12 
INTRODUCTION. 
curious part of this subject. Poets have, for instance, always been divided in opinion 
whether the nightingale’s song is joyous rather than sad, as it seemed to so many 
classic poets whose minds were prepared for the latter view by the myth alluded to 
in the following pages. Again the greater power which a bird’s song, or the classical 
associations attached to its name, have over some poets’ minds rather than others, 
is another wide field of research which has as yet been scantily explored. Thus 
Milton hardly cares to recognise any birds except the lark and nightingale; the 
latter, as might have been expected from his own late hours of study, his love of 
music and sympathy with the classical writers, being an especial favourite, which 
has won from him over and over again some of the most magnificent passages 
of his own song— 
“ Thee, chantress, oft the woods among 
I woo, to hear thy even-song.” 
The cock, too, from the prominent part it plays in a touching passage of Holy 
Writ, and from his own habits of prolonging study and vigils until 
“The first cock his matin rings,” 
is a familiar bird in his poetry. His words must often recur to the mind of his 
lovers as they listen what time 
“ The cock with lively din 
Scatters the rear of darkness thin.” 
Gray, another poet of essentially classical modes of thought, tempers his admiration 
for ancient models with many a discriminating touch drawn from loving observation 
of nature. For him 
“ The skylark warbles high 
His trembling, thrilling ecstasy ; 
And lessening from the dazzled sight 
Melts into air and liquid light.” 
And again— 
“ Far, far aloft the affrighted ravens sail, 
The famished eagle screams and passes by,” 
as they may yet be heard and seen in some districts of Scotland. Ihe strength 
of Shakespeare with regard to fancy and imagination can hardly be better seen 
than in his treatment of the birds, beasts, and flowers of the country. How 
lovingly does he dwell upon them all, extracting it may be but a thought from 
each, and yet those are just the thoughts which mainly endear the objects of his 
admiration to ourselves ! To be named in his verse is for a bird to be embalmed 
in human memory far longer than has been the existence of the most cherished 
