The Blossoming Rod

Those, however, who may entertain this view, on reading the works of Shakespeare, must admit that in his case at least they are mistaken. The Cock, the Peacock, the

Pheasant, Partridge, and Quail, which are occasionally domesticated. For the p

CO

mpet to the morn" (Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 1), is often noticed by

cks do crow, th

hour of drowsy

K-C

crow is of very ancient date. The conversation of Bernardo, Horatio, and Marc

out to speak, wh

it started lik

ul summons.

is the trumpe

ofty and shrill

of day; and, a

a or fire, in

nt90 and erri

e: and of the

t object ma

on the crowi

ever 'gainst t

viour's birth

wning singeth

say, no spirit

holesome; then n

nor witch hath

nd so graciou

Act i.

strutting chanticleer cry cockad

ressive of the evening; although some consider that the latter phrase owes its origin to t

-A-H

which occurs in Romeo and Juliet, Act i.

a mutiny am

ck-a-hoop! you'

he game-fowl. We take it that the reference is to a cask of ale or wine, and that the phrase "to set cock-a-hoop" means to take the cock, or tap, out of the cask

e tap laid on the top. The modern version is no doubt a corruption, just as we have "The Swan with Two Necks" for "The Swan with Two Nicks," i.e. marks on the bil

AND

d "the pie;" but it is now thought to be what Hotspur termed a mere "protest of pepper gingerbread," as innocent as Slender's, "By these gloves," or, "By this hat." In "Soliman and Per

efoot. I hope you will not say these be oaths. For he is as honest a man

onest a man as you make him. For it i

his ceremony was usually performed during some grand feast or entertainment, at which a roasted peacock or pheasant being served up by ladies in a dish of gold or silver, was thus presented to each knight, who then made the particular vow which he had chosen with great solemnity. When this custom had fallen into disuse, the peacock nevertheless continued to be a favourite dish, and was introduced on the table in a pie, the he

you shall not away to-night."-

-FIG

eople of England," does not give any history of its introduction, but quotes from Burton (1660), and Powell (1696), to show that the sport was well known at those

win the battle

is all t

leopatra, Ac

ts, and fed with sugar-candy, chopped rosemary, and butter, to strengthen them and give them wind. Roots dipped in wine, and oatmeal kneaded with ale and eggs, were also allowed them, as purges and diaphoretics. Every day the feeder had to lick his bir

gth and length-the weak, long bird rising with more ease, an

endanger the eye of the antagonist. The spurs were scraped and sharpened, but steel spurs were not used at this early period, though the sport was as old as the Athenians. The prepar

to the arena in linen bags, in which

nd, or faint from loss of blood. The feeder had to suck the wounds of the living bird, and powder them with dus

OF DOME

eographical range. It inhabits Northern India as far west as Scinde, and ascends the Himalaya to a height of 4,000 feet. It is found in Burmah, the Malay Peninsula, the Indo-Chinese countries, the Philippine Islands, and the Malayan Archipelago, as far eastward as Timor. Mr. Darwin has shown93 that it varies considerably in the wild state, and observes94 that "from the extremely close resemblance in colour, general structure, and especially in voice, between Gallus bankiva and the game-fowl; from their fertility,

PEAC

gin noticed by Shakespeare is

Talbot triump

acock, sweep a

plumes and take

art I. Act

else

peacock,-a stride and a stand."-Tro

ld in such estimation that a pair was valued at Athens at 1,000 drachm?, or ￡32 5s. 1

palfreys, with sackbuts, lorains, gilt spurs, and

e of Alexander, or have been subsequently imported, is doubtful. They vary b

NTROD

d he believes it will hereafter be found wild in some country, but not in India, where it is certainly unknown.97 These japanned birds differ conspicuously from the common peacock, and can be propagated perfectly true. Nevertheless, Mr. Darwin gives it as his

ent rather than use. According to the "Northumberland Household Book," the price of a peacock for the table in 1512

TU

tic Turkey in the play of Henry IV., the species being unknown in Englan

n my pannier are quite starved. What, o

UCTION INT

wild prototype being the Gallipavo Mexicana of Gould, and from Spain it was introduced into England in 1524. In 15

, hoppes, picca

gland all in

"Encyclop?dia Br

hat of Henry VIII. By the date of the reigns of these monarchs, the first turkies m

ch there is abundant evidence, that the domestic turkey was introduced from Europe i

WL AND GU

igenous to America, has provoked much discussion. The best expl

Guinny or Turkey Hen:' Gallin? African? sen Numidic?, Var. 'sine qu? vulgo Indic?' (Coq d'Inde of the French, corrupted into Dinde and Dindon!). Again, Numidica guttata of Martial is rendered 'a Ginny or Turkey Hen.' Looking also into an English and Spanish Dictionary of so late a date as 1740, I find Gallipavo rendered 'a Turkey or Guinea Cock or Hen.' Well, it is known that our British forefathers originally derived the domestic turkey from Spain, and meanwhile they are likely to have obtained a knowledge of the true habitat of the guinea-fowl, and therefore may very probably have supposed the former to be the real turkey-fowl, as distinguished from the guinea-fowl; a

are in Twelfth Night, where Fabian, speak

of him: how he jets under his advanc'd

PI

xample of conjugal fidelity and attachment to offspring (As You Like It, Act i. Sc. 2, and Act iii. Sc. 3). The latter is alluded to as the emblem of peace (Henry IV. Part I. Act iv. Sc. 1.; Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 1), modesty (Taming of the Shrew, Act iii. S

r "pigeon." In Romeo and Juliet we are told of the nurse "s

Y DOMEST

r. Darwin has been at considerable pains to collect information upon this point, and in his admirabl

N-FAN

method was never practised before, has improved them astonishingly. Akber Khan possessed seventeen distinct kinds, eight of which were valuable for beauty alone. At about this same period of 1600, the Dutch, according to Aldrovandus, were as eager about pigeons as the Romans had formerly been. The breeds which were kept during the fifteenth century in Europe and in India, apparently differed from each other. Tavernier, in his 'Travels,' in 1677, speaks as does Chardin, in 1735, of the vast numbers of pigeon-houses in Persia; and the former remarks, that as Christians were not permitted to keep pigeons, some of the vulgar actually turned Mahometans for this sole purpose. The Emperor of Morocco had his favourite keeper of pigeons, as is mentioned in Moore's treatise, published 1737. In England, from the time of 1678 to

sweet sound.104 In Egypt, the late Abbas Pacha was a great fancier of fantails. Many pigeons are kept at Cairo and Constantinople,

s, and during how long a period, many men have been

ER-PI

3), upon the entry of a clown w

heaven! Marcus,

idings? have y

y and forty miles asunder, provided with pigeons, and sentinels stood there constantly on the watch, to secure the intelligence communicated by the birds as they arrived, and to pass it on by means of others. The note was written on a thin slip of paper, enclosed in a very small gold box, almost as thin as the paper itself, suspended to the neck of the bird; the hour of arrival and departure were marked at each successive tower,

ON-P

s, and less irksome to the bird. The slip of paper is rolled up very tightly,

mon thing to send a pair of

nd a couple of pigeons here."-

hen paired, has been already referred to. (As You Like

ON-LI

igested, that the gall is rendered unnecessary. This, however, is not strictly correct, as the food is only macerated in the crop; and the gall, as it is secreted, passes, by two duc

n-liver'd,

ppression

Act ii

g, to which allusion is made in As You L

similar to that of milk in quadrupeds. "I have discovered," says John Hunter,106 "in my enquiries concerning t

S FEED THE

is fed with a substance secreted for that purpose by the parent animal; not, as in the mammalia, by the

n feeding their young in the second stage, but this particular mode of nourishment, by means of a s

to be endowed with the same faculty, as they have the power of

when they are very fond of the person who feeds them, may likewise be observed to have the action of throwing up the food, and often do it. The cock pigeon,

bout to be hatched, the whole, except what lies on the trachea or windpipe, becomes thickened, and takes on a glandular appearance, having its internal surface very irregular. It is likewise evidently more vascular than in its former state, that it may convey a quantity of blood, sufficient for the secretion of this substance, which is to nourish the young brood for some days after they are hatched. Whate

gested. The young pigeon is fed for some time with this substance only, and about the third day some of the common food is found mingled with it; and as the pigeon grows older, the proportion of

anything I know; it may, however, have a greater resemblance to curd than we are perhaps aware of; for neither this secretion, nor curd from which the whey has been pressed, seem to contain any sugar, and do not run into the acetous fermentation. The property of coagulating is confined to the substance itself, as it

e parent birds, who disgorge into their mouths the food that has undergone a maceration,

ally imagined, for, besides the common preparation of the food to assist its digestion in the stomach, there are some species that actually secrete a lacteal substance in the breeding season, which, mixing with the half-digested food, is ejected to feed and nourish the young. The

RBARY

as entered at Stationers' Hall in 1600, makes Rosalind, when disguised as a youth, say, 'I will be more jealous of thee than a Barbary cock-pigeon over his hen.'-Act iv. Sc. 1. Our intercourse with the north of Africa was at that period not unfrequent, and many of the domestic animals of the district had been imported into this country. Shakespeare frequently alludes to Barbary horses; and in the Second Part of King H

ROCK

ngle stock, namely, the wild rock-pigeon (Columba livia). A mass of interesting evidence on this sub

nus" (Lucrece, Venus and Adonis, and Midsummer Night's Dream, Act

VES OF

o be found in the following p

he world, away s

ilver doves; by

mounted, through

chariot quick

urse to Paphos,

re herself an

o explain the

ve of P

, Act iv

at of the worship of Venus, who was fabled to have been wafted thither after her birth amid the waves. The "dove of Paphos" therefore, may be considered as synonymous wi

uit: de quo tene

m. Bk. 10

s been noticed by poets in all ages

spear

they both came

r of loving t

Part I. Ac

else

ir that never

Tale, Act

ai

eel, as planta

y, as turtle

Cressida, Ac

NTA

rinted in 1579, we learn that neither sowing, planting, nor grafting was ever undertaken without a scrupulous attention to the increase or waning of the moon. Dryden does not appear to have understood the above passage, and has accordingly altered it to "As true as flowing tides are to the moon." But the meaning of the original words se

from Pericles are so

nts look up to he

their no

s, Act

ED'S

oon (Luna), not only in its form, but in its silvery brightness. The title of "Honesty" appears to have been given it from the transparent nature of the pod, which discovers those seed-vess

les she the

rops of the

ary dist

mp

BL

hich dove, when it was hungry, lighted on Mahomed's shoulder and thrust its bill in to find its breakfast, Mahomed p

d inspired

Part I. Ac

blackness, so has the dove been consid

owy dove troop

y o'er her fe

Juliet, Ac

e's down, and a

Tale, Act

clowns in Midsummer Night's Dream, we have the gentle voic

do any man's heart good to hear me; I will roar, that I will

ld fright the Duchess and the ladies, that they w

d hang us, eve

no more discretion but to hang us; but I will aggravate my voice so, that I will roar you as gently

Y OF TH

timid, flying at the approach of man, will nevertheless show fight in defence of

peck in safeguar

art III. Ac

the sam

k the falcon's p

art III. Ac

ai

e fur

ed out of fear;

ill peck t

leopatra, Ac

timid bird than the dove, as Falstaff

hful dove, or most magnanimous mouse

H OF

present or peace-offering has been before a

le-doves or young pigeons were as well accepted as costly bulls and ram

I would bestow on your worship."-

to be eaten. Paris, speakin

es, love."-Troilus and C

d. Justice Shallow, when ordering dinner, showed his apprec

joint of mutton, and any pretty little tiny kickshaw

"The Northumberland Household Book," was "iij for a

Lords Meas, Maister Chambreleyne, ande the Steward

tide, so they be good and at ijd. a pece. Ande my Lorde Maister Chambr

GO

le bird for the t

hey be good and for iijd. or iiijd. at the moste s

iv. Sc. 3; Midsummer Night's Dream, Act v. Sc. 1; Tempest, Act ii. Sc. 2; Merry Wives of Windsor, Act v.

nction between a grass-fe

r, when green gees

ur's Lost,

E AND STUB

ose, while the stubble-goose comes in at Mi

eese at Micha

; next May pr

it is not unusual to find su

aister Becks in rewarde for bringing

oned again in Love's Lab

ous occasions on which he ha

hath killed, otherwise he had suffered for

had you upo

cackling hom

r, Act i

yton's "Polyolbion," says:-"By South Cadbury is that Camelot; a hill of a mile compass at the top; four trenches encircling it, a

, Winchester." When Caxton finished the printing of the "Mort d'Arthur,"113 he says of the hero:-"He is more spoken of beyond the sea, ... and yet of record remain witness of him in Wales, in the town of Camelot, the great sto

D-GOOSE

or thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits, than, I am

me for anything, when thou w

e thee by the e

good goose

bitter sweeting; it i

t well served in

erel, that stretches from an

broad: which, added to the goose, pr

Juliet, Ac

in which two horses were started together, and the rider who first got the

ing the "common recreations of country folks," he alludes to "riding of great horses, running at rings, tilts and tournaments, and wild-goos

ks illustrate more appropriately what we shall have to say under the

SW

called also the bird of Apollo, the god of music, powers of

the swan, and

, Act v

e end, fadi

Venice, Ac

his father's deat

e that death

et to this pa

oleful hymn to

organ-pipe of

body to their

n, Act v

Lucrece,

pale swan in h

dirge of her

ft and rather plaintive note, monotonous, but not disagreeable. I ha

OF TH

well-known 'whoop.' But one summer evening I was amused with watching and listening to a domesticated one, as he swam up and down the water in the Regent's

spot by a first-rate musician,

ID

e interesting remarks upon the

e is short and transient, and has the effect which our musicians term sensible; so that it is not separated from the second, but seems to glide into it. Observe that, fortunately for the ear, they do not both sing at once; in fact, if, while the male sounded B flat, the female gave A, or if the male uttered A while

ill I felt anxious to hear some plaintive sound or other, some soft inflection of the voice, which might tend to justify that notion in a small degree. But I was disappointed. He nodded, and then tried to recover himself, and then nodded again, and again held up

the origin of which is lost in the shades of antiquity. Its repetition can be of no manner of use, save as a warning to or

OF TH

carried on the back of the female when she is sailing about in the water. This I have witnessed on the Thames, and have seen the female, by raising her leg, assist the cygnets in getting upon her back." Mr. Jesse, also, in his "Gleanings in Natural History," co

we may presume that this habit

swan her down

risoner undern

Part I. Ac

nderstand under shelter of her wings, which she a

WAN'S

se birds dive from its nest, I placed myself with my gun at my shoulder, waiting its reappearance. As soon as it emerged I fired and killed it, and was surprised to see two young ones, which it seems had been concealed beneath the wings of the parent

turn to t

he water i

a swan's blac

ave them hourl

onicus, Ac

e seen

labour swim ag

rength with over

art III. Ac

'S D

est, published by Professor Newton in the "Ootheca Wolleyana" (Part I. Plate

world'

ems as of it,

pool, a s

e, Act i

n, Shakespeare has found the

erring to Ros

ce with some th

e thee think t

Juliet, Ac

on the charms of C

r h

··

hose sof

's down is

Cressida,

und throughout the Plays, we are reminded in the

er we went, li

coupled and

ke It, Ac

me humour, thus allude

beast. You were also, Jupiter, a swan, for the love of Leda; O, omnipotent love! how

hose who could afford it, was served up at all the principal feasts. In "The

to serve my Lordis house and to be paide fore as they may be boughte i

Lordis house as too say for Cristynmas Day v-Saynt Stephyns Day ij-Saynt John Day ij-Childrema

GN

. The "Warraunt" referred to expressly

ut the works of Shakespeare wherein it is mentioned or referred to, we fear the reader's patience might

le more attractive species have claimed a larger share of the poet's a