190 NOTES BY THE WAY. 



Shakespeare shows his familiarity with nearly all the 

 British birds. 



" The ousel-cock, so black of hue, 



With orange-tawny bill, 

 The throstle with his note so true, 

 The wren with little quill." 



" The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, 



The plain-song cuckoo gray, 

 Whose note full many a man doth mark, 

 And dares not answer nay." 



In " Much Ado about Nothing " we get a glimpse 

 of the lapwing : 



*' For look where Beatrice, like a lapwing, runs 

 Close by the ground, to hear our conference." 



The lapwing is a kind of plover, and is very swift of 

 foot. When trying to avoid being seen they run rap- 

 idly with depressed heads, or "close by the ground," 

 as the poet puts it. In the same scene, Hero says of 

 Ursula : 



" I know her spirits are as coy and wild 

 As haggards of the rock.'* 



The haggard falcon (Falco peregrinus) is a species of 

 hawk found in North Wales and in Scotland. It 

 breeds on high shelving cliffs and precipitous rocks. 

 Had Shakespeare been an " amateur poacher " in his 

 youth ? He had a poacher's knowledge of the wild 

 creatures. He knew how fresh the snake appeared 

 after it had cast its skin ; how the hedgehog makes 

 himself up into a ball and leaves his " prickles " in 

 whatever touches him ; how the butterflv came front 



