The Ornithology of Shakespeare Part 15

We are not aware, however, that an owl has ever been caught in the act of robbing a nest, and, indeed, it would not be easy to detect him, from the fact of his preying by night. Nevertheless, there is presumptive evidence to support the charge. A writer in _The Field_, of 29th June, 1867, says:--"Standing in my garden in Bedford Park, Croydon, an evening or two since, I saw a white owl fly to a sparrow's nest lodged on a water-spout under the roof of the house, and as though that visit was not successful, he repeated it, and then went to a nest on the next house, in the same way. It was too dark for me to see if he succeeded in his marauding expedition against the poor sparrows. Is it a common occurrence for an owl to go robbing nests? I never saw it done before, though I have lived all my life in the country, and of course seen this favourite bird skimming over the water meadows for its supper." To this communication the editor adds the following note:--"This fact is extremely interesting, and, we think, generally unknown. It would, however, have added much to the interest, had the robbery actually been proved; it does not seem quite certain that this was the owl's object in visiting the roof."

[Sidenote: ITS CHARACTER MALIGNED.]

Some years ago, having made the discovery that some stock-doves were building in the wooden spire of our village church, we commissioned the parish clerk to secure a pair of young birds as soon as they were ready to fly. He made several attempts for this purpose, paying occasional visits to see how the young birds were getting on, when, on going to the nest, as he supposed for the last time, to carry them off, he found it empty. This happened three or four times, and he was much puzzled to account for it. The birds could not have flown--they were not old enough. No one else could have taken them, for the church could not be entered without the key, which he always kept. Had rats carried them off? The clerk said there were none. Had there been any, he must have heard or seen them on one or other of his many visits to the church, or at least have found signs of their presence. But this was never the case. He stated, however, that a pair of barn owls lived in the same spire, and he thought that they were the culprits, taking the young ones, as he said, as soon as they were fat enough, to save themselves the trouble of hunting out of doors. Be this as it may, we feel bound to say, on behalf of the owls, they were never caught in the fact, and that the parent stock-doves were not deterred from laying again and again, and at length rearing a brood. Charles Waterton, whose name will be familiar to all naturalists, argues strongly against the notion of the barn owl robbing dove-cotes. He says[60]:--"When farmers complain that the barn owl destroys the eggs of their pigeons, they lay the saddle on the wrong horse. They ought to put it on the rat.

"Formerly, I could get very few young pigeons till the rats were excluded effectually from the dove-cot. Since that took place, it has produced a great abundance every year, though the barn owls frequent it, and are encouraged all around it. The barn owl merely resorts to it for repose and concealment. If it were really an enemy to the dove-cot, we should see the pigeons in commotion as soon as it begins its evening flight, but the pigeons heed it not; whereas if the sparrowhawk or hobby should make its appearance, the whole community would be up at once--proof sufficient that the barn owl is not looked upon as a bad or even a suspicious character by the inhabitants of the dove-cot."

[Sidenote: ITS RETIRING HABITS.]

Its habit of breeding in retired situations is alluded to in _t.i.tus Andronicus_, Act ii. Sc. 3:--

"Here never shines the sun; here nothing breeds, Unless the nightly owl."

And Shakespeare has truly characterized the appearance of this bird on the wing, when he speaks of

"The night-owl's lazy flight."

_Henry VI._ Part III. Act ii. Sc. 1.

[Sidenote: ITS FIVE WITS.]

Why the owl has been called the "bird of wisdom" it is not easy to determine. Possibly because it can see in the dark, and is the only bird which looks straightforward. Shakespeare frequently alludes to its "five wits," and the readers of Tennyson's poems will no doubt remember the lines:--

"Alone, and warming his _five wits_, The white owl in the belfry sits."

With our early writers the five senses appear to have been generally called the "five wits." Chaucer, in the "Parsone's Tale,"

says:--"Certes delites been after the appet.i.tes of the 'five wittes;' as sight, hereing, smelling, savouring, and touching." But it is not clear how this proverbial phrase became connected with the owl, nor what is the origin of "warming" the wits.

"_Petruchio._ Am I not _wise_?

_Katharine._ Yes, keep you _warm_."

_Taming of the Shrew_, Act ii. Sc. 1.

"If he have _wit_ enough to keep himself _warm_."

_Much Ado_, Act i. Sc. 1.

"Bless thy _five wits_."

_King Lear_, Act iii. Sc. 4, and Act iii. Sc. 6.

[Sidenote: ITS FAME IN SONG.]

The allusion above made to Tennyson's well-known poem, reminds us of the quaint and characteristic song in the last scene of _Love's Labour's Lost_:--

III.

"When icicles hang by the wall, And d.i.c.k the shepherd blows his nail, And Tom bears logs into the hall, And milk comes frozen home in pail; When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul, Then nightly sings the staring owl, To-who; Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

IV.

When all aloud the wind doth blow, And coughing drowns the parson's saw, And birds sit brooding in the snow, And Marian's nose looks red and raw; When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, Then nightly sings the staring owl, To-who; Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot."

Nor do we forget Ariel's song in _The Tempest_ (Act v. Sc. 1)--

"Where the bee sucks, there lurk I; In a cowslip's bell I lie, There I couch when owls do cry."

Amongst the fairies, at least, the owl seems to have found friends, and is generally represented as a companion in their moonlight gambols:--

"This is the fairy land!--O, spite of spites!-- We talk with goblins, owls, and elvish sprites."

_Comedy of Errors_, Act ii. Sc. 2.

The folio of 1623 omits "elvish," but the folio of 1632 has "elves,"

which Rowe changed to "elvish."

[Sidenote: ITS COMRADES.]

The following quotation we have some hesitation in introducing, for there appears to be a difference of reading, which quite alters the sense:--

"No, rather, I abjure all roofs, and choose

To be a comrade with the wolf and owl,-- Necessity's sharp pinch."

_King Lear_, Act ii. Sc. 4.

Mr. Collier, taking into consideration the last line, reads:--

"To be a comrade with the wolf, and howl Necessity's sharp pinch."

And this seems more likely to be the correct reading. Albeit, in support of the former version, the following pa.s.sage in _Lucrece_ has been adduced:--

"No noise but owls' and wolves' death-boding cries."

It is not to be supposed that Shakespeare was always a firm believer in the popular notions respecting animals and birds to which he has made allusion. In many cases he had a particular motive in introducing such notions, although possibly aware of their erroneous nature, and he evidently adopted them only to impart an air of reality to the scenes which he depicted, and to bring them home more forcibly to the impressionable minds of his auditors, to whom such "folks-lore" would be familiar. This is notably the case as regards the owl, and no one can read the first scene in the second act of _Macbeth_, or the fourth scene in the first act of _Henry VI._ (Part II.), without feeling the impressive effect produced by the introduction of a bird which is held in such detestation by the ignorant, but which naturalists have shown to be not only harmless, but useful.

[Sidenote: THE OWL'S GOOD NIGHT.]

But--

"The owl, night's herald, shrieks,--'tis very late."

_Venus and Adonis._

And, therefore, with Boyet, in _Love's Labour's Lost_ (Act iv. Sc. 1), we will say:--