The Wagtail and Bunting 
day it would be thought no better than 
the wren.1. And, in another passage, 
words of consolation ‘from a _ hollow 
breast’’ are likened to “the chirping of 
a wren.’ 2 
The wacratt is alluded to once by the 
poet, when its name is used in contempt 
by Kent towards Goneril’s steward : 
Thou zed! thou unnecessary letter! I will 
tread this unbolted villain into mortar. Spare my 
gray beard ’—you wagtail | 
There is one reference by Shakespeare 
to the BuNTING, probably the common 
corn-bunting or bunting-lark, which is 
not unlike the lark, and further resembles 
that bird in nesting on the ground. In 
All’s Well that Ends Well, the old lord 
Lafeu, when assured by Bertram that he had 
mistaken the character of Parolles, remarks; 
“Then my dial goes not true; I took this 
lark for a bunting.” 
1 Merchant of Venice, v.i. 104. 72 Henry VI. 11. ii. 42. 
2 Kane Lear, il. UW. 59: iat eae 
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