The Ornithology of Shakespeare Part 32

The Abbe Arnaud has written some interesting remarks upon the voice of the swan.[115] He says:--

"The swan, with his wings expanded, his neck outstretched, and his head erect, places himself opposite his mate, uttering a cry to which the female replies by another half a note lower. The voice of the male rises from A (_la_), to B flat (_si bemol_); that of the female from G sharp (_sol diese_), to A.[116] The first note is short and transient, and has the effect which our musicians term _sensible_; so that it is not separated from the second, but seems to glide into it. Observe that, fortunately for the ear, they do not both sing at once; in fact, if, while the male sounded B flat, the female gave A, or if the male uttered A while the female gave G sharp, there would result the harshest and most insupportable of discords. We may add that this dialogue is subjected to a constant and regular rhythm, with the measure of two times (?). The keeper a.s.sured me that during their amours, these birds have a cry still sharper, but much more agreeable."

The late Charles Waterton once had an opportunity, which rarely occurs, of seeing a swan die from natural causes. "Although I gave no credence,"

he says,[117] "to the extravagant notion which antiquity had entertained of melody from the mouth of the dying swan, still I felt anxious to hear some plaintive sound or other, some soft inflection of the voice, which might tend to justify that notion in a small degree. But I was disappointed. He nodded, and then tried to recover himself, and then nodded again, and again held up his head; till, at last, quite enfeebled and worn out, his head fell gently on the gra.s.s, his wings became expanded a trifle or so, and he died whilst I was looking on. He never even uttered his wonted cry, nor so much as a sound to indicate what he felt within.

"The silence which this bird maintained to the last tends to show that the dying song of the swan is nothing but a fable, the origin of which is lost in the shades of antiquity. Its repet.i.tion can be of no manner of use, save as a warning to ornithologists not to indulge in the extravagancies of romance--a propensity not altogether unknown in these our latter times."

[Sidenote: HABITS OF THE SWAN.]

Yarrell has remarked, in his "History of British Birds," that "the young, when hatched, which is generally about the end of May, are conducted to the water by the parent bird, and are even said to be carried there: it is certain that the cygnets are frequently carried on the back of the female when she is sailing about in the water. This I have witnessed on the Thames, and have seen the female, by raising her leg, a.s.sist the cygnets in getting upon her back." Mr. Jesse, also, in his "Gleanings in Natural History," correctly observes: "Where the stream is strong the old swan will sink herself sufficiently low to bring her back on a level with the water, when the cygnets will get upon it, and in this manner are conveyed to the other side of the river, or into stiller water."

From a pa.s.sage in _King Henry VI._ we may presume that this habit had been noticed by Shakespeare:--

"So doth the swan her downy cygnets save, Keeping them prisoner underneath her wings."

_Henry VI._ Part I. Act v. Sc. 3.

By the expression "underneath her wings" we may understand under shelter of her wings, which she arches over her back whereon the young are seated.

[Sidenote: THE SWAN'S NEST.]

This habit of carrying the young has been observed in the case of many other water birds. Mr. W. Proctor, of Durham, speaking of the habits of the horned grebe (_Podiceps cornutus_), as observed by him in Iceland, says:--"One day, having seen one of these birds dive from its nest, I placed myself with my gun at my shoulder, waiting its reappearance. As soon as it emerged I fired and killed it, and was surprised to see two young ones, which it seems had been concealed beneath the wings of the parent bird, drop upon the water. I afterwards shot several other birds of this species, all of which dived with their young under their wings.

The young were placed with their heads towards the tail, and their bills resting on the back of the parent bird."

But to return to the swan:--

"For all the water in the ocean Can never turn a swan's black legs to white, Although she lave them hourly in the flood."

_t.i.tus Andronicus_, Act iv. Sc. 2.

"I have seen a swan With bootless labour swim against the tide, And spend her strength with overmatching waves."

_Henry VI._ Part III. Act i. Sc. 4.

[Sidenote: SWAN'S DOWN.]

Those who are familiar with the late Mr. Wolley's sketch of the wild swan's nest, published by Professor Newton in the "Ootheca Wolleyana"

(Part I. Plate 9), will recognize in it an excellent ill.u.s.tration to the following pa.s.sage:--

"I' the world's volume Our Britain seems as of it, but not in 't; In a great pool, a swan's nest."

_Cymbeline_, Act iii. Sc. 4.

For the purpose of comparison, Shakespeare has found the swan very useful in metaphor.

Benvolio, referring to Rosaline, says,--

"Compare her face with some that I shall show, And I will make thee think thy swan a crow."

_Romeo and Juliet_, Act i. Sc. 2.

Troilus, descanting on the charms of Cressida, speaks of--

"Her hand * * * * *

... to whose soft seizure The cygnet's down is harsh."...

_Troilus and Cressida_, Act i. Sc. 1.

Amongst the numerous cla.s.sical allusions to be found throughout the Plays, we are reminded in the present chapter of Juno's chariot drawn by swans:--

"And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans, Still we went coupled and inseparable."

_As You Like It_, Act i. Sc. 3.

Falstaff, too, with some humour, thus alludes to the loves of Leda:--

"O powerful love! that, in some respects, makes a beast a man; in some other, a man a beast. You were also, Jupiter, a swan, for the love of Leda; O, omnipotent love! how near the G.o.d drew to the completion of a goose!"--_Merry Wives of Windsor_, Act v. Sc. 5.

The swan, in Shakespeare's day, was in much request for the table, and, for those who could afford it, was served up at all the princ.i.p.al feasts. In "The Northumberland Household Book," such items as the following constantly occur:--

"ITEM. It is thoughte goode that my Lordis SWANNES be taken and fedde to serve my Lordis house and to be paide fore as they may be boughte in the countrey, seeing that my Lorde hath Swannes enoughe of his owne.

"ITEM a Warraunte to be servide oute yerely at Michaelmas for xx SWANNES for th' expencez of my Lordis house as too say for Cristynmas Day v--Saynt Stephyns Day ij--Saynt John Day ij--Childremas Day ij--Saint Thomas Day ij--New Yere Day iij--ande for the xij^th Day of Cristynmas iiij Swannys."

[Sidenote: CYGNETS.]

These were not to be old birds, however. The "Warraunt" referred to expressly provides that they should be "signetts."

In the case of the swan, as with many other species, were we to call attention to every pa.s.sage throughout the works of Shakespeare wherein it is mentioned or referred to, we fear the reader's patience might become exhausted. Where such allusions, therefore, are trifling, we have thought it well to pa.s.s them by.

In the present chapter, enough has probably been said to show that while more attractive species have claimed a larger share of the poet's attention, the birds under domestication have been by no means neglected.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER VII.

THE GAME-BIRDS AND "QUARRY" FLOWN AT BY FALCONERS.