before had occasion to make a passing allusion 
 to the Heron, and in the present chapter this bird deserves 
 more particular attention, from the fact of its being so 
 frequently flown at by falconers. 
 
 Hawking at herons was thought to be "a marvellous 
 and delectable pastime," and in all the published treatises 
 upon falconry, many pages are dedicated to this particular 
 branch of the sport. 
 
 Not only were herons protected by Act of Parliament, 
 
 * In Sweden the bird is known as wipa to this day.
 
 THE HERNSHAW. 223 
 
 but penalties were incurred for taking the eggs,* and no 
 one was permitted to shoot within 600 paces of a heronry, 
 under a penalty of 20 (7 Jac. I. c. 27). 
 
 We should scarcely have thought it possible to find a 
 man who would not know a hawk from a heron when he 
 saw it, and Hamlet evidently considered that such an one 
 would not be in his right mind, for he says of himself: 
 
 " I am but mad north-north-west : when the wind is 
 southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaivT Hamlet, 
 Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 He referred here to an old proverbial saying, originally 
 "he does not know a hawk from a hernshaw," that is, a 
 heron ; but the word was thus corrupted before Shake- 
 speare's day. (See ante, p. 75.) 
 
 John Sh*aw (M.A., of Cambridge), who published a 
 curious book in 1635, entitled "Speculum Mundi," tells us 
 therein that " the heron or hernsaw is a large fowle that 
 liveth about waters," and that " hath a marvellous hatred 
 to the hawk, which hatred is duly returned. When they 
 fight above in the air, they labour both especially for this 
 one thing that one may ascend and be above the other. 
 Now, if the hawk getteth the upper place, he overthroweth 
 and vanquisheth the heron with a marvellous earnest 
 flight." This old passage contrasts quaintly with the 
 animated description of heron-hawking in Freeman and 
 
 * The fine was 8</. for every egg. See 3 & 4 Ed. VI. c. 7, and 25 Hen. VIII. 
 c. n.
 
 224 HERON-HAWKING. 
 
 Salvin's modern treatise.* Those who have taken part in 
 the sport cannot fail to be interested in a truthful narra- 
 tive of what they must so often have witnessed ; while 
 those who have never seen a trained falcon on the wing 
 will learn a good deal from the following excellent descrip- 
 tion : , 
 
 " ' Well, then, here goes/ says the falconer ; and having 
 let the heron get a little past, off go the hoods. For a 
 moment one hawk looks up, and is cast off ; the other a 
 moment or two afterwards. They both see him ; now for 
 a flight. The heron was about 250 yards high, and 
 perhaps a quarter of a mile wide. The hawks had gone 
 up about a quarter of the way before the heron saw them 
 in hot pursuit. ' Now he sees them ! ' is exclaimed ; and 
 the riders rattle their horses as hard as they cao, over deep 
 sand-hills, down wind. The heron, in the meanwhile, 
 vomits up his fish to lighten himself, and begins ringing-up 
 down wind. It is a curious thing to see the different 
 manoeuvres of the birds. With his large wings, the heron 
 can mount very fair, and has a far better chance of beating 
 off the hawks than if he flew straight forward. This he 
 knows full well by instinct, and puts on accordingly all 
 sail for the upper regions, generally in short rings. 
 Hawks make larger rings as a general rule, if, like these, 
 they are good ones. Those have but a bad chance with a 
 
 * " Falconry; its History, Claims, and Practice," by G. E. Freeman and F. H. 
 Salvin. London, 1859.
 
 HERON-HAWKING. 225 
 
 good heron if they adopt the same tactics that he does in 
 mounting. This the two old hawks know full well. So 
 far they have been pretty near together, but, seeing the 
 prey beginning to mount, they separate, each their own 
 way, now taking a long turn down wind, and then 
 breasting the wind again. ' De Ruyter' makes the best 
 rings, and after having gone a mile, there is a shout 
 ' Now " De Ruyter" is above him !' and the hawk is seen 
 poising herself for a stoop ; down she comes, with closed 
 wings, like a bullet, and hits the heron ; it is too high 
 to see where, but the scream the quarry gives is 
 tremendous. Hurrah ! there 's a stoop for you ! Both 
 hawk and heron have descended some yards ; the former, 
 from the impetus of her stoop, much beneath the heron, 
 but she shoots up again to a level. In fact, it was a perfect 
 stoop. Though so near the heron, she does not attempt a 
 little stoop, but again heads the wind so that the heron 
 appears to be flying the hawk. ' Sultan' is now above 
 both, and makes her stoop, but not so good as her partner's. 
 However, sire makes two quickly, and is within an ace 
 of catching ; but the good heron will not give an inch, 
 and ' Sultan' will have to give another ring for another 
 stoop. But where is ' De Ruyter' all this time? She 
 has made a long ring, and is now a long way above 
 them. She makes another full stoop, and this time there 
 is no mistake about it, for she hits the heron so hard that 
 he is nearly stupefied. 'Sultan' joins in the fray and 
 
 G G
 
 226 HERON-HAWKING. 
 
 catches. Whoo-whoo-o-p ! down they come. Down they 
 all three go together, till, just before reaching the ground, 
 the two old hawks let go of their prey, which falls bump. 
 Before he has had time to recover himself, in a moment 
 the hawks are on him, ' De Ruyter' on the neck, and 
 ' Sultan' on his body. Hurrah for the gallant hawks ! and 
 loud whoops proclaim his capture. ' Wouldn't take ;ioo 
 for them/ says their owner, who has ridden well, judiciously 
 as well as hard, and has got up in time to save the heron's 
 life. He gives the hawks a pigeon, and puts the heron 
 between his knees in a position so that he can neither 
 spike him nor the hawks with his bill. He has two 
 beautiful long black feathers, which are duly presented to 
 Prince Alexander alas ! now no more who is well up 
 at the take. These feathers are the badge of honour 
 in heron-hawking in Holland, as the fox's brush is in 
 hunting in England. The hawks are fed up as speedily as 
 possible, the heron has a ring put round his leg, and is let 
 loose, evidently not knowing what to make of it. 
 
 " We hasten back as fast as we can, but* the weather 
 being now hot, the herons move more by night than by' 
 day. Many anxious eyes search the horizon for another. 
 
 " The two sets of falconers, with their hawks, place them- 
 selves about half a mile apart, to intercept the herons on 
 their passage back from their fishing-grounds, 
 
 " There is no lack of herons. The little wind there was 
 has fallen to a calm, and they come home higher. All the
 
 HERON-HAWKING. 22/ . 
 
 % 
 
 better, for we have some good casts to fly. One is soon 
 'hooded off' at, and, after a capital flight, is taken high in 
 the air. The pet hawks are now taken in hand 'De 
 Ruyter ' and ' Sultan ;' and, as there is no wind, the owner 
 says he will fly at the first 'light one,' that comes at all 
 fair. All is excitement when one is seen coming from the 
 keronry,a.n& therefore unweighted. They are 'hooded off' 
 in his face ; he sees them directly, and proceeds to mount. 
 ' Now, good hawks, you will have some work to do before 
 you overtake him !' The knowing riders are down wind as 
 hard as they can go. Ring after ring is made, and yet the 
 hawks seem to gain but little on him. Still they are 
 flying like swallows: 'De Ruyter' makes a tremendous 
 ring, but still fails to get above him. Again and again they 
 ring, and have attained a great height. A scream of delight 
 is heard : they are above him ; ' De Ruyter ' is at him ! 
 A fine stoop, but the heron dodges out of the way. Now 
 for ' Sultan ;' but she misses too ; the heron is up like a 
 shot, and three or four rings have to be made before there 
 is another stoop. Another and another stoop, with loud 
 cheers from below. ' Sultan ' just catches him once, but 
 can't hold ; it seems still a doubtful victory, when ' De 
 Ruyter ' hits him hard; and, after two or three more 
 stoops, ' Sultan ' catches him, amidst the excitement 
 of hurrahs and whoops ; a really good flight ; can't be 
 better, two and a half miles from where they were 
 ' hooded off.'
 
 228 THE WOODCOCK. 
 
 " Thus ended as good a day's sport as any one could wish 
 to see." 
 
 The heron, besides affording great sport with hawks, was 
 considered, when killed, a delicacy for the table. At the 
 ancient City feasts and entertainments to royalty, the heron 
 always appeared amongst the other good things ;* and from 
 the old " Household Books" it appears that the price usually 
 paid for this bird was xijd. Of late years the heron has 
 dropped out of the bill of fare, and no longer forms a 
 fashionable dish. One of the last records of its appearance 
 at table which we have met with, is in connection with the 
 feast which was given by the Executors of Thomas Sutton, 
 the founder of the London Charter House, on the i8th May, 
 1812, in the Hall of the Stationers' Company. "For this 
 repast were provided 32 neats' tongues, 40 stone of beef, 
 24 marrow-bones, i lamb, 46 capons, 32 geese, 4 pheasants, 
 12 pheasants' pullets, 12 godwits, 24 rabbits, 6 /warns/laws" 
 &c., &c. 
 
 Amongst the other " lang-nebbit things " which in- 
 terest both sportsman and gourmand, the Woodcock and 
 Snipe received almost as much attention in Shakespeare's 
 day as they do at the present time with this difference, 
 however, that where the gun is now employed, the gin or 
 springe was formerly the instrument of their death. 
 
 * Leland states, that at the feast given on the inthronisation of George Neville, 
 Archbishop of York, in the reign of Edward IV., no less than "400 Heron- 
 shawes " were served up !
 
 A SPRINGE FOR WOODCOCKS. 22Q 
 
 " Four woodcocks in a dish." 
 
 Loves Labour 's Lost, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 The woodcock, for some unaccountable reason, was sup- 
 posed to have no brains, and the name of this bird became 
 a synonym for a fool. It is to this that Claudio alludes 
 when he says : 
 
 " Shall I not find a woodcock too?" 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing, Act v. Sc. i. 
 Again 
 
 " O this woodcock ! what an ass it is !" 
 
 Taming of the Shrew, Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 Shakespeare has many allusions to the capture of this 
 bird by springe and gin 
 
 " Aye, springes to catch woodcocks." 
 
 Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 3. 
 
 In his " Natural History and Sport in Moray," Mr. St. 
 John describes a springe with which he used to take both 
 snipe and woodcocks very successfully. It was made as 
 follows : 
 
 A. Rod like a mole-trap stick. B. Short piece of stick, c. Forked stick with one 
 end passed through the other, n. Straight stick. E. Bent stick. F. Hair-snare.
 
 230 HOW TO MAKE A SPRINGE. 
 
 A, by pulling on B, presses it against the forked stick C, 
 which in turn is pressed against the upright stick D, and 
 this keeps it all in place. But on a bird stepping on the 
 forked stick C, the weight of the bird loosens its hold, and 
 the long stick A flies up, catching the victim in the snare, 
 which is laid flat on the forked stick C. 
 
 Then, as Shakespeare hath it, 
 
 " If the springe hold, the cock's mine." 
 
 Winter's Tale, Act iv. Sc. 2. 
 
 Mr. A. E. Knox, in his " Game-Birds and Wild-Fowl," has 
 described a very similar trap, and his description is so 
 animated, while at the same time so instructive, that we 
 are tempted to overlook the similarity and quote his 
 words : 
 
 " We soon found many tracks of the woodcock on the 
 black mud ; and on one spot these, as well as the borings 
 of his beak, were very numerous. Here my companion 
 halted, and pulling out his knife, cut down a tall willow 
 rod, which he stuck firmly into the ground in nearly an 
 upright position, or perhaps rather inclining backwards. 
 
 " On the opposite side of the run he fixed a peg, so as to 
 project only a few inches above the surface ; to this he 
 fastened a slight stick about a foot long, attached loosely 
 with a tough string, much as the swingel of a flail is to its 
 handstaff : another branch of a willow was bent into an 
 arch, and both ends driven into the soft ground to a con-
 
 THE GIN. 231 
 
 siderable depth on the opposite side of the track, and nearer 
 to the tall upright wand. To the top of the latter a string 
 was now fastened, the end of which was formed into a 
 large running noose ; while, about half way down, another 
 piece of stick, about six inches long, was tied by its 
 middle. The flexible wand was then bent forcibly down- 
 wards, one end of the little stick overhead was passed 
 under the arch, while it was retained in this position, and 
 at the same time the bow prevented from springing 
 upwards, by the other extremity being placed against a 
 notch at the end of the stick which had been fastened to 
 the peg on the other side of the run, across which it now 
 lay, two or three inches from the ground, and supported 
 the noose. This, in fact, constituted the trigger, which was 
 to be released when struck by the breast of the woodcock. 
 The old man constructed his trap in much less time than 
 I have taken to describe it. His last care was to weave 
 the sedges on either side of the run into a kind of screen, 
 so as to weir the woodcock into the snare, and this he 
 accomplished with much skill and expedition." 
 
 " We have caught the woodcock." 
 
 All's Well, Act iv. Sc. i. 
 
 Another method of taking this bird was with a steel 
 trap called "a gin :" 
 
 " Now is the woodcock near the gin." 
 
 Twelfth Night, Act ii. Sc. 5.
 
 232 THE WOODCOCK'S HEAD. 
 
 This trap, being commonly used now-a-days for rats, is 
 probably too well known to need a description here. 
 
 " So strives the woodcock with the gin." 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. Act i. Sc. 4. 
 
 Under the head of " Wild-Fowl " we shall have occasion, 
 in a subsequent chapter, to allude to the opinion of 
 Pythagoras on the transmigration of souls, and to the 
 discussion on this subject in Twelfth Night, when the 
 clown portentously observes to Malvolio, 
 
 " Fear to kill a woodcock, lest thou dispossess the soul 
 of thy grandam. Fare thee well." TivelftJi Night, Act iv. 
 
 Sc. 2. 
 
 The "woodcock's head" in Shakespeare's day,on account 
 of its shape, was a fashionable term for a tobacco-pipe.* 
 " Those who loved smoking sat on the stage-stools, with 
 their three sorts of tobacco, and their lights by them, 
 handing matches on the point of their swords, or sending 
 out their pages for real Trinidado. They actually practised 
 smoking under professors who taught them tricks ; . and 
 the intelligence offices were not more frequented, no, nor 
 the pretty seamstresses' shops at the Exchange, than the 
 new tobacco office." -f- 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable that while Shakespeare's 
 contemporary, Ben Jonson, has founded whole scenes upon 
 
 * Every Afan Out of his Humour, Act iii. Sc. 3. 
 * f Thornbury, "Shakespeare's England," vol. i. pp. 169, 170.
 
 THE SNIPE. 233 
 
 the practice of smoking, he himself has made no mention 
 of it. Some commentators have brought this forward as a 
 proof of the comparative earliness of many of his dramas, 
 but smoking was in general use long before Shakespeare 
 left London, and he drew his manners almost entirely from 
 his own age, making mention of masks, false hair, poman- 
 ders, and fardingales, all of which were introduced about 
 the same time. But apropos of "the woodcock's head," 
 we are wandering away from Shakespeare's birds. 
 
 The Snipe (Scolopax gattinago) has been less frequently 
 noticed by him than the woodcock. Indeed we have been 
 unable to find more than one passage in which it is 
 mentioned. 
 
 lago, alluding to Roderigo, says : 
 
 " For I mine own gain'd knowledge should profane, 
 If I would time expend with such a snipe, 
 
 But for my sport and profit." 
 
 Othello, Act i. Sc. 3. 
 
 The speaker being evidently of opinion that a snipe was 
 too insignificant a bird to the sportsman to warrant his 
 taking much trouble to kill it, except for mere sport. 
 
 That there was a good deal more "sport" than " profit " 
 is extremely likely ; for it is difficult to believe that the 
 sportsmen of Shakespeare's day, with guns such as we 
 have described, fired with either fuze or flint, could have 
 successfully stopped the erratic flight of a snipe. That 
 
 H H
 
 234 THE SNIPE. 
 
 large numbers of snipe were brought to market, and 
 appeared at table, in Shakespeare's time, is clear from the 
 numerous entries in the old " Household Book," where 
 their value is stated to have been " after iii a j d." There 
 can be little doubt, however, that these were not " shot 
 birds," but were taken in snares and nets, as our modern 
 fowlers take plovers and other fen birds.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL. 
 
 'T'O the general reader these terms may appear 
 synonymous, but to the sportsman and naturalist 
 they have a very different signification. Under the 
 head of " wild-fowl " may be placed the various species 
 of wild geese, swans, and ducks, which, though often 
 found at sea, evince a partiality for fresh water, rear 
 their young in the neighbourhood of fresh water, and, as 
 an article of food, are especially sought after by the 
 amateur for sport, and by the professional gunner for profit ; 
 while the group of "sea-fowl" may be said to include 
 the gulls, terns, guillemots, auks, cormorants, and various 
 other birds, which, making the sea their home, rear their 
 young upon its shelving beach or frowning cliffs, and, 
 except on an emergency, are seldom cooked and eaten. 
 
 Shakespeare has given us a peep at both. At one time 
 we see 
 
 " Strange fowl light upon neighbouring ponds." 
 
 Cymbeline, Act i. Sc. 4 ;
 
 236 A FLIGHT OF FOWL. 
 
 at another 
 
 " A flight of fowl 
 
 Scatter'd by winds and high tempestuous gusts." 
 
 Titus Andronicns, Act v. Sc. 3. 
 
 Anon the scene changes, and leaving the green fields of 
 which Falstaff " babbled," and the " great pool " with 
 its "swan's nest" (Cymbeline, Act iii. Sc. 4), we are 
 
 led to 
 
 " That pale, that whitefaced shore, 
 
 Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides." 
 
 King John, Act ii. Sc. i ; 
 
 there to contemplate " the sea-mells " on the rock 
 (Tempest, Act ii. Sc. 2), or watch the movements of the 
 " insatiate cormorant " (Richard II. Act ii. Sc. i). 
 
 Nor are we left entirely to our own reflections in these 
 situations. Some trait or other is noticed in the habits 
 of the bird alluded to, some curious instinct pointed out. 
 We pause insensibly to admire the appropriate haunts in 
 which the poet has discovered the fowl, and carry out 
 with him, in thought, the crafty device of the fowler to 
 which a passing allusion is made. 
 
 Naturalists have frequently observed that when any of 
 the diving-ducks are winged or injured, they generally 
 make for the open water, and endeavour to escape by 
 diving .or swimming away, while those which do not 
 excel in diving, usually make for the shore when wounded, 
 and, as Shakespeare tells us, " creep into sedges."
 
 DUCK-HUNTING. 237 
 
 " Alas ! poor hurt fowl, now will he creep into sedges." 
 Much Ado about Nothing, Act ii. Sc. I. 
 
 " Duck-hunting," i.e., hunting a tame duck in the water 
 with spaniels, was a favourite amusement in Shakespeare's 
 day. " Besides the clear streams that ran into the Thames, 
 old London boasted of innumerable wells, now lost, sullied, 
 or bricked up. There was Holy-well, Clement's-well, 
 Clerken-well, Skinners-well, Fay-well, Fede-well, Leden- 
 well, and Shad-well. West Smithfield had its horse-pond, 
 its pool of Dame Annis le Cleare, and the Perilous Pond. 
 The duck-hunting in these pools, and at Islington, was 
 a favourite amusement with the citizens." * 
 
 " And ' hold-fast ' is the only dog, my duck." 
 
 Henry V. Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 
 The sense of smell and hearing is possessed by most 
 wild-fowl in an extraordinary degree, and, except under 
 favourable circumstances favourable that is to the shooter 
 they display what Falstaff would call " a want of valour," 
 and, as soon as they become aware of the approach of the 
 enemy, ignominiously take to flight : 
 
 " Falstaff. There is no more valour in that Poins than 
 in a wild duck." Henry IV. Part I. Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 But, if the better part of valour be discretion, Poins, like 
 the wild duck, displays the better part : 
 
 * Thornbury, " Shakespeare's England," i. p. 21 ; see also p. 33.
 
 238 THE STALKING-HORSE. 
 
 " Claps on his sea wing, and like a doting mallard, 
 Leaving the fight in height, flies after it." 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, Act iii. Sc. 10. 
 
 To swim like a duck is proverbial 
 
 " Stephana. Here ; swear then how thou escapest. 
 
 Trinculo. Swam ashore, man, like a duck ; I can swim 
 like a duck, I '11 be sworn." Tempest, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 An ancient device for getting within shot of wild-fowl 
 was " the stalking-horse." Hence the allusion 
 
 " Stalk on, stalk on, the fowl sits." 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing, Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 And again 
 
 " He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the 
 presentation of that he shoots his wit." As Yon Like It, 
 Act v. Sc. 4. 
 
 Gervase Markham tells us * that " sometime it so 
 happeneth that the fowl are so shie there is no getting 
 a shoot at them without ' a stalking-horse,' which must be 
 some old jade trained up for that purpose, who will 
 gently, and as you will have him, walk up and down in 
 the water which way you please, plodding and eating on 
 the grass that grows therein. You must shelter yourself 
 and gun behind his fore-shoulder, bending your body 
 down low by his side, and keeping his body still full 
 
 * " The Gentleman's Recreation." 1595.
 
 THE STALKING-HORSE. 239 
 
 between you and the fowl. Being within shot, take your 
 level from before the fore pait of the horse, shooting as 
 
 it were between the horse's neck and the water 
 
 Now to supply the want of a stalking-horse, which will 
 take up a great deal of time to instruct and make fit for 
 this exercise, you may make one of any piece of old 
 canvass, which you must shape into the form of an horse, 
 with the head bending downwards, as if he grazed. You 
 may stuff it with any light matter ; and do not forget to 
 paint it of the color of an horse, of which the brown is 
 
 the best It must be made so portable that 
 
 you may bear it with ease in one hand, moving it so as 
 it may seem to graze as you go." 
 
 Sometimes the stalking-horse was made in shapt of an 
 ox ; sometimes in the form of a stag ; and sometimes to 
 represent a tree, shrub, or bush. In every case it had a 
 spike at the bottom, to stick into the ground while the 
 fowler took his aim. 
 
 In the " Privy Purse Expenses of King Henry VIII." 
 are various entries referring to stalking-horses, all of 
 which appear to refer to the live animal ; and there is one 
 entry relating to a stalking-ox. 
 
 The gun used on these occasions was either the 
 
 " birding-piece " already described,* or the " caliver." 
 
 Shakespeare has appropriately mentioned the latter in 
 
 connection with wild ducks, in the first part of his 
 
 * See pp. 164, 165.
 
 240 THE CALIVER. 
 
 Henry IV., where Falstaff speaks of cowards "such as 
 fear the report of a ' caliver ' worse than a struck fowl or 
 a hurt wild-duck." Henry IV. Part I. Act iv. Sc. 2. 
 
 The derivation of the word "caliver" is not quite clear, 
 unless it be the same weapon as the " culverin," in which 
 case it may be derived from the French couleuvrin, adder- 
 like. In Cotgrave's French and English Dictionary, 1660, 
 the word is spelled "calcever," and translated "harque- 
 buse." In Bailey's " Dictionarium Britannicum," 1736, 
 the caliver is described as " a small gun used at sea." In 
 Worcester's "Dictionary of the English Language," 1859, 
 " caliver " is said to be corrupted from caliber, and de- 
 scribed as i. a hand-gun or large pistol, an arquebuse ; 
 2. a kind of light matchlock. In Scheler's " Dictionnaire 
 d'Etymologie Franchise," 1862, we find "couleuvre du 
 L. colubra ; It. colubro ; Prov. colobre ; du L. masc. coluber, 
 bri ; D. couleuvreau, conleuvrine, ou coulevrinc, piece d'ar- 
 tillerie ; cp. les termes serpentin, et All. feldschlangc^ 
 
 From these various explanations, as well as from that 
 given by Archdeacon Nares in his " Glossary," it would 
 seem to have been a military rather than a sporting 
 weapon. The best description which we have met with is 
 that given by Sir S. D. Scott.* He says : 
 
 " The Caliver was a kind of short musket or harquebus, 
 fired by a matchlock, and from its lightness did not re- 
 quire a rest." 
 
 * " The British Army : its Origin, Progress, and Equipment," vol. ii. p. 286.
 
 THE CALIVER. 241 
 
 " ' Put me a caliver in Wart's hands/ says Falstaff, 
 reviewing his recruits, meaning thereby that Wart, who 
 was a weak, undersized fellow, was not capable of manag- 
 ing a heavier weapon. It was sometimes called arquebuse 
 de calibre, and was in fact an arquebus of specified bore, 
 having derived its name from the corruption of calibre 
 into caliver. ' I remember,' writes Edmund York, an 
 officer who had served in the Netherlands, and was ap- 
 pointed by the Privy Council to report on the best mode 
 of organizing the militia of London, in expectation of the 
 Spanish invasion, ' when I was first brought up in Pie- 
 mount, in the Countie of Brisack's Regiment of the old 
 Bandes, we had our particular calibre of Harquebuze to 
 our Regiment, both that for one bullett should serve all the 
 harquebuses of our Regiment, as for that our Collonell 
 would not be deceaved of his armes ; of which worde 
 Calibre, came first that unapt term we used to call a har- 
 quebuze a calliver, which is the height of the bullett, and 
 not of the piece. Before the battell of Mountgunter 
 (Moncontour, A.D. 1569) the Prynces of the Religion 
 caused seven thousand harquebuzes to be made, all of one 
 calibre, which were called Harquebuze du calibre de Mon- 
 sieur le Prince. So as, I think, some man not understand- 
 ing French brought hither the name of the height of the 
 bullet of the piece ; which worde calibre is yet contynued 
 with our good cannoniers.' "* 
 
 * See the Report in Maitland s " Hist, of London," p. 594. 
 
 I I
 
 242 THE CALIVF.R. 
 
 A contemporary military writer, Sir John Smythe, gives 
 his opinion that the term was derived from " the height of 
 the bullet"- i.e. the bore. He says, " The caliver is only a 
 harquebuse ; savinge, that it is of greater circuite, or bullet, 
 than the other is of ; wherefore the Frenchman doth call it a 
 piece de calibre, which is as much as to saie, a piece of bigger 
 circuite.* I would that all harquebuses throughout the field 
 should be of one caliver and height, to the intent that every 
 soldier on the lack of bullets might use his fellows' bullets." 
 
 There are two specimens in the Tower Collection, of a 
 caliver and a musket of the sixteenth century, from 
 Penshurst Place, Kent. The length of the former (here 
 figured) is 4 ft. 10 in., the latter 5 ft. 5^ in.f 
 
 Notwithstanding the " bigger circuite," the musket was 
 considered twice as efficient in its effects, and Sir Roger 
 Williams corroborates the fact, admitting the advantage 
 possessed by the caliver of being more rapidly discharged. 
 " The calivers may say they will discharge two shot for 
 one, but cannot denie that one musket-shot doth more hurt 
 than two calivers' shot." \ 
 
 * "An Answer to the Opinion of Captain Barwicke." (Harl. MSS., No. 4,685.) 
 t Their numbers, in Mr. Hewitt's official Tower Catalogue, are jjj and |*. 
 J " Brief Discourse of War, 1590."
 
 THE CALIVER. 243 
 
 In the Lancashire Lieutenancy is preserved the price of 
 the caliver and its appendages, and the equipment of the 
 bearer, in 1574: "Everie caliu his peece, flaxe & touche- 
 box xiiij 8 ; his morion vij 8 viij d , sworde & dagger vij s , his 
 hose viij 8 , his showes ij s , his shirtt iiij 8 , his dublett iiij 8 , his 
 coate xij s iiij d , money in his purse xxvj 8 viij d ." 
 
 For some unexplained reason, the price of a caliver, 
 which, with flask and touch-box, was charged only 14^. in 
 1574, in 1576 cost 24$. : 
 
 " Itfn a calliu ..... xxiiij 8 ." 
 
 In 1581, we find the charges for "A Shoot: Caliu, 
 flaxe, tuche box & scorier xvj ; " and in a " Schedule of 
 such rates of money as armor may be provided for at the 
 Cyttie of Chester, for such souldiors as shall repaire 
 thither out of the county of Lancaster," the caliver fur- 
 nished with flask, and touch-box, laces and moulds, 
 xiij 8 vj d .* 
 
 In 1620, a caliver, with bandoleers,f is valued at 14-r. 
 iod.\ According to a passage in Brantome, it would 
 appear that the Spaniards originated this improvement in 
 fire-arms, " la fa^on et 1'usage des belles harquebuzes de 
 calibre ; " and that it was introduced by Phillippe Strozzi 
 into the French infantry, under Charles IX., but it was 
 
 * Peck's " Desid. Cur." 
 
 t Bandoleers consisted of a belt of leather worn over the left shoulder, on which 
 were suspended little metal, wooden, leather, or horn cylinders, each containing 
 one charge. Examples are preserved in the Tower of London. 
 
 J Harl. MSS., No. 5,109. 
 
 Brantome, " CEuvres," torn. vii. pp. 425-429.
 
 244 THE STALE. 
 
 evidently not adopted by the English troops till several 
 years afterwards. 
 
 It will readily be understood by all sportsmen, that with 
 such a weapon as the " caliver," much practice and 
 patience must have been requisite to bring it within range 
 of the fowl, and use it with effect. The successful use of 
 a modern punt-gun necessitates an amount of skill and 
 judgment which those only who have tried it can really 
 appreciate. How much greater must have been the 
 difficulties of the wild-fowler of the sixteenth century, 
 whose rude gun and inferior powder necessitated a much 
 nearer approach to the birds ! We can sympathize with 
 Cardinal Beaufort, when he exclaimed 
 
 " Believe me, cousin Gloster, 
 Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly, 
 We had had more sport." 
 
 Henry VI. Part II. Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
 The wild-fowler who could not succeed in "stalking" 
 and shooting the birds in the way we have described, 
 often employed another method of securing them, namely, 
 by means of " a stale," as it was termed. This was a 
 stuffed bird of the species the fowler wished to decoy, and 
 which was set up in as natural a position as possible, either 
 before a net or in the midst of several "springes." By 
 imitating the call of the passing birds, the fowler would 
 draw their attention to the " stale," and as soon as they
 
 THE STALE. 245 
 
 alighted near it either the net was pulled over them, or 
 they were caught in the snares. 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher speak of " stales to catch kites " 
 (Hum. Lieut, iii. 2). Sometimes a live bird was pegged 
 down instead of a stuffed one, and was doubtless much 
 more effective, since " one bird caught, served as a stale to 
 bring in more."* 
 
 Shakespeare has employed the word " stale " in this 
 its primary sense, in his Comedy of Errors (Act ii. Sc. i), 
 in The Tempest (Act iv. Sc. i), and in the Taming of 
 the Shrew (Act iii. Sc. i). But commentators do not 
 seem to be agreed on its meaning. In Act i. Sc. i, of the 
 last-mentioned play, where it occurs again, it certainly 
 admits of a different interpretation. 
 
 Instructions for making a "stale" will be found in 
 "The Experienced Fowler" (London, 1704). At page 18 
 of this curious little volume, the author says : " You may 
 shoot a lark or some other bird, take out the entrails, stuff 
 him with tow, and dry him in an oven, his wings set in a 
 flying posture ; and so you may be furnished at all times." 
 This device was chiefly resorted to for taking the ruff 
 and reeve, and other fen birds, which fetched good prices 
 for the table. Now-a-days, the bird-catchers who take 
 linnets, goldfinches, and other small songsters, almost 
 invariably peg down live decoy birds with a foot or so 
 of string to the legs, in the centre of a pair of clap-nets. 
 
 But to return to wild-fowl. Puck compares the fright- 
 
 * Sidney, "Arcadia," ii. p. 169.
 
 246 WILD-GEESE. 
 
 ened varlets who fled at the sight of Bottom with the 
 ass's head to " wild-geese that the creeping fowler eye."- 
 Midsummer Night's Dream, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 "They flock together in consent, like so many wild- 
 geese." Henry IV. Part II. Act v. Sc. i. 
 
 And Marcius, addressing the retreating Romans before 
 Corioli, reproaches them as having no more courage than 
 
 geese : 
 
 " You souls of geese, 
 
 That bear the shapes of men, how have you run 
 From slaves that apes would beat !" 
 
 Coriolanus, Act i. Sc. 4. 
 
 The Fool in King Lear reminds us of the old proverb 
 
 " Winter's not gone yet, if the wild-geese fly that way." 
 
 King Lear, Act ii. Sc. 4. 
 
 It is not surprising that, to so common a bird, nume- 
 rous allusions should be made in the Plays of Shake- 
 speare, and, in addition to the passages quoted in Chapter 
 VII.,* many others might here be mentioned, were it not 
 that the repetition might prove tedious. 
 
 It was anciently believed that the Bernacle Goose 
 (Anser bernicld) was generated from the Bernacle or 
 Barnacle (Lepas anatifcrd). Shakespeare has alluded to 
 the metamorphosis in the following line : 
 
 " And all be turned to barnacles." 
 
 Tempest, Act iv. Sc. i. 
 
 * Sec ante, p. 197.
 
 BARNACLES. 
 
 247 
 
 It is strange that in matters concerning the marvellous, 
 even men of education will take pains to deceive them- 
 selves, and, instead of investigating nature with a " learned 
 spirit," give a license to ill-directed imagination, and credit 
 absurdities. When such men are so credulous, how can 
 we wonder at the superstitions of the illiterate ? 
 
 The first phase of the story in question is, that certain 
 trees, resembling willows, more particularly in one of the 
 Orkneys, Pomona, produced at the ends of their branches 
 small swelled balls, containing the embryo of a goose 
 suspended by the bill, which, when ripe, fell off into the 
 sea and took wing. 
 
 So Ipng ago as the twelfth century, the story was pro- 
 
 THE BARNACLE GOOSE. 
 
 mulgated by Giraldus Cambrensis, in his " Topographia 
 Hiberniae," and Munster, Saxo Grammaticus, Scaliger, 
 Fulgosus, Bishop Leslie, and Olaus Magnus, all attested to
 
 248 
 
 BARNACLES. 
 
 the truth of this monstrous absurdity. Gesner, too, and 
 Aldrovandus * may be also cited. 
 
 THE BARNACLF. GOOSE TREE. From A/drovandn 
 
 A second phase or modification of the story is that 
 given by Boece, the oldest Scottish historian : he denies 
 that the geese (Scottice, Claiks) grow on trees by their 
 bills, as some believe, but that, as his own researches and 
 personal experience prove, they are first produced in the 
 form of worms, in the substance of old trees or timber 
 floating in the sea ; for such a tree, cast on shore in 1480, 
 was brought to the laird, who ordered it to be sawn 
 asunder, when there appeared a multitude of worms, 
 "throwing themselves out of sundry holes and bores of 
 
 * Aldrovandi Opera Omina : Ornithologia. 3 vols. Bononiae. 1599-
 
 BARNACLES. 249 
 
 the tree ; some of them were rude, as they were new- 
 shapen ; some had both head, feet, and wings, but they 
 had no feathers ; some of them were perfect-shapen fowls. 
 At last the people, having this tree each day in more 
 admiration, brought it to the kirk of St. Andrew's, beside 
 the town of Tyre, where it yet remains to our days." 
 Other instances he adduces by way of proof, and at length 
 he comes to the conclusion, that the production of these 
 geese from fruits is the erroneous opinion of the ignorant ; 
 it being ascertained that " they are produced only by the 
 nature of the ocean sea, which is the cause and production 
 of many wonderful things." 
 
 In this view he was supported by Turner and others : 
 " When/' says Turner, " at a certain time an old ship, or 
 a plank, or a pine-mast rots in the sea, something like a 
 little fungus at first makes its appearance, which at length 
 puts on the manifest form of birds ; afterwards these are 
 clothed with feathers, and at last become living and flying 
 fowl." (" Avium Praecip. Hist.," Art. "ANSER.") Turner, 
 however, does not give up the goose-tree, but informs Gesner 
 that it is a different bird from the brent or bernicle goose, 
 which takes its origin from it. (Gesner, " De Avibus," iii. 
 p. 107.) Passing a host of other authorities, with their 
 accumulated proofs, and the depositions of unimpeachable 
 witnesses, we may come to Gerard, who, in 1597, pub- 
 lished the following account in his " Herball, or Generall 
 Historic of Plantes " : 
 
 K K
 
 250 
 
 BARNACLES. 
 
 " There is a small island in Lancashire, called the Pile 
 of Foulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old 
 and bruised ships, some whereof have been cast thither by 
 shipwracke, and also the trunks or bodies, with the 
 branches, of old and rotten trees, cast up there likewise ; 
 whereon is found a certaine spume, or froth, that in time 
 breedeth unto certaine shels, in shape like those of the 
 muskle, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish colour, 
 wherein is contained a thing in forme like a lace of silke, 
 
 THE BARNACLE GOOSE TREK. From Gerard. 
 
 finely woven as it were together, of a whitish colour ; one 
 ende whereof is fastened unto the inside of the shell, even
 
 BARNACLES. 25 I 
 
 as the fish of oisters and muskles are ; the other ende is 
 made fast unto the belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which 
 in time cometh to the shape and forme of a bird : when it 
 is perfectly formed the shell gapeth open, and the first 
 thing that appeareth is the foresaid lace or string ; next 
 come the legs of the bird hanging out, and as it groweth 
 greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is 
 all come forth, and hangeth only by the bill : in short 
 space after, it cometh to full maturitie, and falleth into 
 the sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowle 
 bigger than a mallard and lesser than a goose, having 
 blacke legs and bill or beake, and feathers blacke and 
 white, spotted in such manner as is our magge-pie, called 
 in some places a pie-annet, which the people of Lancashire 
 call by no other name than a tree-goose ; which place 
 aforesaide, and all those parts adjoining, do so much 
 abound therewith, that one of the best is bought for 
 three-pence. For the truth hereof, if any doubt, may it 
 please them to repaire unto me, and I shall satisfie them 
 by the testimonie of good witnesses." 
 
 Meyer, who wrote a treatise on this " bird without 
 father or mother," states that he opened a hundred of the 
 goose-bearing shells, and in all of them found the rudi- 
 ments of the bird completely formed. 
 
 Sir Robert Murray, in an account of the barnacle 
 published in the " Philosophical Transactions," says that 
 " these shells are hung at the tree by a neck, longer than
 
 252 BARNACLES. 
 
 the shell, of a filmy substance, round and hollow, and 
 creased not unlike the windpipe of a chicken, spreading 
 out broadest where it is fastened to the tree, from which 
 it seems to draw and convey the matter which serves for 
 the growth and vegetation of the shell, and the little bird 
 within it. 
 
 " In every shell that I opened," he continues, " I found 
 a perfect sea-fowl ; the little bill like that of a goose ; the 
 eyes marked ; the head, neck, breast, wing, tail, and feet 
 formed ; the feathers everywhere perfectly shaped, and 
 blackish coloured ; and the feet like those of other water- 
 fowl, to my best remembrance." 
 
 It is not to be supposed, however, that there were none 
 who doubted this marvellous story, or who took steps to 
 refute it. Belon, so long ago as 1551, and others after 
 him, treated it with ridicule, and a refutation may be found 
 in Willughby's " Ornithology," which was edited by Ray 
 in 1678. An excellent account of the Barnacle was pub- 
 lished by Mr. Thompson in the " Philosophical Transac- 
 tions " for 1835, while the latest and most complete treatise 
 on the subject is Mr. Darwin's " Monograph of the Cirrhi- 
 pedia," published by the Ray Society. 
 
 What, then, is the marine production from which the 
 Barnacle Goose was thought to be engendered ? Merely 
 certain shell-covered cirrhipedous creatures, called Bar- 
 nacles (Lepas anatifera Linn.), which are to be found 
 adhering in clusters to floating logs of wood, the timbers
 
 BARNACLES. 
 
 253 
 
 of wrecked vessels, the sides of rocks, and other objects 
 which afford a secure attachment. 
 
 Each individual consists of a body enclosed in a shell, 
 not unlike that of a mussel in figure, and of a fleshy 
 worm-like stem or peduncle, the extremity of which is 
 fixed to the object upon which the animal is stationed. 
 This stem is tubular, tolerably firm, and has a fleshy feel ; 
 
 BARNACLES. Fr 
 
 it is composed exteriorly of a fine coriaceous outer mem- 
 brane, bedewed with a watery fluid, and beneath this, of 
 an inner membrane of considerable density, apparently 
 consisting of muscular fibres, running for the most part in
 
 254 BARNACLES. 
 
 parallel longitudinal lines. That these fibres are muscular 
 we may conclude from the animal having the power of 
 contracting the stem, or of twisting it in various directions. 
 Within the tube there is a fluid secretion. 
 
 The shell is composed of five pieces, four of which are 
 lateral, two on each side ; while between the valves down the 
 back is interposed a single narrow slip uniting them together. 
 Their colour is white, more or less tinged with purplish blue. 
 Along the anterior margin the valves are but partially 
 connected by a membrane, leaving a large fissure, through 
 which emerge the plumose and jointed arms or cirrhi. 
 
 The food of the Barnacles consists of small Crustacea and 
 mollusca. These are entangled by the many-jointed plu- 
 mose cirrhi, which are perpetually thrown out and folded 
 again, so as to serve the purpose of a casting-net, and drag 
 the prey to the mouth, where it is seized and crushed. 
 
 With regard to the reproduction of these creatures, the 
 eggs are seen enclosed at certain times within the hollow 
 of the peduncle, where they appear of a blue colour, and 
 render the pedicle opaque ; from this they pass through a 
 minute conduit into the cavity of the mantle, where they 
 are arranged like two leaflets, attached to the septum 
 between the body and the peduncle. They are enclosed 
 in a film, out of which they fall when ready to hatch. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact, as we learn from Mr. 
 Thompson*, that the young barnacles and other cirrhi- 
 
 * " Philosophical Transactions," I.e.
 
 BARNACLES. 255 
 
 peda on emerging from the egg are quite free, and very 
 different from their parents. "They possess locomo- 
 tive organs, consisting of a large anterior pair of limbs, 
 provided with a sucker, and hooks for the purpose of 
 mooring themselves at pleasure to various objects and 
 also of six pairs of swimming-limbs, acting in concert like 
 oars. Besides these, they have a tail bent under the body, 
 consisting of two joints and terminating in four bristles : 
 this is an additional locomotive organ. Thus endowed, 
 they swim along in a series of bounds, the oars and tail 
 giving in measured time successive impulses. They have, 
 moreover, large lateral eyes set on peduncles, and the body 
 is covered with a sort of shell, as in certain Crustacea (e.g. 
 Cyclops), which they closely resemble," and for which Mr. 
 Thompson at first mistook them. 
 
 In due time a metamorphosis takes place ; the shell is 
 thrown off, the eyes disappear, the limbs become trans- 
 formed to cirrhi, the regular valves develop themselves, 
 the peduncle shoots forth, and the animal becomes per- 
 manently fixed. 
 
 Believing these little creatures to be the larvae of some 
 crustaceous animal, some of them, says Mr. Thompson, 
 were collected in the spring, and in order to see what 
 changes they might undergo, were kept in a glass 
 vessel, covered by such a depth of sea-water, that they 
 could be examined at any time by means of a common 
 magnifying-glass. They were taken May ist, and on the 
 night of the 8th the author had the satisfaction to find
 
 256 BARNACLES. 
 
 that two of them had thrown off their exuviae, and, 
 wonderful to say, were firmly adhering to the bottom of 
 the vessel, and changed to young barnacles. In this stage 
 the sutures between the valves of the shell and of the 
 operculum were visible, and the movements of the arms 
 of the animal within, although these last were not com- 
 pletely developed : the eyes also were still perceptible, 
 although the principal part of the colouring-matter ap- 
 peared to have been thrown off with the exuviae. On the 
 roth another individual was seen in the act of throwing 
 off its shell, and attaching itself as the others to the bot- 
 tom of the glass. It only remains to add, that as the 
 secretion of the calcareous matter goes on in the compart- 
 ments destined for the valves of the shelly covering, the 
 eyes gradually disappear, from the increasing opacity 
 thence produced, and the visual ray is extinguished for 
 the remainder of the animal's life ; the arms at the same 
 time acquire their usual ciliated appearance. Thus, then, 
 an animal originally natatory and locomotive, and provided 
 with a distinct organ of sight, becomes permanently and 
 immovably fixed, and its optic apparatus obliterated ; and 
 furnishes not only a new and important physiological fact, 
 but is the only instance in nature of so extraordinary a 
 metamorphosis. 
 
 We have been thus led to dilate upon barnacles in con- 
 nection with Shakespeare's allusion to them, at somewhat 
 greater length than we should otherwise have done, on 
 account of the interest which attaches to the old story,
 
 WILD-FOWL. 257 
 
 handed down through so many centuries, and because 
 we have looked into many books in vain for a plain 
 account of its origin, and a modern description of the 
 cirrhiped devoid of scientific technicalities. 
 
 With this apology, then, to the reader, we return to the 
 birds. 
 
 The following dialogue between Malvolio and the 
 Clown, in Tivelfth Night, concerning wild-fowl, has refer- 
 ence to the theory of Pythagoras on the subject of the 
 transmigration of souls, and is quite as applicable to birds 
 in general as to wild-fowl in particular : 
 
 " Clo. What is the opinion of Pythagoras concerning 
 wild-fowl ? 
 
 Mai. That the soul of our grandam might haply 
 inhabit a bird. 
 
 Clo. What thinkest thou of his opinion ? 
 
 Mai. I think nobly of the soul, and no way approve 
 his opinion. 
 
 Clo. Fare thee well : remain thou still in darkness : thou 
 shalt hold the opinion of Pythagoras ere I will allow 
 of thy wits ; and fear to kill a woodcock, lest thou dis- 
 possess the soul of thy grandam. Fare thee well."- 
 Twelfth Night, Act iv. Sc. 2* 
 
 * The doctrine of Pythagoras is again alluded to by Gratiano, who says : 
 " Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith, 
 To hold opinion with Pythagoras, 
 That souls of animals infuse themselves 
 
 Into the trunks of men." 
 
 Merchant of Venice, Act iv. Sc. i. 
 
 L L
 
 258 THE LOON. 
 
 Amongst the wild-fowl may be classed the various 
 species of divers and grebes which frequent our shores 
 and harbours, especially in winter, and which afford good 
 sport to the gunner, by their wonderful power of diving 
 long distances in their efforts to escape. 
 
 The provincial name of " loon " (Macbeth, Act v. Sc. 3) 
 is applied both to a diver and to a grebe. On many parts 
 of the coast the red-throated diver (Colymbus scptentrio- 
 nalis) is known as the "loon," "speckled loon," and 
 "sprat loon." In Norfolk, the name is applied to the 
 great-crested grebe (Podiceps cristatns). 
 
 Shakespeare employs the term " loon " as synonymous 
 with " coward ; " and if we call to mind the habits of the 
 two birds to which the same name has been applied, it is 
 certainly not ill bestowed upon one who lacks courage to 
 face an enemy. 
 
 Another species of grebe is referred to by Shakespeare 
 in his Venus and Adonis : 
 
 " Like a dive-dapper peering through a wave, 
 Who, being look'd on, ducks as quickly in." 
 
 This is the little grebe, or dabchick (Podiceps minor). 
 In some parts of the country we have heard it called 
 " di' dapper," but it was not until we had met with the 
 passage above quoted that the meaning of the word 
 became apparent. 
 
 On the subject of " loons," the Rev. H. Jones has some
 
 THE CORMORANT. 259 
 
 appropriate remarks in a volume of essays entitled " Holi- 
 day Papers " (p. 65). " The great-crested grebe, or loon," 
 he says, " is a giant compared to our little friend the dab- 
 chick, and altogether makes a more respectable appear- 
 ance, both in picture and pond. The habits and figure 
 of the two birds, though, are much the same. There are 
 numbers of loons oh the ' broads ' of Norfolk. Indeed it 
 is in East Anglia that I have most especially watched the 
 dabchick. These loons, like the lesser grebes, incubate 
 and leave their eggs in the wet, and meet with the 
 same ridiculous failure when they attempt to walk. 
 Like them, they are capital divers, and begin from the 
 
 egg-" 
 
 Close to the divers in the natural system of birds come 
 the cormorants, whose powers of swimming are in no way 
 inferior to those of the species we have just named. 
 They swim so low in the water that nothing but the 
 head, neck, and top of the back appear above the surface. 
 The tail, composed of stiff elastic feathers, is submerged 
 and used as a rudder, and the wings as oars. The address 
 with which they dive, and the rapidity of their movements, 
 are wonderful ; no less so than the pertinacity with which 
 they pursue their prey. Voracious in the extreme, 
 
 " Insatiate cormorant." 
 
 Richard II. Act ii. Sc. i ; 
 
 they are unwearied and active fishers, following their prey
 
 260 FISHING WITH CORMORANTS. 
 
 under water like the otter, only coming to the surface 
 occasionally for breath. 
 
 Indeed the voracity of this bird, which, doubtless, 
 suggested the name cormorants, has become so proverbial, 
 that a man of large appetite is often likened to a cor- 
 morant. 
 
 In this sense Shakespeare has frequently employed the 
 word as an adjective, and we find such expressions as 
 
 " The cormorant belly." 
 
 Coriolanus, Act i. Sc. i. 
 
 " This cormorant war." 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 And 
 
 "Cormorant devouring time." 
 
 Love's Labour's Lost, Act i. Sc. i. 
 
 Ravenous as the cormorant is, it is easily tamed, and 
 becomes very attached and familiar. The use of trained 
 cormorants for fishing is very ancient, and is believed to 
 have originated with the Chinese.* The practice has 
 been known in England, however, for many centuries. 
 Ogleby, who went on an embassy to China in the time 
 of James I., and who published an account of his travels 
 on his return, describes the way in which the Chinese take 
 
 * In China, at the present day, an allied species, Ph. sinensis, is reared and 
 trained to fish.
 
 THE KING'S CORMORANTS. 261 
 
 fish with cormorants. James himself, who was a great 
 sportsman, kept trained cormorants for many years, and 
 was accustomed to travel about the country with them, 
 fishing as he went. 
 
 We have seen a curious MS. diary* in the British 
 Museum, written in old French, by Hans Jacob Wurmser 
 v. Vendenheym, who accompanied Lewis Frederick, Duke 
 of Wurtemberg, in his diplomatic mission to England in 
 1610, from which it appears that the Duke, proceeding by 
 Ware, Royston, Cambridge, and Newmarket, arrived at 
 Thetford on the /th of May,-f- where King James the First 
 was then amusing himself with hunting, hawking, and 
 fishing with cormorants. 
 
 The entry with reference to the cormorants is as 
 follows : 
 
 Lundy THETFQRD 
 
 5. E. soupa dercchef avecq sa Ma' e , Lesquel en sortans 
 de table, entrerent en carrosse pour aller a la riviere, 
 ou Us virent des Cormorants, oyseau qni par signe que 
 maistre qui les addresses leur donne, se plangent sons 
 I'eanx et prennent des Anguilles et antre poisson ; lequel 
 aussy par signe Von le faict rendir et vomir tons vifs, 
 
 * This diary is amongst the additional MSS. in the British Museum. It is 
 bound in soft parchment, and entered in the catalogue as "Wurmser, H. J.: 
 Travels with Louis, Count (?) of Wurtemberg, 20,001." 
 
 f The presence of the King at Thetford at this date, as on other occasions, is 
 recorded in the ' ' Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities of King 
 James the First," as published in four volumes by John Nichols, F.S.A., in 1828.
 
 262 THE KING'S CORMORANTS. 
 
 chose bien meruicllcuse a voir. Sur toutc chose estoit Ics 
 sages discours de sa Ma" tres admirable" 
 
 The King had a regular establishment for his cormorants 
 on the river at Westminster, and created a new office, 
 " Master of the Royal Cormorants," which office was first 
 held by John Wood, as appears from various documents 
 in the Record Office. Amongst other entries, for a know- 
 ledge of which I am indebted to Mr. F. H. Salvin, the 
 distinguished falconer, are the following : 
 
 "No. i, James I., 1611, April 11. To John Wood, the 
 sum of 30, in respect he hath been at extraordinary 
 charge in bringing up and training of certain fowls called 
 cormorants, and making of them fit for the use of fishing, 
 to be taken to him of His Majesty's free gift and reward. 
 By writ, dated the 5th day of April, 1611. 
 
 "No. 2, May 2/th, 1612. Payment to the said John 
 Wood for getting cormorants from the north. 
 
 "No. 3, August 3ist, 1618. James I. to Robert Wood. 
 Advance of 66 13^. 4^., in part payment of the sum of 
 ^286 due in respect of the cormorant houses, and making 
 nine ponds, &c., at Westminster, the ground called the 
 Vine-garden having been taken upon lease of the Lord 
 Danvers. 
 
 [" In this document," says Mr. Salvin, " this Wood is 
 described as keeper of His Majesty's cormorants, ospreys, 
 and otters. It is therefore clear that the fishing-hawk was
 
 THE KING'S CORMORANTS. 263 
 
 tried, and as we hear so little about it afterwards, there 
 can be no doubt but that it proved a failure, which, 
 indeed, might have been expected, as the bird is what 
 falconers would call an habitual ' carrier.' Neither do 
 the otters seem to have answered. Vines were grown in 
 Surrey for wine in ancient times, and I wonder if this 
 vine-garden was for that purpose."] 
 
 " No. 4, February 28th, 1619. To John Wood, whom 
 His Majesty heretofore appointed to attend the French 
 ambassadors, with the cormorants sent by His Majesty's 
 good brother, the French King, the sum of .215, for so 
 much by him disbursed and laid out for his charges 
 incident to the performance of the said service, over and 
 above the sum of $O, impressed unto him, for and 
 towards the said charges, appearing by his bill, of the 
 particulars thereof, delivered in upon oath, and allowed 
 by us and the rest of the Commissioners of the Treasury. 
 By writ dated the i8th July, 1609, and by confirmation 
 dated the last of July, 1618. 
 
 " I4th October, 1619, To Robert Wood, whom His 
 Majesty intendeth to send, with divers cormorants, to 
 his good cousin, the Duke of Lorraine, the sum of 60, 
 by way of an imprest towards defraying the expenses in 
 that journey. By writ, dated 7th October, 1619. 
 
 "28th August, 1624. To Robert Wood, the sum of 
 98 8s. 6d., in full satisfaction of the charge and loss 
 sustained by Luke Wood, in his late travels, with three
 
 264 THE KING'S CORMORANTS. 
 
 cormorants, to Venice, having been stayed in his passage 
 thither, and his cormorants taken away from him by the 
 Duke of Savoy." 
 
 [" From these two documents," says Mr. Salvin, " it 
 would appear that cormorant fishing was likely to have 
 become fashionable upon the continent, if poor Wood and 
 his birds had not come to grief. 
 
 " The civil wars in the next reign extinguished the 
 office of The Master of the Royal Cormorants, and his 
 assistants, and in the Record Office we find this petition 
 from poor old Mr. Wood, who appears to have been 
 rather hard-up and neglected in his old age. 
 
 " ' A prayer of Richard Wood, of Walton-on-Thames, 
 Surrey, to Charles II., for restoration to his place as cor- 
 morant keeper, which he held, he says, from King James's 
 first coming to England, to the late wars, in which he 
 served as a soldier, but being now ninety-five years old, 
 has been forced to retire to a dwelling at Walton.' "*] 
 
 " A document in the State Paper Office, sealed with the 
 royal signet, and addressed to the ' Treasurer of the 
 Chamber ' for the time being, authorizes him to pay unto 
 John Harris, gentleman, His Majesty's cormorant keeper, 
 for his repairing yearly unto the north parts of England 
 
 * The above extracts were communicated by Mr. Salvin to Mr. Frank Buck- 
 land's journal, Land and Water, in 1867, in a series of articles on " Cormorant 
 Fishing." 
 
 Some interesting chapters on the subject will be found at the end of Freeman 
 and Salvin's " Falconry ; its Claims, History, and Practice. ' 8vo, 1859.
 
 THE HOME OF THE CORMORANT. 265 
 
 to take haggard cormorants for His Majesty's disport in 
 fishing, the yearly allowance of eighty-four pounds, to be 
 paid on the four usual feasts of the year, during His 
 Majesty's pleasure, in such manner as John Wood and 
 Robert Wood, or George Hutchinson, gentlemen, formerly 
 received."* 
 
 Although Shakespeare has mentioned the cormorant in 
 many of his Plays, he has nowhere alluded to the sport 
 with trained birds ; and this is somewhat singular, inas- 
 much as he has made frequent mention of the then popu- 
 lar pastime of hawking, and he did not die until some 
 years after James I. had made fishing with cormorants 
 a fashionable amusement.-|- The sport has long since 
 ceased to amuse royalty, and by English sportsmen is 
 now almost abandoned.^ 
 
 To return to the sea, the true home of the cormorant ; 
 that sea 
 
 " Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege 
 Of watery Neptune." 
 
 Richard II. Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
 " Those who have never observed our boldest coasts," 
 says Oliver Goldsmith, " have no idea of their tremendous 
 
 * Sidney Bere, in Land and Water, April 20, 1867. 
 
 f In " Chambers's Journal " for 1859, will be found an interesting article upon 
 the subject, entitled "The King and his Cormorants." 
 
 J Mr. Salvin, to whom we have before referred, and Mr. E. C. Newcome, of 
 Feltwell Hall, Norfolk, still keep and use trained cormorants ; as, through the 
 kindness of the former, we have had pleasant opportunities of attesting.
 
 266 GULLS. 
 
 sublimity. The boasted works of art, the highest towers, 
 and the noblest domes, are but ant hills when put in 
 comparison 
 
 " To walk along the shore when the tide is departed, or 
 to sit in the hollow of a rock when it is come in, attentive 
 to the various sounds that gather on every side, above and 
 below, may raise the mind to its highest and noblest 
 exertions. 
 
 " The solemn roar of the waves, swelling into and 
 subsiding from the vast caverns beneath, the piercing 
 note of the gull, the frequent chatter of the guillemot, 
 the loud note of the auk, the screams of the heron, 
 and the hoarse, deep periodical croaking of the cormorant, 
 all unite to furnish out the grandeur of the scene, 
 and turn the mind to Him who is the essence of all 
 sublimity." 
 
 It is amid such scenes as these that we naturally look 
 for and find the next of Shakespeare's birds, the Gull, or, 
 as he sometimes calls it, the " Sea-mell " (The Tempest, 
 Act ii. Sc. 2). 
 
 In no passage, however, do we find a reference to any 
 particular species of gull ; the word is used in its generic 
 sense only, and is most frequently applied metaphorically 
 to a dupe or a fool : 
 
 " Why, 'tis a gull, a fool ! " 
 
 Henry V. Act iii. Sc. 6.
 
 GULL-CATCHERS. 267 
 
 The gull is said to have derived its name from its 
 voracious habits, i.e., from " gulo onis" a gormandizer. 
 Tooke holds that gull, guile, wile, and guilt, are all from 
 the Anglo-Saxon " wiglian, gewiglian" that by which any 
 one is deceived. Archdeacon Nares suggests that gull is 
 from the old French guiller. 
 
 Malvolio asks : 
 
 " Why have you suffer'd me to be imprison'd, 
 Kept in a dark house, visited by the priest, 
 And made the most notorious geek* and gull, 
 That e'er invention play'd on ? tell me why." 
 
 Twelfth Night, Act v. Sc. i . 
 
 In the same play we find the word " gull " occurring 
 several times in a similar sense, as in Act ii. Sc. 3, and 
 Act iii. Sc. 2 ;-f- and Fabian, on the entry of Maria (Act ii. 
 Sc. 5), exclaims, 
 
 " Here comes my noble gull-catcher ! " 
 
 When sharpers were considered as bird-catchers, a gull 
 was their proper prey.J " Gull -catchers," or "gull- 
 gropers," therefore, were the names by which, in Shake- 
 speare's day, these sharpers were known. 
 
 " The gull-groper was generally an old gambling miser, 
 
 * Geek a laughing-stock. According to Capel, from the Italian ghczzo. Dr. 
 Jamieson, however, derives it from the Teutonic geek, jocus. 
 
 t See also Othello, Act v. Sc. 2, and Timon of Athens, Act ii. Sc. i. 
 % See D'Israeli's " Curiosities of Literature," iii. p. 84.
 
 268 GULL-GROPERS. 
 
 who frequented the ordinary to save the charge of house- 
 keeping, under the pretext of meeting with travellers and 
 seeking company, and carried in his pouch some hundred 
 or two hundred pounds in twenty-shilling pieces. By 
 long experience he knew to an ace how much the losing 
 player was worth, and as he scratched his head and paced 
 uneasily up and down the room, as if he wanted the 
 ostler, he takes him to a side window and tells him that 
 he was, forsooth, sorry to see so honest a gentleman in 
 bad luck, but that ' dice were made of women's bones and 
 would cozen the wisest,' and that for his father's sake, Sir 
 Luke Littlebrain (he had learned the name from the 
 drawer), if it pleased him he need not leave off play for 
 a hundred pound or two. The youth, eager to redeem 
 his losses, accepted the money ordinarily with grateful 
 thanks. The gold was poured upon the table, and a hard 
 bond was hastily drawn up for the repayment at the next 
 quarter-day, deducting so much for the scrivener's expense 
 at changing the pieces. If he lost, the usurer hugged his 
 bond, and laughed in his sleeve. If Sir Andrew won, the 
 gull-groper would then steal silently out of the noisy 
 room to avoid repayment. The day that the bond 
 became due, Hunks was sure not to be within, and if 
 seen, in some way contrived to make the debtor break 
 the bond, and then transformed himself into two sergeants, 
 who clapped the youth in prison. From thence he usually 
 escaped shorn of a goodly manor or fair lordship, worth
 
 SEA-MELLS. 269 
 
 three times the money, and which was to be entered upon 
 by Hunks three months after his young friend came of 
 age an unpleasant thought, when the ox was roasting 
 whole, the bells ringing, and the tenants shouting." * 
 
 Not only was the person duped called " a gull," but the 
 trick itself was also known as " a gull," just as we now-a- 
 days term it " a sell." 
 
 " Benedick. I should think this ' a gull/ but that the 
 white-bearded fellow speaks it : knavery cannot, sure, hide 
 himself in such reverence." Much Ado about Nothing, 
 Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 
 But it is not always synonymously with " fool " that 
 Shakespeare employs the word " gull." Caliban, address- 
 ing Trinculo, says, 
 
 " Sometimes I '11 get thee 
 Young sea-mells from the rock." 
 
 Tempest, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Here it is evident that the sea-mall, sea-mew, or sea-gull, 
 is intended, the young birds being taken before they could 
 fly. Young sea-gulls were formerly considered great 
 delicacies, and in the old " Household Books " we often 
 find such entries as the following : 
 
 " Item, it is thought goode that See-guiles be hade for 
 
 * Thornbury, "Shakespeare's England," vol. i. pp. 311, 312. Doubtless com- 
 piled from Greene's "Art of Coney Catching," 1591, and Decker's "English 
 Villanies," 1631.
 
 270 SEA-MELLS. 
 
 my Lordes own mees and non other, so they be goode and 
 in season, and at jd. apece or jd. ob. at the moste." 
 
 The description of their haunts which the poet gives us 
 in the fourth act of King Lear cannot be easily forgotten. 
 We seem to stand when reading it upon the very edge 
 
 of the cliff! 
 
 " How fearful 
 
 And dizzy 't is to cast one's eyes so low ! 
 
 the murmuring surge, 
 
 That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes, 
 Cannot be heard so high. I '11 look no more, 
 Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight 
 Topple down headlong." 
 
 King Lear, Act iv. Sc. 6.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 VARIOUS BIRDS NOT INCLUDED IN THE FOREGOING 
 CHAPTERS. 
 
 1\J OTWITHSTANDING the comprehensive titles of the 
 preceding chapters, there are several birds mentioned by 
 Shakespeare which cannot, with propriety, be included in 
 any of them. We have, therefore, deemed it advisable to 
 notice them separately under the above heading. 
 
 Naturalists have frequently remarked upon the propen- 
 sity which some birds have to become restless and noisy 
 before rain. Familiar examples are, the Peacock ; the 
 Green Woodpecker, which, on this account, in some parts 
 of the country, is called " rain-bird ; " the Golden Plover, 
 whose Latin and French name, Pluvialis and Pluvier, 
 have reference to the same peculiarity ; and the Woodcock, 
 which, as Gilbert White says, has been observed " to be 
 remarkably listless against snowy, foul weather." Shake- 
 speare has noticed this peculiarity in the Parrot :
 
 2/2 THE PARROT. 
 
 " More clamorous than a parrot against rain." As You 
 Like It, Act iv. Sc. I. i 
 
 It is not quite clear when parrots were first introduced 
 as cage birds, but their attractive colours, and aptitude for 
 learning tricks and words, no doubt brought them into 
 notice at an early period. Shakespeare knew that to en- 
 sure success in teaching a parrot, the bird must be 
 rewarded : 
 
 "The parrot will not do more for an almond." Troilus 
 and Cressida, Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 To talk " like a parrot," that is, without reason, is pro- 
 verbial. Lieutenant Cassio thus upbraids himself after a 
 drunken squabble : 
 
 " I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good 
 a commander with so slight, so drunken, and so discreet an 
 officer. Drunk ? and speak parrot ? and squabble ? swag- 
 ger ? swear and discourse fustian with one's own shadow ? 
 Oh, thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to 
 be known by, let us call thee devil ! " Othello, Act ii. 
 Sc. 3. 
 
 In a witty scene between Beatrice and Benedick, in 
 Much Ado about Nothing, the former is likened by the latter 
 to " a parrot-teacher" from her great talkative powers : 
 
 " Bened. But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, 
 only you excepted : and I would I could find in my
 
 A PARROT-TEACHER. 273 
 
 heart that I had not a hard heart, for truly I love 
 now. 
 
 Beat. A dear happiness to women ; they would else 
 have been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank 
 God, and my cold blood, I am of your humour for 
 that ; I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a 
 man swear he loves me. 
 
 Bened. God keep your ladyship still in that mind ! so 
 some gentleman or other shall 'scape a predestinate 
 scratched face. 
 
 Beat. Scratching could not make it worse, an 'twere 
 such a face as yours were. 
 
 Bened. Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher* 
 
 Beat. A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of 
 yours. 
 
 Bened. I would my horse had the speed of your 
 tongue, and so good a continuer : but keep your way, 
 o' God's name ! I have done. 
 
 Beat. You always end with a jade's trick : I know you 
 of old." 
 
 [Whereupon Don Pedro steps in and puts an end to this 
 
 bantering.] 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing, Act i. Sc. i. 
 
 The "Popinjay" (Henry IV. Part I. Act i. Sc. 3) 
 apparently is only another name for parrot. 
 
 In the Glossary to Chaucer's Works we find the word 
 
 * Compare " Redbreast-teacher," Henry IV. Part I. Act iii. Sc. i. 
 
 N N
 
 274 THE STARLING. 
 
 thus explained : " Popingay, a parrot ; Papegant, Fr. ; 
 Papcgaey, Belg. ; Papagallo, Ital." 
 
 In the Privy Purse expenses of King Henry VIII. the 
 following entry occurs under date November, 1532 : 
 
 " Itrh. The laste daye paied in rewarde to a 
 woman that wolde have gyven a popin- 
 gay to the King's grace . . x s. 
 
 The practice of turning to advantage the capability 
 which certain birds possess for learning to utter words 
 must be of some antiquity, for Pliny alludes to the 
 starlings which were trained for the amusement of the 
 young Caesars, as being capable of uttering both Latin 
 and Greek. 
 
 Shakespeare thus refers to the starling's talking 
 powers : 
 
 " Hotspur. He said, he would not ransom Mortimer ; 
 Forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer ; 
 But I will find him when he lies asleep, 
 And in his ear I '11 holloa, ' Mortimer ! ' 
 Nay, I '11 have a starling shall be taught to speak 
 Nothing but ' Mortimer,' and give it him, 
 To keep his anger still in motion." 
 
 Henry IV. Part I. Act i. Sc. 3. 
 
 It is stated that when M. Girardin visited his friend 
 M. Thirel in Paris, he was agreeably astonished at hearing 
 a starling articulate a dozen consecutive sentences with the
 
 THE KINGFISHER. 275 
 
 same precision as if they had been spoken by some person 
 in the next room ; and when the bell rang for mass, the 
 same bird called to its mistress, by name, " Mademoiselle, 
 entendez-vous la messe que Ton sonne ? Prenez votre 
 livre et revenez vite, donner a manger a votre polisson." 
 If this statement can be depended upon, M. Girardin might 
 well have been astonished. 
 
 It was formerly believed that during the time the Halcyon 
 or Kingfisher was engaged in hatching her eggs, the water, 
 in kindness to her, remained so smooth and calm, that the 
 mariner might venture on the sea with the happy certainty 
 of not being exposed to storms or tempests ; this period 
 was therefore called, by Pliny and Aristotle, " the halcyon 
 days." 
 
 " Expect Saint Martin's* summer, halcyon days." 
 
 Henry VI. Part I. Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 It was also supposed that the dead bird, carefully 
 balanced and suspended by a single thread, would always 
 turn its beak towards that point of the compass from which 
 the wind blew. 
 
 Kent, in King Lear (Act II. Sc. 2), speaks of rogues 
 
 who 
 
 " Turn their halcyon beaks 
 
 With every gale and vary of their masters." 
 
 And, after Shakespeare, Marlowe, in his Jeiv of Malta, 
 says, 
 
 * To this day the bird is still called " Martin-pecheur " by the French.
 
 2/6 THE SWALLOW. 
 
 " But how now stands the wind ? 
 Into what corner peers my halcyon's bill ? " 
 
 For brightness and beauty of plumage, the kingfisher 
 has no equal amongst our British birds, and so straight 
 and rapid withal is its line of flight, that when the sun- 
 light falls upon its bright blue back, it seems as if an 
 azure bolt from a crossbow had been suddenly shot across 
 our path. 
 
 It is difficult to calculate or limit the speed which can 
 be produced by the effort of a wing's vibration. We may, 
 nevertheless, ascertain with tolerable accuracy the rate of 
 a bird's flight, as follows : If we note the number of 
 seconds which are occupied by a bird in passing between 
 two fixed points in its line of flight, and measure the 
 distance between these points, we resolve the question to 
 a simple " rule-of-three " sum ; inasmuch as, knowing the 
 number of yards flown in a certain number of seconds, we 
 can ascertain the distance traversed in 3,600 seconds, or an 
 hour, and thus obtain the rate of speed per hour ; sup- 
 posing, of course, the speed to be uniform. In this way 
 the flight of the common Swallow (Hirundo rustled) has 
 been computed at ninety miles, 
 
 " As swift as swallow flies." 
 
 Titus Andronicus, Act iv. Sc. 2 ; 
 
 while that of the swift has been conjectured to be nearly 
 one hundred and eighty miles per hour.
 
 THE SWALLOW. 277 
 
 " True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings." 
 
 Richard III. Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 Those who have watched the swallows upon a dull 
 day, skimming low along the ground, and seeming 
 almost to touch it, although flying with speed as 
 undiminished as if high in air, will readily see the 
 aptness of the simile : 
 
 " And I have horse will follow where the game 
 Makes way, and run like swallows on the plain." 
 
 Titus Andronicus, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 " The swallow follows not summer more willingly than 
 we your lordship, nor more willingly leaves winter ; such 
 summer-birds are men." Timon of Athens, Act iii. Sc. 6. 
 
 The swallow, although one of the earliest, is not 
 always the first of our spring ornaments to appear. There 
 
 are 
 
 " Daffodils, 
 
 That come before the swallow dares, and take 
 The winds of March with beauty." 
 
 Winter's Tale, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 A near relative of this bird is the Martin, or, as 
 it is called in the language of heraldry, the " Martlet " 
 
 (Hirundo urbicd). 
 
 " This guest of summer, 
 
 The temple-haunting martlet, doth approve, 
 By his lov'd mansionry, that the heaven's breath
 
 2/8 THE MARTLET. 
 
 Smells wooingly here ; no jutty, frieze, 
 Buttress, nor coigne of vantage, but this bird 
 Hath made his pendant bed and procreant cradle. 
 Where they most breed and haunt, I have observ'd, 
 
 The air is delicate." 
 
 Macbeth, Act i. Sc. 6. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds was struck with the beauty of this 
 brief colloquy before the castle of Macbeth, and he ob- 
 serves on it : " This short dialogue between Duncan and 
 Banquo, while they are approaching the gates of Mac- 
 beth's castle, has always appeared to me a striking 
 instance of what, in painting, is termed ' repose.' Their 
 conversation very naturally turns upon the beauties of its 
 situation, and the pleasantness of the air ; and Banquo, 
 observing the martlets' nests in every recess of the cornice, 
 remarks that where these birds most breed and haunt, 
 the air is delicate. The subject of this quiet and easy 
 conversation gives that repose so necessary to the mind 
 after the tumultuous bustle of the preceding scenes, and 
 perfectly contrasts the scene of horror that immediately 
 succeeds." 
 
 The bird is mentioned again in the Merchant of Venice, 
 where we are reminded that 
 
 " The martlet 
 
 Builds in the weather on the outward wall, 
 Even in the force and road of casualty." 
 
 Merchant of Venice, Act ii. Sc. 9.
 
 THE SWALLOW'S HERB. 279 
 
 Old authors tell us that when the young swallows are 
 hatched, they are blind for some time, and that the parent 
 birds bring to the nest a plant called Clielidonium, or 
 Swallow's herb, which has the property of restoring sight. 
 This popular fallacy appears to be widely disseminated. 
 The plant is the well-known Celandine (Chelidonium majus). 
 It belongs to the Papaveracece, or poppies, and may be 
 found growing in waste places to the height of two feet 
 or more. It is brittle, slightly hairy, and full of a yellow, 
 foetid juice, and bears small yellow flowers in long-stalked 
 umbels. 
 
 The name Chelidonium is derived no doubt from the 
 Greek xehtduv, a swallow ; but the reason for its being thus 
 named is not so obvious. Some authors assert that it was 
 so called on account of its flowering about the time of the 
 arrival of the swallow, while others maintain that it derived 
 its appellation from being the plant medicinally made use 
 of by that bird. 
 
 The belief that animals and birds possess a knowledge 
 of certain plants which will cure a disease, or benefit them 
 in some way, is very ancient, and this particular plant is 
 alluded to by old authors as being especially selected for 
 the purpose. Pliny observes (Hist. Nat. fol. 1530, p. 461, 
 xv.) : "Animalia quoque invenire herbas, inprimisque 
 clielidoniam. Hac enim hirundines oculis pullorum in nido 
 restituunt visum, ut quidam volunt, etiam erutis oculis." (!) 
 And the same author further remarks: " Chelidoniam visui
 
 280 THE SWALLOW'S HERB. 
 
 saluberrimam hirundines monstravere vexatis pullorum 
 oculis ilia medentes." 
 
 Gerard, referring to this plant, in his " Herball, or Generall 
 Historic of Plantes" (1597), observes : " It is called celan- 
 dine, not because it then first springeth at the comming in of 
 the swallowes, or dieth when they goe away ; for as we haue 
 saide, it may be founde all the yeere ; but because some hold 
 opinion that with this herbe the dams restore sight to their 
 yoong ones when their eies be out, the which things are 
 vaine and false : for Cornelius Celsus in his sixt booke 
 doth witnesse that when the sight of the eies of diuers 
 yoong birdes be put foorth by some outward meanes, it 
 will after a time be restored of itselfe, and soonest of all 
 the sight of the swallow, whereupon, (as the same saith) 
 that the tale or fable grew, how, thorow an herbe the dams 
 restore that thing, which healeth of itselfe : the very same 
 doth Aristotle alleadge in the sixt booke of the historic of 
 liuing creatures : the eies of young swallowes, saith he, 
 that are not fledge, if a man do pricke them out, do grow 
 againe, and afterwards do perfectly recouer their sight." 
 Subsequently, when speaking of the "virtues" of the plant, 
 the sage Gerard continues : " The iuice of the herbe is 
 good to sharpen the sight, for it clenseth and consumeth 
 awaie slimie things that cleaue about the ball of the eie, 
 and hinder the sight." The root was considered good for 
 yellow-jaundice, and also (being chewed) for toothache. 
 Gerard adds, " The roote cut in small peeces is good to be
 
 THE SWALLOW'S HERB. 281 
 
 giuen vnto hawkes against sundrie diseases ;" and Turber- 
 vile, in his "Booke of Falconrie" (161 1), treats of a cure for 
 " a blow giuen to the eye, or of some other mischance," as 
 follows : " Sometimes the eyes of hawkes are hurt by 
 some mishappe, some stripe, or otherwise, as I said afore. 
 Against such unlooked-for mischances, Master Malopin, in 
 his boke of the Prince, willeth to take the juice of Celan- 
 dine, otherwise Arondcll, or Swallowes hearbe, and to 
 convey it into the eye. And if it bee not to be had 
 greene, to take it drie, and to beat it into powder, and 
 to blow it into her eye with a quill, and this shall recure 
 the hawke." 
 
 A marginal note to this paragraph informs us that 
 " Arondell " in French is " Hirundo," a swallow, otherwise 
 called " Chelidon." 
 
 Parkinson, in his " Theatrum Botanicum" (1640), alludes 
 to two species of Celandine, C. major and minor, and 
 says : " Some call them Chelidonia major and minor, and 
 tooke the name, as Dioscorides saith, because it springeth 
 when swallowes come in ; and withered at their going away 
 (which is true in neither, the greater, whereof Dioscorides 
 chiefely speaketh, being greene both winter and sommer ; 
 and the lesser springeth before swallowes come in, and is 
 gone and withered long before their departure). Dioscorides 
 likewise, and Pliny also, say it tooke that name from 
 swallowes that cured their young ones' eyes, that were hurt, 
 
 * " Arondell," no doubt the old French, or a corruption of " Hirondelle." 
 
 O O
 
 282 THE SWALLOW'S HERB. 
 
 with bringing this herbe and putting it to them : but Aris- 
 totle, and Celsus from him, doe shew that the young ones 
 of partridges, doves, swallowes, &c., will recover their sight 
 (being hurt) of themselves in time, without anything ap- 
 plyed unto them, and therefore Celsus accounteth this 
 saying but a fable." 
 
 It is curious to observe how universally this plant appears 
 to be associated with the swallow. Clididonium majus 
 is Calidonia maggiore of the Italians ; Yerva dc las 
 gelondrinJias of the Spaniards ; Chelidoine Felongue and 
 Esclairc of the French ; and Sdnvalbcnkraut of the 
 Germans ; while we, in English, call it Celandine, 
 Swallow' s-herb, and Swallow-wort. 
 
 Besides the Swallow-herb there is the Swallow-stone, to 
 which wonderful properties have been likewise attributed 
 in connection with diseases of the eye. 
 
 Dr. Lebour, in a communication to The Zoologist, for 
 1866, says (p. 523) : "I met last summer, in Brittany, with 
 a curious fact relating to the habits of the common house- 
 swallow. In Brittany there exists a wide-spread belief 
 among the peasantry that certain stones found in swallows' 
 nests are sovereign cures for certain diseases of the eye. 
 I think the same notion holds in many other parts of 
 France, and also in some of our English counties. These 
 stones are held in high estimation, and the happy possessor 
 usually lets them on hire at a sous or so a day. Now, I 
 had the good fortune to see some of these ' swallow-
 
 THE SWALLOW'S STONE. 283 
 
 stones,' and to examine them. I found them to be the 
 hard polished calcareous opercula of some species of 
 Ttirbo, and although their worn state precludes the idea 
 of identifying the species, yet I am confident that they be- 
 long to no European Turbo. The largest I have seen was 
 three-eighths of an inch long, and one-fourth of an inch 
 broad ; one side is flat, or nearly so, and the other is 
 convex, more or less so in different specimens. Their 
 peculiar shape enables one to push them under the eye- 
 lid across the eyeball, and thus they remove any eye- 
 lash or other foreign substance which may have got in 
 one's eye ;* further than this, they have no curing power : 
 the peasants, however, believe they are omnipotent. The 
 presence of these opercula in swallows' nests is very 
 curious,-f- and leads one to suppose that they must have 
 been brought there from some distant shore in the 
 swallow's stomach. If so, they must have inhabited the 
 poor bird for a considerable time, and proved a great 
 nuisance to it." 
 
 The tradition on this subject, current amongst the 
 peasants in Brittany, is no doubt of some antiquity,! since 
 
 * One would suppose that such a foreign substance as a "swallow-stone" in 
 the eye would be much more inconvenient than the eyelash which it was destined 
 to remove. 
 
 { Curious, if true. Dr. Lebour does not say that he ever found such stones 
 himself, nor does he vouch for their having been found by others in the nests. 
 We have examined a great number of swallows' nests without being able to 
 discover anything of the kind. 
 
 J Pliny makes mention of a " swallow-stone," but says nothing about its being 
 found in the nest. On the contrary, he says it is found in the stomach of the
 
 284 THE SWALLOW'S STONE. 
 
 the allusion which Longfellow has made to it in his poem 
 of "Evangeline" would seem to confirm this impression, 
 inasmuch as we may assume that the tradition found its 
 way into Acadia through the French colonists who were 
 the first to settle there. 
 Longfellow, in his " Evangeline," says, 
 
 " Oft in the barns they climbed to the populous nests in 
 
 the rafters, 
 Seeking with eager eyes that wondrous stone which the 
 
 swallow 
 Brings from the shore of the sea to restore the sight of 
 
 its fledglings ; 
 Lucky was he who found that stone in the nest of the 
 
 swallow ! " 
 
 The connection between the stone and the herb is, 
 that both were said to be brought to the nest by the 
 swallow, and both were deemed remedies for defective 
 sight. There is this difference, however, between the cur- 
 rent opinion in Brittany and the popular notion in Acadia, 
 that in the former case it is the finder of the stone who 
 is thereby benefited, in the latter it is the sight of the 
 fledglings which is thereby restored. 
 
 A friend has suggested that the tradition may have 
 originated with the Chinese, to whom the edible swallows' 
 
 bird! "In ventre hirundinum pullus lapilli candido aut rubenti colore, qui 
 ' chelidonii ' vocantur, magicis narrati artibus reperiuntur."
 
 THE SWALLOW'S STONE. 285 
 
 nests have been so long known, and to whom credit is 
 now given for having been acquainted centuries ago with 
 inventions which N until recently were believed to be 
 modern. Not being conversant, however, with Chinese, 
 we are unable to say whether there is in that language 
 any equivalent for "swallow-stone," or " swallow's-herb," 
 or whether ancient Chinese authors in any way throw light 
 upon the subject.* 
 
 Pliny's mention of the stone found in the stomach of 
 the swallow brings to mind the stones found in the 
 stomach of the ostrich, and so leads to the consideration 
 of another bird noticed by Shakespeare. The food of 
 the ostrich is said to consist of the tops of shrubby 
 
 plants, seeds, and grain ; strange to say, however, it will 
 
 
 
 swallow, with indiscriminating voracity, stones, sticks, 
 pieces of metal, cord, leather, and other substances, which 
 often occasion its destruction. The extraordinary diges- 
 tion of the bird is thus alluded to in the threat of the 
 rebel Cade, when confronted by Alexander Iden : 
 
 "" Ah ! villain, thou wilt betray me, and get a thousand 
 crowns of the king by carrying my head to him ! but I'll 
 make thee eat iron like an ostrich, and swallow my sword 
 like a great pin, ere thou and I part." Henry VI. Part II. 
 Act iv. Sc. 10. 
 
 This curious habit is not peculiar to the ostriches. The 
 same thing has been observed in the bustards. Dr. 
 
 * The substance of the above remarks was contributed by the author in an 
 article published in The Zoologist for 1867, p. 744.
 
 286 THE OSTRICH. 
 
 Jerdon, speaking of the Indian Bustard (Eupodotis 
 Edwardsii], says, "they will often swallow pebbles or 
 any glittering object that attracts them. I took several 
 portions of a brass ornament, the size of a No. 16 bullet, 
 out of the stomach of one bustard."* 
 
 In reply to Hotspur's inquiries for " The madcap 
 Prince of Wales," and his comrades, at the rebel camp 
 near Shrewsbury, he is told that they are 
 
 " All furnish'd, all in arms ; 
 All plum'd like estridges that with the wind 
 Bated ; like eagles having lately bath'd."-f- 
 
 Henry IV. Fart I. Act iv. Sc. i. 
 
 Looking to the antiquity of the fable of the Pelican's 
 feeding her young with her own blood, it is not surprising 
 that Shakespeare has alluded to it when mentioning this 
 bird. Laertes says : 
 
 " To his good friends thus wide I '11 ope my arms ; 
 And, like the kind life-rendering pelican, 
 Repast them with my blood." 
 
 Hamlet, Act iv. Sc. 5. 
 
 * " The Birds of India," iii. p. 610. 
 j Some editions read 
 
 "All plum'd like estridges that wing the wind ; 
 Bated like eagles having lately bath'd. " 
 
 But we have adopted the above reading in preference for three reasons : i. Con- 
 sidering the rudimentary nature of the ostrich's wing, Shakespeare would not have 
 been so incorrect as to describe them as "winging the wind; " 2. The word 
 "bated," if intended to refer to eagles, and not to ostriches, would have been 
 more correctly "bating;" 3. The expression, "to bate with the wind," is well 
 understood in the language of falconry, with which Shakespeare was familiar.
 
 THE PELICAN. 287 
 
 King Lear, too, likens himself to a pelican when speak- 
 ing of his ungrateful children : 
 
 " Is it the fashion, that discarded fathers 
 Should have thus little mercy on their flesh ? 
 Judicious punishment ! 'T was this flesh begot 
 
 Those pelican daughters." 
 
 King Lear, Act iii. Sc. 4. 
 
 Again 
 
 " K. Richard. 
 
 Dar'st with thy frozen admonition 
 Make pale our cheek ; chasing the royal blood 
 With fury from his native residence. 
 Gaunt. ...... 
 
 That blood already, like the pelican, 
 
 Hast thou tapp'd out, and drunkenly carous'd. 
 
 Richard II. Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
 It is generally supposed that the fable alluded to is a 
 classical one. But this is not the case. Many and 
 various explanations have been offered as regards its 
 origin, but none is more ingenious, and at the same time 
 more plausible, than the explanation suggested by Mr. 
 Bartlett, the energetic Superintendent of the Zoological 
 Society's Gardens. In a letter addressed to the editor of 
 Land and Water, dated the 3rd April, 1869. Mr. Bartlett 
 says : 
 
 " Having devoted much attention to investigations upon
 
 288 THE PELICAN. 
 
 the subject of the supply of food provided by several 
 species of birds for their young, I have collected many 
 interesting facts showing that in some instances the 
 parents prepare by partial digestion, and in others by 
 the addition of a secreted nutritive substance, the food 
 intended for the support of their offspring. The one 
 which I am about to relate I was certainly not prepared 
 to expect ; nevertheless, such facts as I now lay before 
 you have caused me no little astonishment, as they appear 
 to me to afford a solution to the well-known and ancient 
 story of the Pelican in the Wilderness. I have heard that 
 the so-called fable originated, or is to be found, on some 
 of the early Egyptian monuments (I do not know where), 
 but that the representations are more like flamingoes than 
 pelicans. I have published elsewhere, in the ' Proceedings 
 of the Zoological Society/ for March 1 869, what I consider 
 to be the facts of the case, and take this opportunity of 
 referring to the matter. The flamingoes here in the gardens 
 have frequently shown signs of breeding, and have been 
 supplied with heaps of sand to form their nests, but 
 without result ; nevertheless they appear to take con- 
 siderable notice of a pair of Cariamas in the same aviary. 
 These birds have a habit of bending back their heads, 
 and with open gaping mouths utter loud and somewhat 
 distressing sounds. This habit at once attracts the 
 flamingoes, and very frequently one or more of them 
 advance towards the cariamas, and standing erect over
 
 THE PELICAN. 289 
 
 the bird, by a slight up-and-down movement of the head, 
 raise up into its mouth a considerable quantity of red 
 coloured fluid. As soon as the upper part of -the throat 
 and mouth becomes filled, it will drop or run down from 
 the corners of the flamingo's mouth ; the flamingo then 
 bends its long neck over the gaping cariama and pours 
 this fluid into the mouth, and as frequently on the back 
 of the cariama. Having seen this repeatedly, I took an 
 opportunity of obtaining a portion of this fluid and 
 submitted it to the examination of Dr. Murie. We 
 placed it under the microscope, and find it composed of 
 little else than blood ; in fact, the red blood-corpuscles are 
 wonderfully abundant in the otherwise clear and almost 
 transparent glutinous fluid. That this does not proceed 
 from any disease or injury done to the flamingo, nor arise 
 or is produced by any portion or part of the food taken 
 by them, I am perfectly certain, for the birds are in the 
 most vigorous health and condition ; but I believe that it 
 is an attempt to supply food to the cariamas, just as the 
 hedge-sparrow and other birds supply food to the young 
 cuckoo, and I have no doubt, if a careful observer had the 
 opportunity of watching the flamingoes on their breeding- 
 ground, he would find that this is the mode of feeding 
 their young : no doubt other food is also provided, but 
 most likely mixed with this secretion. I think it highly 
 probable that this habit was noticed in ancient Egypt, 
 and, by the confusion of names in translation, the pelican 
 
 P P
 
 290 THE PELICAN. 
 
 was supposed to be the bird intended ; in fact, I have 
 heard that the representation (which I am very anxious 
 to see) is much more like a flamingo than a pelican. 
 Again, a flamingo is much more a bird of the wilderness 
 than the pelican, seeing that the pelican requires a 
 good supply of fish, while the flamingo can live 
 and does well upon very small insects, seeds, and little 
 fry, and is found in places in which the pelican would 
 starve." 
 
 This communication naturally drew forth some com- 
 ments. Mr. Houghton, in a long letter to the editor of 
 the same journal, dated 24th April, 1869, says: "That 
 this is the origin of the old story of the pelican feeding 
 its young with its blood seems very plausible. I purpose 
 to examine this ingenious idea, and to offer a few remarks 
 on the old fable. It is commonly supposed and you 
 will often find it so expressed in works on natural history 
 that this fable is a classical one. This is an error : I 
 have searched in vain amongst classical authors for any 
 allusion to the pelican feeding its young with its blood. 
 To the Greeks this bird was known by the name of ireXtKav, 
 or TreAticac, or irtXtKivos, though it would appear that some 
 species of woodpecker was also intended by the word 
 ireAfKae (see Aristoph. Aves, 1155). Aristotle mentions 
 pelicans two or three times in his ' History of Animals ; ' 
 he speaks of their migratory habits and flying in crowds. 
 He says they take large shell-fish into their pouches (iv
 
 THE PELICAN. 29 1 
 
 rw Trpo rye KotXiac; TOTTW), wherein the molluscs are 
 softened. They then throw them up and pick out the 
 flesh from the opened valves. ^Elian merely repeats this 
 story, only he says the shell-fish are received into the 
 stomach. In another place he says there is mutual 
 hostility between the pelican and the quail. The pelican 
 was known to the Romans under the name of onocro talus. 
 Pliny says this bird is like the swan, except that under 
 the throat there is a sort of second crop of astonishing 
 capacity. There is, of course, no doubt that the pelican 
 is here intended. Cicero says there is a bird called 
 platalea which pursues other birds and causes them to 
 drop the fish they have caught, which it devours itself. 
 He then gives the same story as ^Elian, viz., that this bird 
 softens shell-fish in its stomach, &c. The first part of 
 this account is true of the parasitic gulls (Lestris). It is 
 uncertain what bird Cicero alludes to by the name 
 platalea. Pliny gives the same story as Cicero, and calls 
 the bird platea. The fable, then, is no classical one. 
 Whence did it originate ? Does any pictorial representa- 
 tion occur on the Egyptian monuments, as Mr. Bartlett 
 has been informed ? I am inclined to think but I speak 
 under correction that such a representation does not 
 occur. Horapollo (i. 54) tells us that when the ancient 
 Egyptians want to represent a fool they depict the 
 pelican, because this bird, instead of laying its eggs on 
 lofty and secure places, merely scratches up the ground
 
 292 THE PELICAN. 
 
 and there lays. The people surround the place with dried 
 cow's dung, and set fire to it. The pelican sees the smoke, 
 and endeavours to extinguish the fire with her wings, the 
 motion of which only fans the flame. Thus she burns 
 her wings, and falls an easy prey to the fowlers. Some 
 Egyptian priests, considering this behaviour evinces great 
 love of its young, do not eat the bird ; others, again, 
 thinking it is a mark of folly, eat it. The Egyptians, 
 however, did believe in a bird feeding its young with its 
 blood, and this bird is none other than a vulture. Hora- 
 pollo says (i. ii) that a vulture symbolises a compassion- 
 ate person (fAa'j/iova), because during the 120 days of its 
 nurture of its offspring, if food cannot be had, ' it opens 
 its own thigh and permits the young to partake of the 
 blood, so that they may not perish from want.' This is 
 alluded to in the following lines by Georgius Pisidas : 
 
 TOV {JinpOV ZKTffJLOVTtQ, 17/UCtrtUjUt VOtC 
 
 Te ti)Trvpov<n ra 
 
 Amongst classical authors, the love of the vulture for its 
 young was proverbial. But when do we first hear of the 
 fable of the pelican feeding its young with its blood ? In 
 Patristic annotations on the Scriptures. I believe this is 
 the answer. The ecclesiastical fathers transferred the 
 Egyptian story from the vulture to the pelican, but 
 magnified the already sufficiently marvellous fable a 
 hundredfold, for the blood of the parent was not only
 
 THE PELICAN. 293 
 
 supposed to serve as food for the young, but was also 
 able to reanimate the dead offspring ! Augustine, com- 
 menting on Psalm cii. 5 ' I am like a pelican in the 
 wilderness ' says : ' These birds [male pelicans] are said 
 to kill their young offspring by blows of their beaks, and 
 then to bewail their death for the space of three days. 
 At length, however, it is said the mother bird inflicts a 
 severe wound on herself, pouring the flowing blood over 
 the dead young ones, which instantly brings them to life." 
 To the same effect write Eustathius, Isidorus, Epiphanius, 
 and a host of other writers, except that sometimes it was 
 the female who killed the young ones, while the male 
 reanimated them with its blood. This fable was supposed 
 to be a symbol of Christ's love to men. I think, then, that 
 the very interesting fact of the flamingo feeding the 
 cariama with the red fluid and other contents of its 
 stomach can hardly be, as Mr. Bartlett conjectures, the 
 origin of the old fable of the pelican feeding its young 
 with its blood, because the Egyptian story of the vulture 
 wounding its thigh has nothing analogous to the natural- 
 history fact of the flamingo, while the fable of the pelican 
 pouring from its self-inflicted wound the life-restoring 
 blood which reanimates its offspring is still further from 
 the mark." 
 
 In a short criticism upon the subject in the same 
 number of Land and Water, Mr. H. J. Hancock is 
 inclined to believe that some confusion has arisen in the
 
 294 THE PELICAN 
 
 translation from the original Hebrew. "The word 
 (Kcik-ath'}, which is rendered TrAticav in the Septuagint, 
 and Pelican, or Onocrotalus, in the Vulgate, is derived 
 from the verb NJ3 ' to vomit,' and signifies ' a vomiter.' 
 This name, evidently a general one, may have been 
 intended by the Hebrew writers to apply either to such 
 birds as, like the pelican and many others, possess the 
 power of disgorging their food on being disturbed or 
 alarmed, or to such birds as are accustomed to nourish 
 their young from their own crops ; and, in the latter case, 
 the curious bloody secretion of the flamingo may well 
 have given rise to the superstition concerning the pelican. 
 I may observe, as an evidence that the translators did not 
 consider the Hebrew word to be other than a general 
 name, that Ka-atJH is sometimes rendered ' cormorant ' 
 (Isa. xxxiv. ii ; Zeph. ii. 14). For further information 
 concerning this point, I would refer your readers to the 
 ' Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance,' p. 1083 ; Bate's 
 'Hebrew Dictionary,' p. 538; and Parkhurst's 'Hebrew 
 Dictionary,' pp. 631, 632." 
 
 Shakespeare, doubtless, had not investigated the 
 subject so narrowly, but was content to accept the 
 common story as he found it, and to apply it meta- 
 phorically as occasion required. 
 
 The majority of the birds mentioned in this chapter are 
 not natives of the British Islands, but, strange as it may 
 appear, there is evidence to show that the pelican, or, to
 
 IN THE ENGLISH FENS. 295 
 
 speak more correctly, a species of pelican, once inhabited 
 the English fens. 
 
 The peat-bogs of Cambridgeshire have yielded of late 
 years a large number of bones of birds, and amongst 
 these has been discovered the wing-bone of a pelican. 
 This interesting discovery was made known by M. Al- 
 phonse Milne-Edwards, in an able article in the " Annales 
 des Sciences Naturelles,"* a translation of which subse- 
 quently appeared in The Ibis.-\ The author thus antici- 
 pates the objections of the sceptical : 
 
 " We may be inclined, perhaps, to wonder that a single 
 bone, belonging (as it does) to a young animal, and con- 
 sequently not presenting all its anatomical characters, 
 should permit the exact recognition of the genus and 
 species of bird to which it belongs. So precise a determi- 
 nation would not be always possible, but in the present 
 case there need be no doubt ; for I have shown, in another 
 work,! that the wing-bone in the genus Pclicanus offers 
 extremely clear distinctive peculiarities, which do not 
 allow of its being confounded with that of any other 
 bird." 
 
 The only species of pelican which has been recorded to 
 have occurred in England in recent times, is the great 
 white pelican, P. onocrolalm. 
 
 * Cinquieme series, torn. viii. pp. 285-293. 
 
 f Ibis, 1868, pp. 363-370. 
 
 J " Oiseaux Fossiles de la France," p. 230.
 
 296 THE PELICAN IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Latham has stated,* on the authority of Sir Thomas 
 Brown, that a pelican of this species was killed in Horsey 
 Fen in 1663. This statement was copied by Montagu,-f- 
 and subsequently by Dr. Fleming,! but there is no evi- 
 dence to show that the bird was a wild one. On the 
 contrary, it is probable, as suggested by Sir Thomas 
 Brown, that it may have been one of the King's pelicans 
 which was lost about that time from St. James's Park. 
 
 He says: "An onocrotalns, or pelican, shot upon 
 Horsey Fen, May 22, 1663, which, stuffed and cleaned, I 
 yet retain. It was three yards and a half between the 
 extremities of the wings ; the chowle and beak answering 
 the usual description ; the extremities of the wings for a 
 span deep brown ; the rest of the body white ; a fowl 
 which none could remember upon this coast. 
 
 "About the same time, I heard one of the king's 
 pelicans was lost at St. James's ; perhaps this might be 
 the same." 
 
 Latham was further assured by Dr. Leith, that in the 
 month of May he saw a brown pelican fly over his head 
 on Blackheath, in Kent. Montagu, however, suggests 
 that the bird was an immature swan. 
 
 In The Zoologist for 1856 (p. 5321), the Rev. H. B. 
 Tristram has recorded, that on the 25th of August, 1856, 
 
 * "Synopsis," iii. p. 577 (1785). 
 
 t "Suppl. Orn. Diet." (1813). 
 
 J " Hist. Brit. An." p. 118 (1828). 
 
 " Works :" Wilkin's ed. vol. iv. p. 318.
 
 CONCLUSION. 297 
 
 the remains of a pelican were picked up on the shore at 
 Castle Eden, Durham. Such are the scanty records of 
 the appearance of a pelican in England in modern 
 times. 
 
 The bone found in Cambridgeshire may have belonged 
 to P. onocro talus, a native of South and South-Eastern 
 Europe, and which is stated to be " common on the lakes 
 and watercourses of Hungary and Russia, and also seen 
 further south in Asia and in Northern Africa." M. Milne- 
 Edwards, however, has not quite determined the species, 
 for, on comparison with the bones of other recognized and 
 existing species, it appears to differ rather remarkably in 
 its greater length. 
 
 Enough has probably been said, however, to show the 
 interest which attaches to the discovery, and to suggest 
 further research. 
 
 With the pelican ends the long list of birds mentioned 
 in the works of Shakespeare. 
 
 The reader who has had the patience or the curiosity 
 to follow us thus far will, doubtless, ere this have formed 
 a just estimate of Shakespeare's qualifications as a natu- 
 ralist, and will have drawn the only conclusion which the 
 evidence justifies. 
 
 It is impossible to read all that Shakespeare has written 
 in connection with ornithology, without being struck with 
 the extraordinary knowledge which he has displayed for 
 the age in which he lived ; and our admiration for him as 
 
 Q Q
 
 298 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 a poet must be increased tenfold on perceiving that the 
 beauteous thoughts, which he has clothed in such beauteous 
 language, were dictated by a pure love of nature, and by 
 a study of those great truths which appeal at once to the 
 heart and to reason, and which infuse into the soul of 
 the naturalist the true spirit of poetry.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A TABLE 
 
 ORNITHOLOGICAL ALLUSIONS 
 
 IX THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY OCCUR: 
 
 THE PLAYS AND POEMS BEING ALPHABETICALLY 
 ARRANGED. 
 
 All's Well that Ends Well: 
 
 Act I. Sc. i [Hawking-eye] . . . -55 
 
 3 Cuckoo . . .154 
 
 II. 5 Lark . .136 
 
 Bunting . . . . .136 
 
 III. 5 Limed 160 
 
 IV. i Chough . . . .117 
 
 Woodcock . . . . 231 
 
 3 Crow . .no 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra : 
 
 Act II. Sc. 2 Eagle 26 
 
 . 3 Cocks .... 172, 219 
 
 ,, Quails 219 
 
 6 Cuckoo . 154 
 
 III. 2 [Swan] ... . 201 
 
 [Kite] . . 44
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra (continued} : 
 
 PAf.E 
 
 Act III. Sc. 10 Mallard 
 
 ? 238 
 
 13 Kite .... 
 
 * 44 
 
 Seel . 
 
 . 70 
 
 Dove 
 
 195 
 
 Ostrich 
 
 195 
 
 IV. 8 [Nightingale] , . ' . 
 
 . 123 
 
 12 [Swallow] 
 
 . 276 
 
 V. 2 Seel 
 
 70 
 
 As You Like It: 
 
 
 Act I. Sc. 2 Pigeons 
 
 ./~~i8o, 185 
 
 3 Juno's Swans 
 
 . 206 
 
 II. 3 Ravens 
 
 . 106 
 
 Sparrow 
 
 1 06, 146 
 
 5 Eggs . . . 
 
 32 
 
 7 [Goose] 
 
 . 197 
 
 [Cock] 
 
 . 168 
 
 III. 3 Falcon 
 
 . 61 
 
 Bells . 
 
 . 61 
 
 Pigeon 
 
 . 180, 185 
 
 4 Goose ... 
 
 - 197 
 
 IV. i [Pigeon] . 
 
 . 180 
 
 Parrot 
 
 . 272 
 
 3 Moss'd 
 
 34 
 
 V. 4 Stalking-horse 
 
 . 238 
 
 Comedy of Errors : 
 
 
 Act II. Sc. i [Stale]. 
 
 245 
 
 ,, 2 Owls . 
 
 . . 96 
 
 III. i Crow .... 
 
 . 114 
 
 IV. 2 Lapwing . 
 
 . 221 
 
 Coriolanus : 
 
 
 Act I. Sc. i Cormorant . 
 
 . 2DO 
 
 Goose 
 
 . 197 
 
 4 Geese 
 
 . 197 
 
 III. i [Crow] 
 
 I IO 
 
 [Eagle] 
 
 . 23 
 
 Cry havoc . 
 
 (note) 57 
 
 Quarry 
 
 57 
 
 5 [Kite] .... 
 
 43
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 301 
 
 Coriolanus (continued} : 
 Act III. Sc. 5 [Crow]. 
 IV. 5 Daw . 
 7 Osprey 
 
 v. 
 
 3 
 6 
 
 Dove] . 
 "Gosling] 
 ^Eagle] 
 "Dovecote] . 
 
 Cymbcline : 
 
 Act I. Sc. 2 Eagle . 
 
 Puttock 
 
 3 [Crow]. 
 
 9, 9, 4 Fowl . 
 
 >f II. H 2 Philomel . 
 
 [Raven] 
 
 99 3 Lark . 
 
 99 4 [Watching] . 
 
 III. i Crows . 
 
 ,, 3 
 Eagle . 
 
 4 Jay 
 Swan's nest 
 
 6 Owl . 
 Lark . 
 
 M IV. 2 Ruddock . 
 99 Wren . 
 
 The Roman Eagle 
 
 V. 3 Crows . 
 4 Eagle . 
 Prune . 
 Cloys . 
 5 The Roman Eagle 
 
 Hamlet : 
 Act I. 
 
 99 
 
 II. 
 
 Sc. i Cock . 
 3 Woodcocks 
 5 The falconer's call 
 2 Aiery . 
 
 Kites . 
 Hawk . 
 
 Hernshaw 
 
 . no 
 
 . 119 
 
 . 42 
 
 1 80, 191 
 
 197 
 
 23 
 1 80 
 
 28,45 
 
 28,45 
 . no 
 
 235 
 
 125 
 
 99 
 . 132 
 
 45 
 
 . 112 
 . 112 
 
 27 
 121 
 2O6 
 
 ' 136 
 
 . 144 
 
 . 28 
 
 III 
 
 30 
 
 31 
 
 31 
 . 29 
 
 . 167 
 . 229 
 
 55 
 39,58 
 
 43 
 75, 223 
 75, 223
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 H mulct (continued] : 
 
 Act II. Sc. 2 Pigeon-liver'd 
 Kites . 
 
 French falconers 
 
 Eyases 
 
 III. 2 [Raven] 
 
 ,, Recorder 
 
 IV. 5 Owl . 
 Pelican 
 
 [Dove]. 
 7 Check . 
 
 V. i Dove . 
 
 2 [Chough] 
 Lapwing 
 Bevy . 
 
 Sparrow 
 
 [Woodcock]. 
 
 Quarry 
 
 185 
 
 . 43 
 
 56 
 . 58 
 
 99 
 (note) 129 
 
 . 88 
 
 . 286 
 
 . 180 
 
 . 60 
 
 . 180 
 
 . H5 
 
 . 222 
 
 . 218 
 
 146 
 
 . 229 
 
 Henry IV. Part I. : 
 
 Act I. Sc. 3 Popinjay 
 ,, Starling 
 
 II. i Turkies 
 2 Chuffs 
 
 Wild-Duck . 
 
 4 [Wild-Geese] 
 
 Sparrow 
 
 ,, [Cuckoo] 
 
 III. i [Raven] 
 
 [Goose] 
 
 ,, Redbreast-teacher 
 
 2 Cuckoo 
 
 IV. i Estridge . . 
 Bated 
 
 Eagles 
 
 Dove 
 
 2 Caliver 
 
 Wild-Duck . 
 
 Scare-crows 
 
 V. i~Gull . 
 
 Cuckoo's bird 
 
 273 
 . 274 
 
 . 177 
 
 . 118 
 
 . 237 
 
 . 246 
 
 H7 
 
 H7 
 . 99 
 . 197 
 
 142 
 
 155 
 . 286 
 . 286 
 
 36, 286 
 
 . 1 80 
 
 . 240 
 
 . 240 
 
 "5 
 . 148 
 . 148
 
 APPENDIX. 303 
 
 Henry IV. Part I. (continued} : PA ,. E 
 
 Act V. Sc. i Sparrow .' . . . . 148 
 [Vultures] . .41 
 
 Henry IV. Part II. : 
 
 Act III. Sc. i Seel .... -7 
 
 2 Ouzel . ... 139 
 
 ,, Dove ....... 196 
 
 ,, V. i Cock and pye . . . .172 
 
 ,, ,, Pigeons . . . . 180, 196 
 
 Hens 196 
 
 Wild- Geese. .... 246 
 
 ,, 4 Vultures . . . . 41 
 
 Henry V. : 
 
 Act I. Sc. 2 Eagle 32 
 
 Eggs 32 
 
 II. i Kite . . 43 
 
 Crow . . . . .in 
 
 2 Cloy 31 
 
 III. 6 Gull . . . 149, 266 
 
 ,, 7 Hawk . . 73 
 
 Lark . .133 
 
 Hooded . .62 
 
 Bate 62 
 
 IV. Prologue Cocks . . . . 168 
 
 Sc. i Mounted ... -63 
 
 Stoop . . 63 
 
 ,, 2 Carrions . . . 104 
 
 Crows . . . 104 
 
 Henry VI. Part I.: 
 
 Act I. Sc. 2 Halcyon days . . 275 
 
 Mahomed's Dove . . . 194 
 
 [Eagle] . 23 
 
 4 Scare-crow . 115 
 
 ,, ,, 5 Doves 1 80 
 
 M II. f> 2 Turtle-doves . 1 80, 191 
 
 ,, 4 Hawks . -73 
 
 Pitch . ... 73 
 
 Daw . .... 119
 
 304 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Henry 
 
 VI. Part I. (continued ) . 
 
 PAC;E 
 
 Act 
 
 III. Sc. 3 Peacock 
 
 '. , 175 
 
 
 
 IV. 2 [Owl] . 
 
 ' - -83 
 
 V 
 
 3 [Vulture] . 
 
 . 40 
 
 
 
 V. 3 Swan . 
 
 . 2O4 
 
 > 
 
 Cygnets 
 
 . 2O4 
 
 Henry 
 
 VI. Part II. : 
 
 
 Act 
 
 I. Sc. 2 [Hawk] 
 
 . 72 
 
 
 
 3 Limed 
 
 . 161 
 
 
 
 4 Screech-Owls 
 
 .85,97 
 
 
 
 II. i Flying at the brook 
 
 50,5i 
 
 > 
 
 Old Joan 
 
 . 50 
 
 
 
 Point . 
 
 50, 5 1 
 
 
 
 Falcon 
 
 . 50 
 
 
 
 Pitch . 
 
 50,51 
 
 
 
 Hawks 
 
 . 50 
 
 
 
 Tower 
 
 50, 51 
 
 ,, 
 
 ,, Fowl . 
 
 51 
 
 > 
 
 ,, 4 Limed 
 
 . 161 
 
 ,, 
 
 III. i Dove . 
 
 . 1 80 
 
 t> 
 
 ,, [Raven] 
 
 IOI 
 
 
 
 [Eagle] 
 
 . 23 
 
 j> 
 
 Kite . 
 
 . 44 
 
 
 
 ,, 2 Raven . 
 
 IOI 
 
 
 
 Wren . 
 
 101, 144 
 
 >> 
 
 Partridge 
 
 44,. 216 
 
 
 
 Puttock 
 
 44, 216 
 
 
 
 [Kites] 
 
 43 
 
 >> 
 
 Screech-Owl] 
 
 . . . 85 
 
 
 
 3 [Lime-twigs] 
 
 . 160 
 
 ,, 
 
 IV. i [Eagle] ' . 
 
 . 23 
 
 
 
 10 Ostrich 
 
 . . . 285 
 
 M 
 
 ,, Crows . 
 
 113 
 
 
 
 V. 2 Kites . 
 
 43> H2 
 
 ,1 
 
 ,, Crows . 
 
 . 112 
 
 Henry 
 
 VI. Part III. : 
 
 
 Act 
 
 I. Sc. i Eagle . 
 
 . - 38 
 
 
 
 Tire . 
 
 . 38 
 
 ,, 
 
 Hawk's bells 
 
 . 61 
 
 , 
 
 4 Swan . . . 
 
 . 205
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 305 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. (continued} : 
 Act I. Sc. 4 Dove . 
 Falcon 
 
 ,, Woodcock . 
 
 II. i Eagle's bird 
 
 Night-Owl . 
 2 Doves . 
 
 ,, 6 [Screech-Owl] 
 
 V. ,, 2 The princely Eagle 
 
 4 Owl . 
 ,, 6 Limed 
 
 Owl . . 
 
 [Raven] 
 Night-Crow 
 
 Pies . 
 
 Henry VIII. : 
 
 Act II. Sc. 3 [Lark] . 
 
 III. 2 Larks . 
 
 IV. ,, i The bird of peace 
 
 Julius C<zsar : 
 
 Act I. Sc. 3 Bird of night 
 V. i Eagles 
 Raven . 
 
 Crows . 
 
 Kites . 
 
 3 [Eagles] 
 
 [Kites] 
 
 Ravens 
 
 King John : 
 
 
 Act I. Sc. 
 
 i Sparrow 
 
 II. 
 
 2 Cry havoc 
 
 IV. 
 
 3 Raven . 
 
 V. ., 
 
 i [Crow] 
 
 V " 
 
 2 Eagle . 
 
 ,, 
 
 Aiery . 
 
 > 
 
 Towers 
 
 
 
 Souse . 
 
 > 
 
 7 Cygnet 
 
 )> 
 
 Swan . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 54, 195 
 54 
 
 232 
 
 25 
 .88, 94 
 
 9i, J95 
 
 . 85 
 
 33 
 
 85 
 160 
 
 . 86 
 
 IO2 
 
 . IO2 
 
 121 
 
 136 
 136 
 1 80 
 
 . 8 9 
 
 . 27 
 
 99-IIO 
 
 112 
 
 43 
 
 . 27 
 
 43 
 . 104 
 
 . 145 
 
 (note) 57 
 
 . 103 
 
 . no 
 
 . 38 
 
 - 38 
 
 . 38 
 
 . 38 
 
 . 2OI 
 2OI 
 
 R R
 
 306 APPENDIX. 
 
 King Lear : PAGE 
 
 Act I. Sc. 4 Hedge-Sparrow . ... 147 
 
 Cuckoo ... -147 
 
 Kite . . 44 
 
 II. 2 Wagtail ... .156 
 
 Goose . . . . .198 
 
 Halcyon 275 
 
 4 Wild-Geese . .... 246 
 
 ,, Vulture ... .41 
 
 Owl . . . . -97 
 
 ,, III. ,, 4 The five wits . . . -95 
 
 ,-, ,, Pelican 287 
 
 6 [Nightingale] . . . .123 
 
 ,, IV. 6 Crows 116 
 
 ,, Choughs . . . .116 
 
 ,, Crow-keeper . . . .114 
 
 Wren . . .144 
 
 Lark . .135 
 
 Loves Labour 's Lost : 
 
 Act I. Sc. i Cormorant 260 
 
 ,, Green-Geese . . . 197 
 
 III. i Goose 197 
 
 IV. i Owl . . . 95 
 
 ,, 3 Green-Goose . . .198 
 
 Woodcocks 229 
 
 Raven . . . . . .109 
 
 [Turtle] 191 
 
 ,, Eagle-sighted .... 25 
 
 Bird-bolts . ... 162 
 
 ,, V. ,, i Pigeon 180 
 
 2 Pigeons . . . . .180 
 
 Owl ......' 95 
 
 ,, [Cuckoo] . . . . -H7 
 
 [Lark] 130 
 
 [Turtle-dove] . . .191 
 
 Rook 121 
 
 Daw . -. . . . .119 
 
 Macbeth : 
 
 Act I. Sc. 2 Sparrow . . . . . 147 
 
 [Eagle] , . .23 
 
 5 Raven .... 102
 
 APPENDIX. 307 
 
 Macbeth (continued ) : PA(;E 
 
 Act I. Sc. 6 Martlet . . . 277 
 
 II. i Owl . . .84 
 
 2 " Obscure bird " . . . .85 
 
 4 Falcon ' . 39, 5 1 
 
 Towering . 39, 5 1 
 
 Owl .... .51 
 
 III. ,, 2 [Crow]. . 110-115 
 
 4 Maws . .46 
 
 Kites .... 46 
 
 Magot-pies . . 120 
 
 ,, Choughs 1 20 
 
 Rooks . .120 
 
 M iv. i Owlet . . 84 
 
 2 Wren . 91, 143 
 
 Owl . ... 91, 143 
 
 ,, 3 Vulture . . 40 
 
 [Quarry] . - 57 
 
 [Kite]. . . 43 
 
 V. 3 Loon . . 258 
 
 [Geese] . 197 
 
 Measure for Measure : 
 
 Act I. Sc. 4 Lapwing . .221 
 
 ,, II. i Scare-crow . . 115 
 
 III. i Enmew 64-66 
 
 ,, Falcon . 64 
 
 Fowl 64 
 
 2 Sparrows . .146 
 
 Merchant of Venice : 
 
 Act I. i 
 II. 
 
 . 
 
 2 Throstle 
 
 137 
 
 2 Doves . 
 
 196 
 
 6 Venus' Pigeons . 
 
 190 
 
 9 Martlet 
 
 . . . 278 
 
 2 Swan . 
 
 . 2OI 
 
 i Crow . 
 
 143 
 
 Lark . 
 
 135,143 
 
 Nightingale 
 
 128, 143 
 
 Goose . 
 
 . 128, 143, 197 
 
 Wren . 
 
 - 128, 143 
 
 Cuckoo 
 
 . 150
 
 PAGE 
 
 308 APPENDIX. 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor : 
 
 Act I. Sc. i Cock and pye . 171 
 
 3 Bully-rook . . . .121 
 
 [Raven] ..... 99 
 
 Vultures ..... 41 
 
 [Dove] ..... 190 
 
 II. i Cuckoo-birds . . . (note) 148 
 
 ,, III. 3 Eyas-musket .... 74 
 
 Birding ..... 72 
 
 [Hawk] . 73 
 
 4 [Geese] . 197 
 
 5 Birding 72 
 
 IV. ,, 2 Birding ..... 72 
 
 Birding-pieces . . . 72, 164 
 
 V. i Goose 197 
 
 ,, 5 Swan 207 
 
 Goose ...... 207 
 
 Midsummer Nig/it's Dream : 
 
 Act I. Sc. i- Doves of Venus .... 190 
 
 ,, ,, Lark . . . . . 133 
 
 2 Dove .... . 195 
 
 ,, Nightingale .... 195 
 
 II. i Crows. . no 
 
 [Dove] . . 1 80 
 
 [Bolt] . .... 162 
 
 2 Owl . ... 89 
 
 ,, Philomel . . . . .125 
 
 ., >. Raven . ... 108 
 
 ,, ,, Dove ...... 108 
 
 III. i [Wild-fowl] 235 
 
 Ousel-cock . . . . 139 
 
 Throstle . . 137 
 
 Wren . .... 142 
 
 ii Finch . . . 144 
 
 ,, Sparrow ..... 147 
 
 [Lark] 130 
 
 ,, i Cuckoo . . . . 150 
 
 i, ii 2 Wild-Geese .... 246 
 
 ,, Fowler . . . . . 246 
 
 ii Choughs . . 119 
 
 ,. [Crow] no
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 309 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream (continued) 
 Act IV. Sc. i Lark . 
 V. i Recorder 
 ,, Goose . 
 
 2 Screech-Owl 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing: 
 
 Act I. Sc. i Parrot-teacher 
 Bird-bolt . 
 Crow . 
 
 Wise and warm . 
 
 ,, II. ,, I Partridge 
 
 Fowl . 
 
 n 3 Raven . 
 
 Fowl . 
 
 M Daw . 
 
 Gull . 
 III. i Lapwing 
 
 Haggards . 
 Limed 
 
 4 [Hawk] 
 i Woodcock 
 
 V. 
 
 Othello : 
 
 Act I. 
 
 Sc. 
 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 
 V. 
 
 i Daws . 
 3 Seel . 
 
 Snipe . 
 i Birdlime 
 3 Speak Parrot 
 
 Watch 
 
 Haggard 
 
 Jesses . 
 
 Seel . 
 i Raven . 
 I " Cry on" . 
 2 [Gull] . 
 
 Swan . 
 
 Pericles : 
 
 Act Ill.Introd. [Duck] . 
 IV. [Night-bird]. 
 Dove . 
 
 Crow 
 
 129 
 197 
 
 86 
 
 272, 273 
 
 . 162 
 
 . 114 
 
 95 
 . 218 
 
 237 
 . 101 
 . 238 
 . 119 
 
 . 269 
 
 . 221 
 
 59 
 160 
 
 73 
 . 229 
 
 . 1 20 
 
 - 70 
 
 - 233 
 . 161 
 . 272 
 
 - 45 
 57 
 
 - 57 
 
 - 7i 
 . 100 
 
 (note) 56 
 
 239, 267 
 
 20 1 
 
 222-224, 237 
 
 99 
 
 . 113, 191 
 
 . 113
 
 3io 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Pericles (continued} : 
 
 PAliE 
 
 Act IV. Sc. 3 Wren . 
 
 . 144 
 
 [Eagle] 
 
 23 
 
 ,, 6 Coistrel 
 
 74 
 
 Richard II. : 
 
 
 Act I. Sc. i Pitch . 
 
 5 1 
 
 3 Falcon 
 
 JzL 
 
 ' Cloy . 
 
 J^f 
 
 ? T 
 
 II. i Cormorant . 
 
 J X 
 
 2^Q 
 
 Pelican 
 
 jy 
 287 
 
 Imp . 
 
 ' lu / 
 . 69 
 
 III. 3 Eagle . 
 
 2A. 
 
 Night-Owls . 
 
 r 
 
 . 85 
 
 i_.arK 
 
 136 
 
 Richard III. : 
 
 
 Act I. Sc. i [Eagle] 
 
 2 3> 45 
 
 Kites . 
 
 45 
 
 Buzzards 
 
 45, 47 
 
 3 Wren . 
 
 
 [Eagle] 
 
 i^q. 
 23 
 
 [Mew'd up] . 
 
 . 64 
 
 Aiery . 
 
 39 
 
 IV. 4 Owls . 
 
 . 86 
 
 ,, V. 2 Swallow 
 
 . 277 
 
 3 Lark . 
 
 J 33 
 
 Cock . 
 
 . 167 
 
 " Cry on " . 
 
 . (note) 56 
 
 Romeo and Juliet : 
 
 
 Act I. Sc. 2 Swan . 
 
 114, 206 
 
 Crow . 
 
 1 14, 206 
 
 3 Dove-house. 
 
 . 1 80 
 
 4 Crow-keeper 
 
 . 114 
 
 Soar 
 
 50, 5 r 
 
 Pitch . 
 
 50, 51 
 
 5 Cock-a-hoop 
 
 ./ / / 
 
 . 169 
 
 >, Dove . 
 >. Crows 
 
 . 113, 194 
 . 113, 194
 
 APPENDIX. 311 
 
 Romeo and Juliet (continued} : PAGE 
 
 Act II. Sc. 2 Falconer .- . . . . 54 
 
 Lure 54 
 
 Tassel-gentle .... 54 
 
 4 Goose . ... 197 
 
 5 Dove 1 80 
 
 III. 2 Hood 62 
 
 ,, Unmann'd ..... 62 
 
 Bating ..... 62 
 
 Raven ... . 108, 109 
 
 4 Mew'd up . . . .64 
 
 5 Nightingale. . . . 124 
 
 Lark . 124, 131, 134 
 
 Eagle 25 
 
 IV. 4 Watch ... .46 
 
 ., Watching ..... 46 
 
 V. i [Dove] 194 
 
 3 Maw . . . 46 
 
 Taming of the Shrew : 
 
 Induct. Sc. i [Nightingale] . . . .123 
 ' 2 Hawking ..... 72 
 
 Hawk 72 
 
 Lark 72 
 
 i Mew . .64, 65 
 
 Act I. 2 Woodcock ..... 229 
 
 II. I Nightingale. . . 124 
 
 Buzzard . . .47 
 
 Turtle . . -47 
 
 Wise and warm .... 95 
 
 III. i Stale 245 
 
 2 Dove 180 
 
 IV. i Falcon .... 62 
 
 Stoop ...... 62 
 
 Lure 55,62 
 
 Man . 45,62 
 
 Haggard . 45,62 
 
 Watch. 45,62 
 
 Kites . 45, 62 
 
 Bate . 45, 63 
 
 ,, Peacock . . . (note) 175 
 
 2 Haggard . - - 59
 
 312 APPENDIX. 
 
 Taming of the Shrew (continued ) : PA(;i , 
 
 Act IV. Sc. 3 Jay ... . ' .. 122 
 
 Lark . . . . . .122 
 
 V. 2 Hawk . . 73 
 
 The Tempest: 
 
 Act I. Sc. 2 Raven's feather . .107 
 
 II. i Bat-fowling. . . .157 
 
 Chough . 117 
 
 2 Duck . ... 238 
 
 ,, ,, Goose . . . 197 
 
 ,, Jay 's nest ... .122 
 
 ,, ,, Sea-mells . 122, 269 
 
 ,, IV. i Sparrows . ... 146 
 
 ,, Barnacles . . 246 
 
 ,, Peacock . . '. . (note) 175 
 
 V. i Owls . . . . . .96 
 
 Timon of Athens: 
 
 Act I. Sc. i Eagle ... .26 
 
 II. i [Gull] . . . . . . 267 
 
 ,, III. 6 Swallow ... . 277 
 
 Tiring .... 38 
 
 IV. 3 Eagle . 34 
 
 Titus Andronicus : 
 
 Act II. Sc. 2 Swallows ..... 277 
 
 3 Philomel . . .125 
 
 ,, Owl . . 94, 105 
 Raven . .... 105 
 
 Lark . ... 136 
 
 III. i [Raven] . .99 
 Lark ... 136 
 
 IV. i Philomel . .125 
 ,, Swan ... . . 205 
 2 Swallow . ... 276 
 3 Pigeon . . 1 80, 183 
 4 Pigeons , .184 
 
 Eagle . . 33 
 
 V. 2 Vulture . . 40 
 [Philomel] . . 125 
 3 Fowl . . . 236
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 313 
 
 Act I. Sc. i Cygnet's down . 
 
 PAGE 
 . 2O6 
 
 , 2 [Eagles] 
 
 23 
 
 [Crows] 
 
 . IIO 
 
 , Daws . 
 
 . 119 
 
 II. , i Sparrows 
 
 . 146 
 
 [Owl] . . . 
 
 . . . 83 
 
 ,, , 2 Cormorant . 
 
 . 260 
 
 , 3 [Raven] 
 
 . 99 
 
 III. i Doves . 
 
 196 
 
 2 Sparrow 
 
 H5 
 
 Watch'd 
 
 45 
 
 > 
 
 , Falcon 
 
 54 
 
 > 
 
 , Tercel 
 
 54 
 
 
 
 , Ducks 
 
 54 
 
 
 
 , Plantage 
 
 . 192 
 
 > 
 
 , Turtle. 
 
 1 80, 192 
 
 
 
 , 3 Peacock 
 
 i?5 
 
 IV. 
 
 , 2 Lark . 
 
 . 131 
 
 ,, 
 
 , Crows . . 
 
 131 
 
 v. 
 
 , i Finch-egg . 
 
 . 144 
 
 
 
 , Quails . 
 
 . 219 
 
 
 
 Owl . 
 
 83 
 
 
 
 , Puttock 
 
 44 
 
 
 
 , 2 Raven 
 
 TOO 
 
 
 
 Parrot 
 
 . 2/2 
 
 1 1 [Screech-Owl] 
 
 . . 8 5 
 
 [Goose] 
 
 197 
 
 Twelfth Night : 
 
 
 Act I. Sc. 3 Coystril 
 
 74 
 
 II. 3 Gull . 
 
 . 149, 267 
 
 , Woodcock . 
 
 . 229 
 
 , 5 Stanniel 
 
 73 
 
 Check 
 
 60, 73 
 
 , Gull-catcher 
 
 . 267 
 
 , Turkey-cock 
 
 . 180 
 
 Woodcock . 
 
 . 231 
 
 Bird-bolts . 
 
 163 
 
 Stone-bow . 
 
 . . . 163 
 
 III. i Haggard . 
 
 . 60 
 
 Check 
 
 ... 60
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Twelfth Night (con tinned) : 
 
 I'AC.H 
 
 Act III. Sc. 2 Wren . 
 
 . 144 
 
 [Gull] .... 
 
 . 267 
 
 4 [Nightingale] 
 
 . 123 
 
 Daws 
 
 . 119 
 
 ,, Limed 
 
 . 161 
 
 IV. 2 Wild-fowl . 
 
 232, 257 
 
 ,, Woodcock . 
 
 2^2, 257 
 
 ,, V. ,, i Raven . . 
 
 . 108 
 
 Dove . 
 
 . 108 
 
 Gull .... 
 
 . 267 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona : 
 
 
 Act II. Sc. i Robin-Redbreast 
 
 . 142 
 
 III. i Nightingale 
 
 . 128 
 
 IV. ,, 4 Geese .... 
 
 . 198 
 
 V. 4 [Nightingale] 
 
 . 123 
 
 The Winters Talc: 
 
 
 Act II. Sc. 3 Kites . 
 
 . 107 
 
 ,, Ravens 
 
 . 107 
 
 III. 2 [Crow] 
 
 I IO 
 
 IV. 2 Lark . 
 
 I 3O 
 
 >. Thrush 
 
 ! 37 
 
 Kite . 
 
 4-6 
 
 Woodcock . 
 
 V 
 
 230 
 
 M M 3 Jay .... 
 
 121 
 
 Falcon 
 
 . 64 
 
 M Swallow 
 
 . 277 
 
 M Crow . . . 
 
 J i3 
 
 , Dove . ; 
 
 !8c 
 
 , Turtles 
 
 10^ 
 
 180, 192 
 
 M , Choughs 
 
 118 
 
 M , Pheasant 
 
 . 2IO 
 
 , 4 Dove's down 
 
 . . 194 
 
 V. , 3 [Turtle] . 
 
 . 180 
 
 L ucrece : 
 
 
 Venus' doves .... 
 
 IQO 
 
 Limed . 
 
 lyu 
 
 160 
 
 Cloy'd . 
 
 71 
 
 Owls \ 
 
 j * 
 97
 
 Sonnets : 
 
 XXIX. 
 LXX. 
 LXXXVI. 
 XCI. 
 CII. 
 CXIV. 
 
 Lark 
 Crow 
 Gulls . 
 Hawks . 
 Philomel 
 Crow 
 Dove 
 
 Venus and Adonis : 
 
 APPENDIX. 315 
 
 Lucrece (continued} : 
 
 Dove .100 
 
 [Night-Owl] 83 
 
 Falcon ... ..... 61 
 
 Fowl 61 
 
 Vulture 41 
 
 [Hawk] 72 
 
 Cuckoos ... . 149 
 
 Sparrows ..... .149 
 
 Ravens . ..... 1 10 
 
 [Crow] .110 
 
 Swan . . .... 201 
 
 [Eagles] 23 
 
 Philomel . . . . . . . .125 
 
 [Fowls]. . ... 235 
 
 The Passionate Pilgrim : 
 
 Dove 1 80 
 
 Philomela . . . . . . . .125 
 
 Lark 130 
 
 Nightingale 125 
 
 The Phoenix and Turtle : 
 
 Eagle - . . . .23 
 
 Swan . . . . . . . . .201 
 
 Crow . . . ... . . . . 1 10 
 
 Turtle ......... 191 
 
 132 
 
 1 10 
 269 
 
 72 
 125 
 
 I 10 
 
 1 80 
 
 Doves 1 80, 190 
 
 Eagle . . ..... 38
 
 316 APPENDIX. 
 
 Venus and Adonis (continued] : ,, ACE 
 
 Tire . 38 
 
 Dive-dapper ...... . 258 
 
 Crows ... ..... 113 
 
 Owl . 98 
 
 Vulture. . ... .41 
 
 Falcon ... ..... 56 
 
 Lure ... . . -56 
 
 Lark . . . . . . .131 
 
 Doves of Paphos . .... 190
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Adder, 13, 15, 16, Intro. 
 Aiery, 39. 
 
 B. 
 
 Badger, 12, Intro. 
 Bandoleers, 243. 
 Bat, 13, 14, Intro. 
 Bat-fowling, 157-160. 
 Barnacle Goose, 247. 
 Barnacles, 247-256. 
 Bating, 62. 
 
 Bee, 17, 18, 19, Intro. 
 Beetle, 17, 20, Intro. 
 Bells, 60. 
 Bird-bolts, 163. 
 Bird-catching, 4, 157. 
 Birding, 72. 
 Birding-pieces, 72, 164, 239. 
 
 Bird of Jove, 28, 29. 
 
 Bird-lime, 160. 
 
 Bird-traps, 162. 
 
 Birds of song, 123. 
 
 Birds under domestication, 167. 
 
 Blackbird, 139. 
 
 Black Ouzel, 139. 
 
 Brock, 12, Intro. 
 
 Bunting, 136. 
 
 Butterfly, 17, Intro. 
 
 Buzzard, 47. 
 
 C. 
 
 Cadge, 63. 
 
 Cadger, 64. 
 Caliver, 239. 
 
 derivation of, 240. 
 description of, 240. 
 figure of, 242. 
 price of, 243. 
 Camelot, 198, 199. 
 Caterpillar, 17, Intro. 
 Chase, Wild-goose, 199. 
 Chough, 115. 
 
 and Crow, 116. 
 language of, 117. 
 red-legged, 119. 
 russet-pated, 119. 
 Cloys, 31, 32. 
 Cock, 167. 
 
 ,, ancestry of domestic, 174. 
 Cock-a-hoop, 169, 170. 
 Cock and pye, 171. 
 Cock-crow, 168. 
 Cock-fighting, 172-174. 
 Coistrel, 74 
 Cormorants, 259. 
 
 fishing with, 260. 
 the King's, 261-264. 
 home of the, 265. 
 Coursing, 12, Intro. 
 Coystril, 74. 
 Cricket, 17, Intro. 
 Crow, 99. 
 
 black as a, 113. 
 food for, 112.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Crow, habits of, in. 
 ,, -keeper, 114. 
 ,, Night-, 102. 
 Scare-, 114. 
 to pluck, 114. 
 
 Crows and their relations, 99. 
 Cry havoc, 57. 
 Cuckoo, 147-156. 
 
 habits of, 150. 
 note of, 151. 
 songs, 152-156. 
 Cygnet, 201-206. 
 
 D. 
 Daw, 119. 
 
 Deer-hunting, 8, Intro. 
 
 ,, -shooting, 4, Intro. 
 
 ,, -stealing, 6, Intro. 
 
 ,, wounded, 10, Intro. 
 Dive-dapper, 258. 
 Divers, 258. 
 Dove, 191. 
 
 of Paphos, 191. 
 
 ,, of Venus, 191. 
 
 ,, Rock-, 190. 
 
 ,, Turtle-, 191. 
 Dove-house, 180. 
 Dove, Mahomed's, 193. 
 timidity of, 195. 
 Doves, dish of, 196. 
 Dormouse, 13, Intro. 
 Drone, 17, 19, Intro. 
 Duck, 237. 
 
 ,, -hunting, 237. 
 
 E. 
 Eagle, 23-40. 
 
 ,, age of, 35. 
 ,, eggs of, 32. 
 ,. eye, 25. 
 
 eyrie of, 38. 
 
 longevity of, 33-35. 
 
 omen of victory, 27. 
 
 power of flight, 25, 26. 
 
 power of vision, 24. 
 
 Eagle trained for hawking, 36, 37. 
 
 , , the Roman, 28-30. 
 Enmew, 64, 66. 
 Eyas-musket, 74. 
 Eyesses, 57, 58. 
 Eyrie, 39, 57. 
 
 F. 
 Falcon, 52. 
 
 docility of the, 54. 
 -gentle, 53. 
 Haggard-, 57-59. 
 , , and Tercel, 52. 
 Falconer, 54. 
 
 qualities of a good, 55. 
 call of the, 55. 
 wages of, 80. 
 Finch, 144. 
 Fishing, 3, Intro. 
 Fly, Blow-, 17, Intro. 
 ,, Gad-, 17, Intro. 
 ,, House-, 17, 20, Intro. 
 , , small Gilded-, 17, Intro. 
 Flying at the brook, 51. 
 Forester, 6, 10, Intro. 
 Fowl, 235. 
 
 flight of, 236. 
 ,, Sea-, 235. 
 
 Wild-, 235-237. 
 Fowling, 4, Intro. 
 Fox, n, Intro. 
 
 G. 
 Game-birds, 209. 
 
 ,, former value of, 212. 
 ,, laws, 215. 
 
 preserving, 209-214. 
 Gin, the, 231. 
 Glowworm, 17, Intro. 
 Gnat, 17, Intro. 
 Goose, 197. 
 
 a green-, 197. 
 , , a stubble-, 198. 
 ,, former value of a, 197. 
 ,, Wild-, 246.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 319 
 
 Grasshopper, 17, Intro. 
 Grebe, 258. 
 
 ,, Great-crested, 258. 
 
 Little, 258. 
 Guinea-fowl, 179. 
 Gull, 266. 
 ,, -catchers, 267. 
 ,, -gropers, 268. 
 
 H. 
 
 Haggard, 57-59. 
 Halcyon, 275. 
 
 days, 275. 
 Hare, u, Intro. 
 Hawks, 49. 
 
 , , how to seel, 70. 
 keep of, 79. 
 trappings of, 58-64. 
 value of, 77, 78. 
 ,, unmann'd, 62. 
 Hawking, age of, 50. 
 
 sundries, 80-82. 
 ,, terms, 51. 
 Hedgehog, 13, Intro. 
 Hernshaw, 75, 223. 
 Heron, 223. 
 
 -hawking, 224-228. 
 in bills of fare, 228. 
 Hood, 61. 
 
 Hounds, 8, 9, Intro. 
 Hunting, 4, Intro. 
 
 I. 
 
 Jackdaw, 119. 
 Jay, 121. 
 Jesses, 58, 59. 
 Imping, 67, 68. 
 Jove's bird, 28, 29. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kestrel, 73. 
 Kingfisher, 275. 
 Kite, 43-47- 
 ,, habits of, 46. 
 
 Kite, nest of, 47. 
 ,, ill-omened, 45. 
 
 L. 
 
 Lang-nebbit things, 228. 
 Lapwing, 221. 
 
 ,, decoying from nest, 221. 
 Lark, 130. 
 
 ,, at heaven's gate, 132. 
 herald of morn, 131. 
 soaring and singing, 135. 
 ,, song of the, 130-134. 
 ,, method of taking, 136. 
 ,, the ploughman's clock, 133. 
 Lime, 160. 
 Loon, 258, 259. 
 Lure, description of the, 55. 
 use of the, 56. 
 
 M. 
 
 Magpie, 120. 
 Mallard, 238. 
 Marten, 33. 
 Martin, 277. 
 Martlet, 277, 278. 
 Mole, 13, Intro. 
 Moth, 17, Intro. 
 Mew, 64. 
 
 ,, origin of the word, 65. 
 Mews, the Royal, 65, 66. 
 Musket, 74. 
 
 N. 
 
 Night-crow, 102. 
 Nightingale, 124. 
 
 lamenting, 125. 
 recording, 129. 
 singing against a thorn, 
 
 126, 127. 
 
 singing by day, 128. 
 , , song of, 124. 
 
 O. 
 
 Owl, 83-98. 
 , , its associations, 83. 
 ,, its character maligned, 93.
 
 320 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Owl, its comrades, 97. 
 
 , , its fame in song, 96. 
 
 ,, its five wits, 95. 
 
 ,, its habits misunderstood, 86. 
 
 ,, its utility to the farmer, 87. 
 
 , , its use in medicine, 84. 
 
 , , its note, 90. 
 
 , , its retiring habits, 94. 
 
 , , robbing nests, 91. 
 
 ,, of ill-omen, 85. 
 Osprey, 41. 
 
 ,, its power over fish, 43. 
 Ostrich, 286. 
 Ouzel, 139. 
 
 P. 
 Parrot, 272. 
 
 -teacher, 273. 
 Partridge, 216. 
 
 in kite's nest, 216. 
 ,, -hawking, 217. 
 ,, netting-, 218. 
 Peacock, 175. 
 
 , , introduction of, 176. 
 value of, 175. 
 variety of, 176. 
 Peewit, 222. 
 Pelican, 286. 
 
 fable of the, 287. 
 
 , , explanation of fable, 288-294. 
 Pelicans in England, 295. 
 Pheasant, 210. 
 
 ,, introduction of, 211. 
 ,, -hawking, 217. 
 Pigeon, 180. 
 
 ,, Barbary-, 189. 
 
 ,, Carrier-, 183. 
 
 ,, domesticated, 181. 
 
 -fanciers, 182. 
 
 ,, feeding young, 1 86. 
 
 -liver'd, 185. 
 ,, -post, 184. 
 
 price of, 196. 
 Pitch, 51. 
 
 Plantage, 192. 
 Point, 51. 
 Prune, 31. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quail, 218. 
 
 ,, -fighting, 219. 
 
 , , note of the, 220. 
 Quaint recipes, 71. 
 Quarry, 57. 
 
 R. 
 Rabbit, 12, Intro. 
 
 ,, -netting, 12, Intro. 
 Raven, 100. 
 
 ,, of ill-omen, 101. 
 
 ,, deserting its young, 106. 
 
 ,, feathers of, 107. 
 
 , , food of, 105. 
 
 , , presence on battle-fields, 104. 
 
 supposed prophetic power, 103. 
 , , variety of, 109. 
 Recipes, quaint, 71. 
 Redbreast, 139. 
 
 ,, -teacher, 142. 
 Robin, 139. 
 Rock-dove, 190. 
 Rook, 121. 
 Ruddock, 140. 
 
 ,, covering with leaves, 141. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sea-fowl, 235. 
 Sea-gulls, 266. 
 Sea-mells, 270. 
 Seel, 69. 
 Seeling, 69. 
 Slow-worm, 16, Intro. 
 Snake, 13, 15, Intro. 
 Snipe, 233. 
 
 ,, -netting, 234. 
 Souse, 38, 39. 
 Sparrow, 144. 
 
 . , fall of a, 146 . 
 hedge-, 147.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 321 
 
 Sparrow, Philip, 145. 
 
 , , value of a, 146. 
 Sparrowhawk, 73. 
 Springes, 229. 
 
 , , how to make, 230. 
 Stag, wounded, 10, Intro. 
 Stale, 244. 
 
 , , how to make a, 245. 
 Stalking, 238. 
 Stalking-horse, 238. 
 Starlings, 274. 
 
 ,, talking, 274. 
 Stoop, 63. 
 Swallow, 277. 
 Swallow's herb, 279. 
 ,, stone, 283. 
 Swan, 20 1. 
 
 ,, habits of the, 204. 
 
 ,, nest of the, 204. 
 
 ,, song of the, 202. 
 Swan's down, 206. 
 Swans of Juno, 206. 
 
 ,, warrant for, 207. 
 Squirrel, 13, Intro. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tassel-gentle, 54. 
 Tercel, 53. 
 
 ,, and Falcon, 52. 
 Throstle, 137. 
 
 ,, song of the, 138. 
 Tire, 38. 
 
 Tower, 39, 51. 
 Towering, 39, 51. 
 Toad, 13, 15, Intro. 
 Tradition, a curious, 88. 
 Trout, 3, Intro. 
 Turkey, 177. 
 
 , , introduction of, 177. 
 Turkey-fowl, 179. 
 Turtle-dove, 191. 
 
 V. 
 Vulture, 40. 
 
 ,, repulsive habits of, 41. 
 
 W. 
 
 Wagtail, 156. 
 Wasp, 17, Intro. 
 
 Watching, 45. 
 Weasel, 13, 32. 
 Wild-cat, 13, Intro. 
 Wild-duck, 237. 
 Wild-fowl, 235, 257. 
 Wild-goose, 246. 
 Wild-goose chase, 199. 
 Winter-ground, 141. 
 Wren, 142. 
 
 ,, courage of, 143. 
 
 , , pugnacity of, 143. 
 
 song of, 143. 
 Woodcock, 228, 271. 
 
 , , springe foi a, 229. 
 Woodcock's head, the, 232. 
 
 T T 
 
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