King Lear, Act iv. Sc. 6.
CHAPTER IX.
VARIOUS BIRDS NOT INCLUDED IN THE FOREGOING CHAPTERS.
NOTWITHSTANDING the comprehensive titles of the preceding chapters, there are several birds mentioned by Shakespeare which cannot, with propriety, be included in any of them. We have, therefore, deemed it advisable to notice them separately under the above heading.
Naturalists have frequently remarked upon the propensity which some birds have to become restless and noisy before rain. Familiar examples are, the Peacock; the Green Woodpecker, which, on this account, in some parts of the country, is called “rain-bird;” the Golden Plover, whose Latin and French name, Pluvialis and Pluvier, have reference to the same peculiarity; and the Woodcock, which, as Gilbert White says, has been observed “to be remarkably listless against snowy, foul weather.” Shakespeare has noticed this peculiarity in the Parrot:—
“More clamorous than a parrot against rain.”—As You Like It, Act iv. Sc. 1.
THE PARROT.