"As humorous as winter, and as sudden
As flaws congealed in the spring of day."

In "2 Henry VI." (iii. 1) these outbursts of wind are further alluded
to:

"And this fell tempest shall not cease to rage
Until the golden circuit on my head,
Like to the glorious sun's transparent beams,
Do calm the fury of this mad-bred flaw."

Again, in "Venus and Adonis" (425), there is an additional reference:

"Like a red morn, that ever yet betoken'd
Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field,
Sorrow to shepherds, woe unto the birds,
Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds."

In the Cornish dialect a _flaw_ signifies primitively a cut.[150] But it
is also there used in a secondary sense for those sudden or cutting
gusts of wind.[151]

[150] Polwhele's "Cornish Vocabulary."

[151] Cf. "Macbeth," iii. 4, "O, these flaws and starts."

_Squalls._ There is a common notion that "the sudden storm lasts not
three hours," an idea referred to by John of Gaunt in "Richard II." (ii.
1):

"Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short."

Thus, in Norfolk, the peasantry say that "the faster the rain, the
quicker the hold up," which is only a difference in words from the
popular adage, "after a storm comes a calm."

_Clouds._ In days gone by, clouds floating before the wind, like a reek
or vapor, were termed racking clouds. Hence in "3 Henry VI." (ii. 1),
Richard speaks of:

"Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun;
Not separated with the racking clouds."

This verb, though now obsolete, was formerly in common use; and in "King
Edward III.," 1596, we read:

"Like inconstant clouds,
That, rack'd upon the carriage of the winds,
Increase," etc.

At the present day one may often hear the phrase, the rack of the
weather, in our agricultural districts; many, too, of the items of
weather-lore noticed by Shakespeare being still firmly credited by our
peasantry.

CHAPTER VI.

BIRDS.

In the present chapter we have not only a striking proof of
Shakespeare's minute acquaintance with natural history, but of his
remarkable versatility as a writer. While displaying a most extensive
knowledge of ornithology, he has further illustrated his subject by
alluding to those numerous legends, popular sayings, and superstitions
which have, in this and other countries, clustered round the feathered
race. Indeed, the following pages are