[72.] The “recorder” is mentioned in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act v. Sc. 1, and in Hamlet, Act iii. Sc. 2.
[73.] Bechstein “Ornithologisches Taschenbuch.”
[74.] Shelley.
[75.] “The ruddock warbles soft.”—Spenser’s Epithalamium, I. 82.
[76.] Instead of “winter-ground” in the last line, Mr. Collier’s annotator reads “winter-guard;” but “to winter-ground” appears to have been a technical term for protecting a plant from the frost by laying straw or hay over it.
[78.] “The English of Shakespeare,” by G. L. Craik.
[79.] That is, the young cuckoo. The expression occurs again in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act ii. Sc. 1:—
“Take heed, ere summer comes, or cuckoo-birds do sing.”
[80.] “Epigrams (Black Letter), 1587.”