When Justice Shallow inquires of Justice Silence, “And how doth my cousin?” he is answered—
“Alas, a black ouzel, Cousin Shallow.”
King Henry IV. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 2;
an expression which was probably equivalent to the modern phrase, a “black sheep.”
THE REDBREAST.
Amongst the songsters of less note mentioned by Shakespeare, are the Robin-redbreast (Erythaca rubecula)
and the Wren (Troglodytes vulgaris). These two birds have for centuries, from some unexplained cause, been always associated together. The country people, in many parts of England, still regard them as the male and female of one species, and support their assertion with an old couplet—
“The robin-redbreast and the wren
Are God Almighty’s cock and hen.”
In these days, when so much more attention is paid to ornithology than formerly, it will be hardly necessary to observe that the two birds thus associated together are not only of very distinct species, but belong to widely different genera.