Waspish-headed son has broke his arrows, Swears he will shoot no more, but play with sparrows And be a boy right out.[220] Thersites, who had been soundly thrashed by Ajax, takes his own method of revenge by declaring I have bobbed his brain more than he has beat my bones; I will buy nine sparrows for a penny, and his pin mater is not worth the ninth part of a sparrow.[221] [Sidenote: _The Swallow_] The SWALLOW is cited in the Plays for the swiftness of its flight, and for its annual migration.[222] When Richmond gives the order to march for Bosworth Field, he adds, True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings; Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.[223] The rapidity with which this bird can pursue its course, even close to the ground, had not escaped the poet’s notice. Titus, in praise of his stud, affirms I have horse will follow where the game Makes way, and run like swallows o’er the plain.[224] When Falstaff was rebuked for his dilatory journey to the field of battle, he justified himself thus: I never knew yet but rebuke and check was the reward of valour. Do you think me a swallow, an arrow, or a bullet? Have I, in my poor and old motion, the expedition of thought? I have speeded hither with the very extremest inch of possibility.[225] The arrival of the swallow with spring is charmingly brought before us in this little picture of vernal flowers: Daffodils, That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty; violets dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes Or Cytherea’s breath; pale primroses, That die unmarried, ere they can behold Bright Phœbus in his strength, a malady Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds.[226] The regular disappearance of the bird on the approach of autumn is taken as a symbol of human constancy. Timon of Athens is assured by his associates:――“The swallow follows not summer more willing than we your lordship.”[227] [Illustration: THE WREN] [Sidenote: _The House-Martin_] For the HOUSE-MARTIN or MARTLET Shakespeare seems to have had a special regard. He had noted the courageous way in which the bird places its nest, and the social instinct which leads it to build in companies where it can find convenient settlements. In one passage we are told: The martlet Builds in the weather on the outward wall, Even in the force and road of casualty.[228] When King Duncan arrives at the Castle of Inverness, and is delighted with the situation of the building and the pleasantness of the air, Banquo calls his attention to the numerous nests of the house-martin as evidence of the salubrity of the climate: