_Jul._ It is, it is: hie hence, be gone, away! It is the lark that sings so out of tune. * * * * * * * Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes; O, now I would they had changed voices too![204] [Illustration: THE SONG-THRUSH] [Sidenote: _The Ouzel and Throstle_] The BLACKBIRD or OUZEL, depicted in Bottom’s song as “so black of hue, with orange-tawny bill,” though one of our most melodious songsters, receives no commendation from Shakespeare. It is only once again mentioned by him, when its name is used with a rather uncomplimentary meaning. When Justice Shallow enquires of his brother magistrate regarding his god-daughter, Silence replies, “Alas, a black ousel, cousin Shallow.”[205] It is a pity that the old and distinctive name ouzel for this bird has become obsolete, though it may still be heard in use in Scotland. On the other side of the Tweed, also, where so many linguistic relics of the old alliance with France still remain, the blackbird is likewise known by its French name of merle, while the common name of the thrush is _mavis_, likewise from the French _mauvis_. The THRUSH or THROSTLE, another of our most musical warblers, is cited thrice by Shakespeare without any further comment on his voice than the compliment in Bottom’s song――“with his note so true.” The bird comes into one of Autolycus’ songs: The lark, that tirra-lyra chants, With heigh! with heigh! the thrush and the jay, Are summer songs for me and my aunts, While we lie tumbling in the hay.[206] Our great dramatist refers to the WREN no fewer than nine times in his different Plays. Its small size is noticed, and the bird is credited with an amount of courage disproportionate to its stature. When Macduff flees to England his wife bitterly complains that he should have left her and his children without his protection: He loves us not; He wants the natural touch; for the poor wren, The most diminutive of birds, will fight, Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.[207] When Imogen, recovering in the cave, hardly knows where she is, she muses With herself and prays: I tremble still with fear: but if there be Yet left in heaven as small a drop of pity As a wren’s eye, fear’d gods, a part of it![208] Shakespeare hardly does justice to the notes of the wren, which are louder, sweeter and more varied than might have been looked for in so tiny a bird. Portia thought that if the nightingale sang by day it would be thought no better than the wren.[209] And, in another passage, words of consolation “from a hollow breast” are likened to “the chirping of a wren.”[210] [Sidenote: _The Wagtail and Bunting_] The WAGTAIL is alluded to once by the poet, when its name is used in contempt by Kent towards Goneril’s steward: