“The _Red Sparrow_, or Reed Sparrow.” R. Holme’s _Ac. of Armory_, 1688. B. ii. p. 246.
v. 407. _The spynke_] i. e. The chaffinch. In the _Countrie Farme_, the “spinke” is frequently mentioned (see pp. 886, 890, 891, 898, 900. ed. 1600); and in the French work by Estienne and Liebault, from which it is translated, the corresponding word is “pinçon:” in Cotgrave’s _Dict._ is “Pinson. _A Spink_, _Chaffinch_, or Sheldaple;” and in Moor’s _Suffolk Words_, “_Spinx. The chaffinch_.” R. Niccolls, in a poem which contains several pretty passages, has
“The speckled _Spinck_, that liues by gummie sappe.”
v. 409. _The doterell, that folyshe pek_] The dotterel is said to allow itself to be caught, while it imitates the gestures of the fowler: _pek_, or _peke_, seems here to be used by Skelton in the sense of—contemptible fellow; so in his _Collyn Cloute_;
“Of suche _Pater-noster pekes_ All the worlde spekes.”
In Hormanni _Vulgaria_ we find: “He is shamefast but not _pekysshe_. Verecundus est sine _ignauia_.” sig. N i. ed. 1530.—And see Todd’s Johnson’s _Dict._, and Richardson’s _Dict._ in v. _Peak_.
v. 411. _toote_] i. e. pry, peep, search.
v. 415. _His playne songe to solfe_] See note, p. 95, v. 48: _solfe_, i. e. solfa.
_The woodhacke, that syngeth chur_ _Horsly, as he had the mur_]
—_woodhacke_, i. e. woodpecker. “_Wodehac_ or nothac byrde. Picus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499: _mur_, i. e. a severe cold with hoarseness. Compare Lydgate;
“And at his feete lay a prykeryd curre He rateled in the throte _as he had the murre_.”
_Le Assemble de dyeus_, sig. b i. n. d. 4to.
v. 421. _The popyngay_] i. e. The parrot.
Page 64. v. 422. _toteth_] Or _tooteth_; see note on v. 411.
v. 424. _The mauys_] Is properly the song-thrush, as distinguished from the missel-thrush: see note on v. 460, p. 131.
v. 425. _the pystell_] i. e. the Epistle.
v. 426. _a large and a longe_] See note, p. 95. v. 49.
_To kepe iust playne songe,_ _Our chaunters shalbe the cuckoue_]
See note, p. 95. v. 48. So Shakespeare mentions “_the plain-song cuckoo_ gray.” _Mids. Night’s Dream_, act iii. sc. 1.
v. 430. _puwyt the lapwyng_] In some parts of England, the lapwing is called _pewit_ from its peculiar cry.
v. 432. _The bitter with his bumpe_] “The _Bitter_, or Bitterne, _Bumpeth_, when he puts his Bill in the reeds.” R. Holme’s _Ac. of Armory_, 1688. B. ii. p. 310.