258 SHAKESPEARE'’S [RED-BREAST. 
And they have many birds, and, for they be many, they 
throw away some of their birds,—for fowls which have 
many birds throw away some of them. Also the black 
Raven fighteth with the ass, and with the bull, and flieth 
upon them, and grieveth them, and smiteth with the bill, 
and smiteth out their eyes. Also the black Raven is friend 
to the fox, and therefore he fighteth with the brock and 
with other small beasts to help the fox. 
Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xii. § 10. 
Tuey are said to conceive and to lay their eggs at the 
bill. The young become black on the seventh day. The 
Raven is stronger by day, and the owl by night, and they 
eat one another's eggs by turns. It abstains from drinking 
so long as the fig-tree rejoices in the sweetness of its fruit. 
Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. § 34. 
Ir women great with child chance to eat a Raven’s egg, 
they shall be delivered of their children at the mouth. 
Holland’s Pliny, bk. x. ch. xi. 
Ir a Raven’s eggs be boiled and put again in the nest, 
straightway the Raven goes to a certain island in the Red 
Sea, where Aldoricus or Alodrius is buried, and brings a 
stone with which it touches its eggs, and immediately they 
become raw as they were before. It is wonderful that 
boiled eggs should be revived. Now if that stone be set 
in a ring with a laurel-leaf under it, and a man bound 
with chains, or a closed gate be touched [therewith], 
straightway the bound shall be loosed, and the gate be 
opened. And if that stone be put in the ear, it gives 
understanding of all birds. This stone is of diverse colours, 
and causes all anger to be forgotten. 
Albertus Magnus, “Of the Virtues of Animals,” 
Red-breast, Robin Redbreast. 
Two GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, il. I, 22. 
Tue bird which is named Robin or Redbreast in winter, 
the same is Red-tail [or Red-start] all summer long. 
Holland’s Pliny, bk. x. ch, xxix. So Minsheu’s Dictionary, 
sv. Robin-redbreast and Red-start. 
