Before taking leave of the crow family, we have yet to notice another bird mentioned by Shakespeare, which is nearly related to the crow. This is the Rook (Corvus frugilegus). But, notwithstanding the usefulness of the bird, the poet has not said much in its favour. It is noticed in the song in Love’s Labour’s Lost, and is included amongst the birds of omen in the quotation lately given from Macbeth.
In the Merry Wives of Windsor, Act i. Sc. 3, we find the expression “bully-rook,” and it would seem that this epithet in Shakespeare’s time bore much the same signification as “jolly-dog” does now-a-days. But it came subsequently to have a more offensive meaning, and was applied to a cheat and a sharper.
THE JAY.
We had well-nigh forgotten the Jay (Corvus glandarius),—Winter’s Tale (Act iv. Sc. 3),—and only allude to it now to show that Shakespeare has not omitted it from his long list of birds. In Cymbeline, the name is applied to a gaudily-dressed person:—
“Some jay of Italy hath betray’d him.”
Cymbeline, Act iii. Sc. 4.
No doubt on account of the bright plumage of this bird.
“What, is the jay more precious than the lark,
Because his feathers are more beautiful?”
Taming of the Shrew, Act iv. Sc. 3.