246 WILD-GEESE. 



ened varlets who fled at the sight of Bottom with the 

 ass's head to " wild-geese that the creeping fowler eye." — 

 Midsummer Night's Dream, Act iii. Sc. 2. 



"They flock together in consent, like so many wild- 

 geese." — Henry IV. Part II. Act v. Sc. I. 



And Marcius, addressing the retreating Romans before 



Corioli, reproaches them as having no more courage than 



geese : — 



" You souls of geese, 



That bear the shapes of men, how have you run 



From slaves that apes would beat !" 



Coriolanus, Act i. Sc. 4. 



The Fool in King Lear reminds us of the old proverb — 



" Winter's not gone yet, if the wild-geese fly that way." 



King Lear, Act ii. Sc. 4. 



It is not surprising that, to so common a bird, nume- 

 rous allusions should be made in the Plays of Shake- 

 speare, and, in addition to the passages quoted in Chapter 

 VII.,* many others might here be mentioned, were it not 

 that the repetition might prove tedious. 



It was anciently believed that the Bernacle Goose 

 (Anser bernicld) was generated from the Bernacle or 

 Barnacle (Lepas anatifera). Shakespeare has alluded to 

 the metamorphosis in the following line : — 



" And all be turned to barnacles." 



Tempest, Act iv. Sc. 1. 



* Sec ante, p. 197. 



