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 cock-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 cock in fighting attitude. Hence Shakespeare’s apt allusion.”
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 mass 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).
THE DOVES OF VENUS.
Some explanation of this is to be found in the following passage 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