The Ornithology of Shakespeare Part 27

A simple and effective bird-trap was made as follows:--

Procure a square frame covered on one side with wire netting, as shown in the woodcut.

Tie each end of a pliant stick to two corners of the frame, to form a hoop. Cut a straight stick, forked at one end, and a shorter pliant stick.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Lift the front of the trap; place the forked stick in an upright position against the _outside_ of the front, and also _outside_ the hoop. Insert one end of pliant twig between fork and front, and after raising hoop about two inches, insert the other end of the twig, so as to rest against the hoop, and press _outwards_. This will hold the hoop up. A bird, on approaching the trap, hops on the hoop to get at the grain within it, when the hoop will go down with the weight and let go the twig, which being pliant flies out, and the fork (being only _outside_ the front) of course falls, and so does the trap.

[Sidenote: BIRD-BOLTS.]

The "bird bolts" mentioned by Shakespeare in _Twelfth Night_ (Act i. Sc.

5), _Love's Labour's Lost_ (Act iv. Sc. 3), and _Much Ado about Nothing_ (Act i. Sc. 1), were the "bolts," or "quarrels" as they were sometimes called, which were shot from the cross-bow, or "stone-bow," _Twelfth Night_ (Act ii. Sc. 5). The latter was simply a cross-bow made for propelling stones or bullets, in contradistinction to a bow that shot arrows. Sir John Bramston, in his Autobiography (p. 108) says:--"Litle more than a yeare after I maried, I and my wife being at Skreenes with my father (the plague being soe in London, and my building not finished), I had exercised myself with a _stone-bow_, and a spar-hawke at the bush."

There were two denominations of cross-bows--latches and prodds. The former were the military weapons, and were bent with one or both feet, by putting them into a kind of stirrup at the extremity, and then drawing the cord upward with the hands; the latter were chiefly used for sporting purposes. They were bent with the hand, by means of a small steel lever, called the goat's-foot, on account of its being forked or cloven on the side that rested on the cross-bow and the cord. The bow itself was usually made of steel, though sometimes of wood or horn.[88]

The missiles discharged from them were not only arrows, which were shorter and stouter than those of the long-bow, but also bolts (_bolzen_, German; _quarreaux_, or _carrieaux_, French; _quadrelli_, Latin, corrupted into "quarrels," from their pyramidal form), and also stones or leaden b.a.l.l.s.

_Apropos_ of "bolts," who does not remember Oberon's poetical story of the wild pansy (_Viola tricolor_) marked by Cupid's "bolt?"

"Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell: It fell upon a little western flower,-- Before, milk white, now purple with love's wound,-- And maidens call it 'Love-in-idleness.'"

_Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act ii. Sc. 1.

[Sidenote: BIRDING-PIECES.]

The "birding-pieces" which Mrs. Ford tells Falstaff are always "discharged" up the chimney, were no doubt the old-fashioned fowling-pieces which were in use in those days.

According to Sir S. D. Scott,[89] the "birding-piece" was identical with the "snap-hance," the early form of that process of ignition--the flint and steel lock--which has survived nearly 300 years, and specimens of which, although now becoming rare, may occasionally be met with in use, even at the present day. It was a Dutch invention; and is said to have been brought into use by marauders, whom the Dutch called _snap-haans_, or poultry stealers. The light from the burning match, which necessarily accompanied the match-lock, exposed them to detection; and the wheel-lock was an article too expensive for them to purchase, as well as being liable to get out of order; so this lock was devised, and was suggested, no doubt, by the wheel-lock. It consisted in the subst.i.tution of flint for pyrites, and a furrowed plate of steel in lieu of the wheel. When the trigger was pulled, it brought this jagged piece of steel in collision with the flint, which threw down its shower of sparks into the open pan, and lighted the priming. This improvement apparently took place about the close of the sixteenth century.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

There is a very early "snap-hance" in the Tower Collection, numbered 12/79. It is a "birding-piece" of Prince Charles, afterwards King Charles I., date 1614, and furnishes a good ill.u.s.tration of the form of gun in use in Shakespeare's day. It is engraved both on lock and barrel.

The b.u.t.t is remarkably thin; the length of the whole arm is four feet two inches, and was consequently adapted for a youth like the Prince, who, at the date above mentioned, was fourteen years of age.

[Sidenote: DANGER.]

On looking at the curious specimens which are still treasured up as heirlooms, or in museums, one cannot help thinking that the person who pulled the trigger must have been in far greater danger than the bird at which he aimed.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER VI.

THE BIRDS UNDER DOMESTICATION.

It would hardly be supposed that the birds under domestication could inspire much poetical feeling, or indeed that they could furnish the dramatist with much imagery. 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 c.o.c.k, the Peac.o.c.k, the Turkey, the Pigeon, the Goose, the Duck and the Swan, are all noticed in their turn, and indeed, in the ordinary list of poultry, hardly a species has escaped mention. In the succeeding chapter, when treating of the game-birds, we shall notice the Pheasant, Partridge, and Quail, which are occasionally domesticated. For the present, it will be as well to confine our attention to the birds above mentioned.

[Sidenote: THE c.o.c.k.]

"The early village c.o.c.k" (_Richard III._ Act v. Sc. 3), "the trumpet to the morn" (_Hamlet_, Act i. Sc. 1), is often noticed by Shakespeare. In the prologue to the fourth act of _King Henry V._--

"The country c.o.c.ks do crow, the clocks do toll, And the third hour of drowsy morning name."

[Sidenote: c.o.c.k-CROW.]

Steevens has shown that the popular notion of a phantom disappearing at c.o.c.k-crow is of very ancient date. The conversation of Bernardo, Horatio, and Marcellus, on the subject of Hamlet's ghost, affords a good ill.u.s.tration of this:--

"_Bern._ It was about to speak, when the c.o.c.k crew!

_Hor._ And then it started like a guilty thing Upon a fearful summons. I have heard, The c.o.c.k, that is the trumpet to the morn, Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat Awake the G.o.d of day; and, at his warning, Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, The extravagant[90] and erring spirit hies To his confine: and of the truth herein, This present object made probation.

_Mar._ It faded on the crowing of the c.o.c.k.

Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long: And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and so gracious is the time."

_Hamlet_, Act i. Sc. 1.

"Hark! hark! I hear the strain of strutting chanticleer cry c.o.c.kadidle-dowe."--_Tempest_, Act i. Sc. 2.

Just as "c.o.c.k-crow" denotes the early morning, so is "c.o.c.k-shut-time" or "c.o.c.k-close," expressive of the evening; although some consider that the latter phrase owes its origin to the practice of netting woodc.o.c.ks at twilight, that is, shutting or enclosing them in a net.

[Sidenote: c.o.c.k-A-HOOP.]

The origin of the phrase "c.o.c.k-a-hoop," which occurs in _Romeo and Juliet_, Act i. Sc. 5, is very doubtful: the pa.s.sage is--

"You'll make a mutiny among my guests!

You will set _c.o.c.k-a-hoop_! you'll be the man!"

Some commentators consider that this refers in some way to the boastful crowing of the c.o.c.k, but we do not think that Shakespeare intended any allusion here to the game-fowl. We take it that the reference is to a cask of ale or wine, and that the phrase "to set c.o.c.k-a-hoop" means to take the c.o.c.k, or tap, out of the cask and set it on the hoop, thus letting all the contents escape. The man who would do such a reckless act, would be just the sort of man to whom Shakespeare refers.

The ale-house sign of "The c.o.c.k and Hoop" represents a game-fowl standing upon a hoop, but we have little doubt that the original sign was a cask flowing, with the 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 bill to distinguish it; "The Devil and the Bag o' Nails" for "Pan and the Baccha.n.a.ls;" "The Goat and Compa.s.ses" for the ancient motto "G.o.d encompa.s.seth us;" &c., &c.[91]

[Sidenote: c.o.c.k AND PYE.]

The popular adjuration, "by c.o.c.k and pye," which Shakespeare has put in the mouth of Justice Shallow, was once supposed to refer to the sacred name, and to the table of services, called "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 Perseda" (1599), it occurs coupled with "mousefoot;"--"By c.o.c.k and pye and mousefoot." Again, in "The Plaine Man's Pathway to Heaven," by Arthur Dent (1607), we have the following dialogue:--

_Asunetus._--"I know a man that will never swear but by _c.o.c.k_ or _py_, or _mousefoot_. I hope you will not say these be oaths. For he is as honest a man as ever brake bread. You shall not hear an oath come out of his mouth."

_Theologus._--"I do not think he is so honest a man as you make him.

For it is no small sin to swear by creatures."