The Ornithology of Shakespeare Part 29

"The foregoing statements show in how many countries, and during how long a period, many men have been pa.s.sionately devoted to the breeding of pigeons."[105]

[Sidenote: CARRIER-PIGEONS.]

In _t.i.tus Andronicus_ (Act iv. Sc. 3), upon the entry of a clown with two pigeons t.i.tus exclaims:--

"News, news from heaven! Marcus, _the post is come_.

Sirrah, what tidings? have you any letters?"

The practice of using pigeons as letter-carriers, here alluded to by Shakespeare, is doubtless of very ancient origin. The old historian Diodorus Siculus, informs us that above two thousand years ago they were employed for this purpose; and five hundred years since relays of carrier-pigeons formed part of a telegraphic system adopted by the Turks. "Regular chains of posts were established, consisting of high towers between thirty 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 pa.s.s 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, and for greater security a duplicate was always despatched two hours after the first. The despatches were, however, not always enclosed in gold, but merely in paper, in which case, to prevent the letters being defaced by damp, the legs of the pigeon were first bathed in vinegar, with a view to keep them cool, so that they might not settle to drink, or wash themselves on the way, which in that hot climate they were often doing."

[Sidenote: PIGEON-POST.]

The modern mode of transmitting messages by pigeon-post is much more ingenious, and less irksome to the bird. The slip of paper is rolled up very tightly, and inserted in a small quill, which is st.i.tched to one of the tail-feathers.

Formerly it was not an uncommon thing to send a pair of doves or pigeons as a present--

"I have brought you a letter and a couple of pigeons here."--_t.i.tus Andronicus_, Act iv. Sc. 4.

The constancy evinced by pigeons towards each other, when paired, has been already referred to. (_As You Like It_, Act iii. Sc. 3; _Winter's Tale_, Act iv. Sc. 3, &c.)

[Sidenote: "PIGEON-LIVER'D."]

It has been stated that the absence of a gall-bladder in pigeons is compensated for by the extraordinary development of the crop, by the aid of which the food becomes so thoroughly digested, 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, pa.s.ses, by two ducts, from the liver into the duodenum, instead of into a gall-bladder. Shakespeare has alluded to this peculiarity in the digestive organs of pigeons in _Hamlet_, where the Prince says:--

"I am pigeon-liver'd, and lack gall To make oppression bitter."

_Hamlet_, Act ii. Sc. 2.

The manner in which they feed their young, to which allusion is made in _As You Like It_ (Act i. Sc. 2), is very remarkable.

Most birds _collect_ for their young, but in the case of pigeons and some others, there exists a provision very similar to that of milk in quadrupeds. "I have discovered," says John Hunter,[106] "in my enquiries concerning the various modes in which young animals are nourished, that all the dove kind are endowed with a similar power.

[Sidenote: "AS PIGEONS FEED THEIR YOUNG."]

"The young pigeon, like the young quadruped, till it is capable of digesting the common food of its kind, is fed with a substance secreted for that purpose by the parent animal; not, as in the mammalia, by the female alone, but also by the male, which perhaps furnishes this nutriment in a degree still more abundant.

"It is a common property of birds, that both male and female are equally employed in hatching and in feeding their young in the second stage, but this particular mode of nourishment, by means of a substance secreted in their own bodies, is peculiar to certain kinds, and is carried on in the crop.

"Besides the dove kind, I have some reason to suppose parrots to be endowed with the same faculty, as they have the power of throwing up the contents of the crop, and feeding one another.

"I have seen the c.o.c.k parrakeet regularly feed the hen, by first filling his own crop, and then supplying her from his beak. Parrots, macaws, c.o.c.katoos, &c., 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 c.o.c.k pigeon, when he caresses the hen, performs the same kind of action as when he feeds his young, but I do not know if at this time he throws up anything from the crop.

"During incubation, the coats of the crop in the pigeon are gradually enlarged and thickened, like what happens to the udder of females of the cla.s.s mammalia, in the term of uterine gestation. On comparing the state of the crop when the bird is not sitting, with its appearance during incubation, the difference is very remarkable. In the first case it is thin and membranous, but by the time the young are about 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 quant.i.ty of blood, sufficient for the secretion of this substance, which is to nourish the young brood for some days after they are hatched. Whatever may be the consistence of this substance when just secreted, it most probably soon coagulates into a granulated white curd, for in such a form I have always found it in the crop; and if an old pigeon is killed just as the young ones are hatching, the crop will be found as above described, and in its cavity pieces of white curd, mixed with some of the common food of the pigeon, such as barley, beans, &c.

"If we allow either of the parents to feed the young, its crop, when examined, will be discovered to contain the same curdled substance, which pa.s.ses thence into the stomach, where it is to be digested. 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 common food is increased, so that by the time it is seven, eight, or nine days old, the secretion of the curd ceases in the old ones, and of course will no more be found in the crop of the young.

"It is a curious fact that the parent pigeon has at first the power to throw up this curd without any mixture of common food, although afterwards both are thrown up according to the proportion required for the young ones. I have called this substance curd, not as being literally so, but as resembling that more than 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 produces no such effect when mixed with milk. This secretion in the pigeon, like all other animal substances, becomes putrid by standing, though not so readily as either blood or meat, it resisting putrefaction for a considerable time; neither will curd much pressed become so putrid as soon as either blood or meat."

Selby says,[107] "The young remain in the nest till they are able to fly, and are fed by the parent birds, who disgorge into their mouths the food that has undergone a maceration, or semi-digestive process, in that part of the sophagus usually called the crop or craw."

Colonel Montagu appears to be one of the few original observers who has confirmed the account given by Hunter. "The rook," he says, "has a small pouch under the tongue, in which it carries food to its young. It is probable the use of the craw may be extended further than is generally imagined, for, besides the common preparation of the food to a.s.sist 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 mammae from which this milky liquor is produced, are situated on each side of the upper part of the breast, immediately under the craw. In the female turtle-dove we have met with these glands tumid with milky secretion, and we believe it common to both s.e.xes of the dove genus."[108]

[Sidenote: THE BARBARY PIGEON.]

It is not surprising that so great an authority on the subject as Mr.

Tegetmeier should have adverted to Shakespeare's knowledge of these birds. At p. 133 of his work upon Pigeons,[109] he says:--"The Barb, or Barbary Pigeon, is one of those varieties whose history can be traced back for a considerable period: it was certainly well known in England during the sixteenth century, for Shakespeare, in _As You Like It_, which was entered at Stationers' Hall in 1600, makes Rosalind, when disguised as a youth, say, 'I will be more jealous of thee than a Barbary c.o.c.k-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 Henry IV._ Act ii. Sc. 4, makes Falstaff say, 'He's no swaggerer, hostess ... he'll not swagger with a Barbary hen, if her feathers turn back with any show of resistance.' This allusion was most probably to a frizzled fowl. In this singular variety the feathers upon the head and neck are reversed or curled, which gives the hen at all times the appearance of a c.o.c.k in fighting att.i.tude. Hence Shakespeare's apt allusion."

[Sidenote: THE ROCK-DOVE.]

There seems to be no doubt that all the various races of the domestic pigeon are descended from a single stock, namely, the wild rock-pigeon (_Columba livia_). A ma.s.s of interesting evidence on this subject will be found in Darwin's "Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. i. chap. 5.

Frequent allusion has been made by Shakespeare to the "Doves of Venus"

(_Lucrece_, _Venus and Adonis_, and _Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act i.

Sc. 1), and "Venus' Pigeons" (_Merchant of Venice_, Act ii. Sc. 6).

[Sidenote: THE DOVES OF VENUS.]

Some explanation of this is to be found in the following pa.s.sage from _Venus and Adonis_:--

"Thus weary of the world, away she (Venus) hies, And yokes her silver doves; by whose swift aid Their mistress, mounted, through the empty skies In her light chariot quickly is convey'd; Holding their course to Paphos, where their queen Means to immure herself and not be seen."

This will also explain the reference to

"The dove of Paphos."

_Pericles_, Act iv. Introd.

The towns of Old and New Paphos are situate on the S.W. extremity of the coast of Cyprus. Old Paphos is the one generally referred to by the poets, being the peculiar seat 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 with the "dove of Venus." Sometimes by Paphos is understood the city of Cyprus, which is said to have been founded by Paphos, son of Pygmalion, and was known by his name:--

"Illa Paphon genuit: de quo tenet insula nomen."

_Ovid Metam._ Bk. 10, Fab. 8.

The Turtle-dove (_Columba turtur_) has been noticed by poets in all ages as an emblem of love and constancy.

Shakespeare has--

"When arm in arm they both came swiftly running, Like to a pair of loving turtle-doves."

_Henry VI._ Part I. Act ii. Sc. 2.

And elsewhere--

"So turtles pair that never mean to part."

_Winter's Tale_, Act iv. Sc. 3.