1902 Some Birds in Shakspem' 283 



have saved the species from extermination, for while among 

 rooks he easily passed for a rook." 



Apart from this quotation, the character which the Crow 

 bears in Shakspear is no better than that of the Raven ; he 

 speaks of them as knavish and ribald, and alludes to his 

 habit of eating dead bodies ("Winter's Tale," iii. 2) — 



" Casting forth to crows thy baby." 



Or again of the probable fate of Bardolph at the war — 



" He'll yield the crows a pudding," 



in which I see a repetition of the classic "/SaA-A,' e? KopvKa^; 

 pascere corvos," to them a dire fate that their bodies should 

 be a prey to carrion fowls, and not decently burnt. 



As yet I have been speaking of the Carrion Crow, that 

 generally selects a solitary tree in which to make its nest ; 

 but the Hooded Crow (Corvtis comix), or Hoodie, is not an 

 uncommon bird with us, especially in the south-east coast, 

 where it makes its nest in holes of the rocks. Those who 

 know Dover must have seen great quantities of them sitting 

 on the ledges of the chalk cliffs under the castle, or popping 

 into holes. It is to these that Shakspear alludes in " King 

 Lear " (iv. 6) when looking over Shakspear's Cliff — 



"The crows and choughs that wing the midway air 

 Show scarce as gross as beetles." 



This quotation brings one to the Cornish Chough (Pyrrho- 

 corax graculus ?), which at one time was common among 

 us, but now chiefly confined to the far west. It is a bird 

 that strikes one, with its black body and intensely red beak 

 and legs, which look almost as though they had been 

 brushed over with Aspinall's enamel. Shakespeare speaks 

 of them in " Midsummer Night's Dream " (iii. 2) as " russet- 

 pated choughs," though there is something to be said for 

 the other reading — " russet-painted." Apart from its colour, 

 it was its language that made most impression on the poet. 

 When the empty-headed Osric comes to summon Hamlet 

 to the fencing bout (" Hamlet," v. 2) he says, " 'Tis a 

 chough, I say"; and again ("Tempest," ii. i) — 



" As this Gonzalo, I myself could make 

 A chough, of as deep chat." 



