The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, ’tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at.”
Othello, Act i. Sc. 1.
THE MAGPIE.
With the ancients, much superstition prevailed in regard to various species of the crow family; and Shakespeare has specially mentioned three of these as birds of omen:—
“Augurs that understood relations have,
By magot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth
The secret’st man of blood.”