CHAPTER IX. 
VARIOUS BIRDS NOT INCLUDED IN THE FOREGOING 
CHAPTERS. 
OTWITHSTANDING the comprehensive titles of the 
preceding chapters, there are several birds mentioned by 
Shakespeare which cannot, with propriety, be included in 
any of them. We have, therefore, deemed it advisable to 
notice them separately under the above heading. 
Naturalists have frequently remarked upon the propen¬ 
sity which some birds have to become restless and noisy 
before rain. Familiar examples are, the Peacock ; the 
Green Woodpecker, which, on this account, in some parts 
of the country, is called “ rain-bird ; ” the Golden Plover, 
whose Latin and French name, Pluvialis and Pluvier , 
have reference to the same peculiarity; and the Woodcock, 
which, as Gilbert White says, has been observed “ to be 
remarkably listless against snowy, foul weather.” Shake¬ 
speare has noticed this peculiarity in the Parrot :— 
