The Ornithology of Shakespeare Critically examined, explained and illustrated

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  THE
  ORNITHOLOGY
  OF
  SHAKESPEARE.

[Illustration: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

From the Chandos Portrait]




  THE
  ORNITHOLOGY
  OF
  SHAKESPEARE.

  CRITICALLY EXAMINED, EXPLAINED, AND ILLUSTRATED.

  BY
  JAMES EDMUND HARTING, F.L.S., F.Z.S.,

  MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS’ UNION,
  AUTHOR OF “THE BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX,”
  ETC., ETC.

  [Illustration: Publisher's Logo]

  LONDON:
  JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW.
  MDCCCLXXI.




  LONDON:

  PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER,
  MILFORD LANE, STRAND, W.C.




PREFACE.


Of no other author, perhaps, has more been written than of Shakespeare.
Yet whatever other knowledge his commentators professed, few of them
appear to have been naturalists, and none, so far as I am aware, have
examined his knowledge of Ornithology.

An inquiry upon this subject, undertaken in the first instance for my
own amusement, has resulted in the bringing together of so much that is
curious and entertaining, that to the long list of books already
published about Shakespeare, I have been bold enough to add yet another.
In so doing, I venture to hope that the reader may so far appreciate the
result of my labour as not to consider it superfluous.

As regards the treatment of the subject, a word or two of explanation
seems necessary. In 1866, from the notes I had then collected, I
contributed a series of articles on the birds of Shakespeare to _The
Zoologist_. In these articles, I referred only to such birds as have a
claim to be considered British, and omitted all notice of domesticated
species. I had not then considered any special arrangement or grouping,
but noticed each species _seriatim_ in the order adopted by Mr. Yarrell
in his excellent “History of British Birds.” Since that date, I have
collected so much additional information on the subject, that, instead
of eighty pages (the extent of my first publication), three hundred have
now passed through the printers’ hands. With this large accession of
material, it was found absolutely necessary to re-arrange and re-write
the whole. The birds therefore have been now divided into certain
natural groups, including the foreign and domesticated species, to each
of which groups a chapter has been devoted; and I have thought it
desirable to give, by way of introduction, a sketch of Shakespeare’s
general knowledge of natural history and acquaintance with field-sports,
as bearing more or less directly on his special knowledge of
Ornithology, which I propose chiefly to consider.

After I had published the last of the series of articles referred to, I
received an intimation for the first time, that, twenty years
previously, a notice of the birds of Shakespeare had appeared in the
pages of _The Zoologist_. I lost no time in procuring the particular
number which contained the article, and found that, in December, 1846,
Mr. T. W. Barlow, of Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, had, to a certain extent,
directed attention to Shakespeare’s knowledge as an Ornithologist. His
communication, however, did not exceed half a dozen pages, in which
space he has mentioned barely one-fourth of the species to which
Shakespeare has referred. From the cursory nature of his remarks,
moreover, I failed to discover a reference to any point which I had not
already investigated. It would be unnecessary for me, therefore, to
allude to this article, except for the purpose of acknowledging that Mr.
Barlow was the first to enter upon what, as regards Shakespeare, may be
termed this new field of research.

The labour of collecting and arranging Shakespeare’s numerous allusions
to birds, has been much greater than many would suppose, for not only
have I derived little or no benefit from the various editions of his
works which I have consulted, but reference to a glossarial index, or
concordance, has, in nine cases out of ten, resulted in disappointment.
It is due to Mr. Staunton, however, to state that I have found some of
the foot-notes to his library edition of the Plays very useful.

Although oft-times difficult, it has been my endeavour, as far as
practicable, to connect one with another the various passages quoted or
referred to, so as to render the whole as readable and as entertaining
as possible. With this view, many allusions have been passed over as
being too trivial to deserve separate notice, but a reference to them
will be found in the Appendix at the end of the volume,[1] where all the
words quoted are arranged, for convenience, in the order in which they
occur in the plays and poems.

In spelling Shakespeare’s name, I have adopted the orthography of his
friends Ben Jonson and the editors of the first folio.[2]

As regards the illustrations, it seems desirable also to say a few
words.

In selecting for my frontispiece a portrait of Shakespeare as a falconer
(a character which I am confident could not have been foreign to him), I
have experienced considerable difficulty in making choice of a likeness.

Those who have made special inquiries into the authenticity of the
various portraits of Shakespeare, are not agreed in the results at which
they have arrived.