CONCLUSION. 



By Mr. G. D. ROWLEY. 



" And now this pale swan in her watery nest, 

 Begins the sad dirge of her certain ending." — Lucrece. 



Harting's Ornithology of Shakespeare, p. 201. 



Birds have played a conspicuous part in the history of mankind. If we 

 look at classical times we see the twelve Vultures of Mount Palatine, the 

 solemn flap of whose wings before the vision of Romulus decided the fate of 

 the Roman world ; later again, we notice the Goose which saved the 

 capitol. If we turn to Holy Writ, we read of the solitary Thrush of the 

 Psalmist, and the two Sparrows of Christ's illustration. 



In modern times, and in the pages of this work, we have seen the three 

 Protestant Quails of Steenwick, the loyal Larks of the siege of Exeter, Sir 

 David Lindsay's Parrot (that precursor of the Reformation), the Robin of 

 the coffin of Queen Mary II., the lost Parrot of King Charles's daughter, 

 and the faithful companion of the Duchess of Richmond*, whose resting- 



* Another historic bird was that belonging to the unhappy Jane Dudley, Duchess of North- 

 umberland (1555), mother-in-law of Lady Jane Grey. In her will she bequeathed to the Duchess 

 of Alva, Lady-in-waiting to Queen Mary, her " green Parrot, having nothing else worthy of her " 

 ('Walks in London,' by A. J. C. Hare, vol. ii. p. 439). 



