The Birds of Shakespeare 
But if the like the snow-white swan desire, 
The stain upon his silver down will stay." 
Again, when Benvolio presses Romeo to 
come with him to Capulet’s feast, where 
he will see his Rosaline among the 
admired beauties of Verona, he challenges 
him, ‘‘ with unattainted eye,” to 
Compare her face with some that I shall show 
And I will make thee think thy swan a crow.? 
In Shakespeare’s day the cHouGH must 
have been a much commoner bird in our 
islands than it is now. At present it is 
not known to breed on the south coast of 
England further east than the cliffs of 
Dorset. Three hundred years ago, how- 
ever, it seems to have been abundant about 
the chalk headlands of Kent. That it 
was a familiar English bird may be 
inferred from various passages in our 
poet’s writings. The most striking scene 
depicted by him, wherein this bird plays 
a conspicuous part, is his picture of Dover 
1 Lucrece, 1009. 2 Romeo and Juliet, 1. 11. 86. 
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