The Ornithology of Shakespeare Part 36

The speaker being evidently of opinion that a snipe was too insignificant a bird to the sportsman to warrant his taking much trouble to kill it, except for mere sport.

That there was a good deal more "sport" than "profit" is extremely likely; for it is difficult to believe that the sportsmen of Shakespeare's day, with guns such as we have described, fired with either fuze or flint, could have successfully stopped the erratic flight of a snipe. That large numbers of snipe were brought to market, and appeared at table, in Shakespeare's time, is clear from the numerous entries in the old "Household Book," where their value is stated to have been "after iii a j d." There can be little doubt, however, that these were not "shot birds," but were taken in snares and nets, as our modern fowlers take plovers and other fen birds.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER VIII.

WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL.

To the general reader these terms may appear synonymous, but to the sportsman and naturalist they have a very different signification. Under the head of "wild-fowl" may be placed the various species of wild geese, swans, and ducks, which, though often found at sea, evince a partiality for fresh water, rear their young in the neighbourhood of fresh water, and, as an article of food, are especially sought after by the amateur for sport, and by the professional gunner for profit; while the group of "sea-fowl" may be said to include the gulls, terns, guillemots, auks, cormorants, and various other birds, which, making the sea their home, rear their young upon its shelving beach or frowning cliffs, and, except on an emergency, are seldom cooked and eaten.

[Sidenote: A FLIGHT OF FOWL.]

Shakespeare has given us a peep at both. At one time we see--

"Strange fowl light upon neighbouring ponds."

_Cymbeline_, Act i. Sc. 4;

at another--

"A flight of fowl Scatter'd by winds and high tempestuous gusts."

_t.i.tus Andronicus_, Act v. Sc. 3.

Anon the scene changes, and leaving the green fields of which Falstaff "babbled," and the "great pool" with its "swan's nest" (_Cymbeline_, Act iii. Sc. 4), we are led to--

"That pale, that whitefaced sh.o.r.e, Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides."

_King John_, Act ii. Sc. 1;

there to contemplate "the sea-mells" on the rock (_Tempest_, Act ii. Sc.

2), or watch the movements of the "insatiate cormorant" (_Richard II._ Act ii. Sc. 1).

Nor are we left entirely to our own reflections in these situations.

Some trait or other is noticed in the habits of the bird alluded to, some curious instinct pointed out. We pause insensibly to admire the appropriate haunts in which the poet has discovered the fowl, and carry out with him, in thought, the crafty device of the fowler to which a pa.s.sing allusion is made.

Naturalists have frequently observed that when any of the diving-ducks are winged or injured, they generally make for the open water, and endeavour to escape by diving or swimming away, while those which do not excel in diving, usually make for the sh.o.r.e when wounded, and, as Shakespeare tells us, "creep into sedges."

[Sidenote: DUCK-HUNTING.]

"Alas! poor hurt fowl, now will he creep into sedges."

_Much Ado about Nothing_, Act ii. Sc. 1.

"Duck-hunting," _i.e._, hunting a tame duck in the water with spaniels, was a favourite amus.e.m.e.nt in Shakespeare's day. "Besides the clear streams that ran into the Thames, old London boasted of innumerable wells, now lost, sullied, or bricked up. There was Holy-well, Clement's-well, Clerken-well, Skinners-well, Fay-well, Fede-well, Leden-well, and Shad-well. West Smithfield had its horse-pond, its pool of Dame Annis le Cleare, and the Perilous Pond. The duck-hunting in these pools, and at Islington, was a favourite amus.e.m.e.nt with the citizens."[132]

"And 'hold-fast' is the only dog, my duck."

_Henry V._ Act ii. Sc. 3.

The sense of smell and hearing is possessed by most wild-fowl in an extraordinary degree, and, except under favourable circ.u.mstances-- favourable that is to the shooter--they display what Falstaff would call "a want of valour," and, as soon as they become aware of the approach of the enemy, ignominiously take to flight:--

"_Falstaff._ There is no more valour in that Poins than in a wild duck."--_Henry IV._ Part I. Act ii. Sc. 2.

But, if the better part of valour be discretion, Poins, like the wild duck, displays the better part:--

"Claps on his sea wing, and like a doting mallard, Leaving the fight in height, flies after it."

_Antony and Cleopatra_, Act iii. Sc. 10.

To swim like a duck is proverbial--

"_Stephano._ Here; swear then how thou escapest.

_Trinculo._ Swam ash.o.r.e, man, like a duck; I can swim like a duck, I'll be sworn."--_Tempest_, Act ii. Sc. 2.

[Sidenote: THE STALKING-HORSE.]

An ancient device for getting within shot of wild-fowl was "the stalking-horse." Hence the allusion--

"Stalk on, stalk on, the fowl sits."

_Much Ado about Nothing_, Act ii. Sc. 3.

And again--

"He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit."--_As You Like It_, Act v. Sc. 4.

Gervase Markham tells us[133] that "sometime it so happeneth that the fowl are so s.h.i.+e there is no getting a shoot at them without 'a stalking-horse,' which must be some old jade trained up for that purpose, who will gently, and as you will have him, walk up and down in the water which way you please, plodding and eating on the gra.s.s that grows therein. You must shelter yourself and gun behind his fore-shoulder, bending your body down low by his side, and keeping his body still full between you and the fowl. Being within shot, take your level from before the fore part of the horse, shooting as it were between the horse's neck and the water.... Now to supply the want of a stalking-horse, which will take up a great deal of time to instruct and make fit for this exercise, you may make one of any piece of old canva.s.s, which you must shape into the form of an horse, with the head bending downwards, as if he grazed. You may stuff it with any light matter; and do not forget to paint it of the color of an horse, of which the brown is the best.... It must be made so portable that you may bear it with ease in one hand, moving it so as it may seem to graze as you go."

Sometimes the stalking-horse was made in shape of an ox; sometimes in the form of a stag; and sometimes to represent a tree, shrub, or bush.

In every case it had a spike at the bottom, to stick into the ground while the fowler took his aim.

In the "Privy Purse Expenses of King Henry VIII." are various entries referring to stalking-horses, all of which appear to refer to the live animal; and there is one entry relating to a stalking-ox.

[Sidenote: THE CALIVER.]

The gun used on these occasions was either the "birding-piece" already described,[134] or the "caliver." Shakespeare has appropriately mentioned the latter in connection with wild ducks, in the first part of his _Henry IV._, where Falstaff speaks of cowards "such as fear the report of a 'caliver' worse than a struck fowl or a hurt wild-duck."--_Henry IV._ Part I. Act iv. Sc. 2.