The Blossoming Rod

AT the head of the diurnal birds of prey, most authors have agreed in placing the Eagles. Their large size, powerful flight, and great muscular strength, give them a superiority which is universally admitted. In reviewing, therefore, the birds of which Shakespeare has made mention, no apology seems to be necessary for commencing with the genus Aquila.

Throughout the works of our great dramatist, frequent allusions may be found to an eagle, but the word "eagle" is almost always employed in a generic sense, and in a few instances only can we infer, from the context, that a particular species is indicated. Indeed, it is not improbable that in the poet's opinion only one species of eagle existed. Be this as it may, the introduction of an eagle and his attributes, by way of simile or metaphor, has been accomplished by Shakespeare with much beauty and effect. Considered as the emblem of majesty, the eagle has been variously styled "the king of birds," "the royal bird," "the princely eagle," and "Jove's bird," while so great is his power of vision, that an "eagle eye" has become proverbial.

POWER OF VISION.

"Behold, his eye,

As bright as is the eagle's, lightens forth

Controlling majesty."

Richard II. Act iii. Sc. 3.

The clearness of vision in birds is indeed extraordinary, and has been calculated, by the eminent French naturalist Lacépède, to be nine times more extensive than that of the farthest-sighted man. The opinion that the eagle possessed the power of gazing undazzled at the sun, is of great antiquity. Pliny relates that it exposes its brood to this test as soon as hatched, to prove if they be genuine or not. Chaucer refers to the belief in his "Assemblie of Foules":-

"There mighten men the royal egal find,

That with his sharp look persith the sonne."

So also Spenser, in his "Hymn of Heavenly Beauty,"-

"And like the native brood of eagle's kind,

On that bright sun of glory fix their eyes."

It is not surprising, therefore, that Shakespeare has borrowed the idea:-

AN EAGLE EYE.

"Nay, if thou be that princely eagle's bird,

Show thy descent by gazing 'gainst the sun."

Henry VI. Part III. Act ii. Sc. 1.

Again-

"What peremptory eagle-sighted eye

Dares look upon the heaven of her brow,

That is not blinded by her majesty?"

Love's Labour's Lost, Act iv. Sc. 3.

But in the same play and scene we are told-

"A lover's eyes will gaze an eagle blind."

And in this respect Paris was said to excel:-

"An eagle, madam,

Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye,

As Paris hath."

Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Sc. 5.

The supposition that the eye of the eagle is green must be regarded as a poetic license. In all the species of this genus with which we are acquainted, the colour of the iris is either hazel or yellow. But it would be absurd to look for exactness in trifles such as these.

POWER OF FLIGHT.

The power of flight in the eagle is no less surprising than his power of vision. Birds of this kind have been killed which measured seven or eight feet from tip to tip of wing, and were strong enough to carry off hares, lambs, and even young children. This strength of wing is not unnoticed by Shakespeare:-

"This was but as a fly by an eagle."

Antony and Cleopatra, Act ii. Sc. 2.

And-

"An eagle flight, bold, and forth on,

Leaving no track behind."

Timon of Athens, Act i. Sc. 1.

This last line recalls to mind the following allusion to the flight of the Jerfalcon:-"Then prone she dashes with so much velocity, that the impression of her path remains on the eye, in the same manner as that of the shooting meteor or flashing lightning, and you fancy that there is a torrent of falcon rushing for fathoms through the air."26

Spenser, in the fifth book of his "Faerie Queene" (iv. 42), has depicted the grandeur of an eagle on the wing:-

"Like to an eagle in his kingly pride

Soring thro' his wide empire of the aire

To weather his brode sailes."

But notwithstanding his great powers of flight, we are reminded that the eagle is not always secure. Guns, traps, and other engines of destruction are directed against him, whenever and wheresoever opportunity occurs:-

"And often, to our comfort, shall we find

The sharded beetle in a safer hold

Than is the full-wing'd eagle."

Cymbeline, Act iii. Sc. 3.

A GOOD OMEN.

With the Romans, the eagle was a bird of good omen. Josephus, the Jewish historian, says the eagle was selected for the Roman legionary standard, because he is the king of all birds, and the most powerful of them all, whence he has become the emblem of empire, and the omen of victory.27

Accordingly, we read in Julius C?sar, Act v. Sc. 1:-

"Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign

Two mighty eagles fell; and there they perch'd,

Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands."

This incident is more fully detailed in North's "Plutarch," as follows:-"When they raised their campe, there came two eagles, that flying with a marvellous force, lighted upon two of the foremost ensigns, and alwaies followed the souldiers, which gave them meate and fed them, untill they came neare to the citie of Phillipes; and there one day onely before the battell, they both flew away."

The ensign of the eagle was not peculiar, however, to the Romans. The golden eagle, with extended wings, was borne by the Persian monarchs,28 and it is not improbable that from them the Romans adopted it; while the Persians themselves may have borrowed the symbol from the ancient Assyrians, on whose banners it waved until Babylon was conquered by Cyrus.

As a bird of good omen, the eagle is often mentioned by Shakespeare:-

"I chose an eagle, and did avoid a puttock."

Cymbeline, Act i. Sc. 2.

The name "Puttock" has been applied both to the Kite and the Common Buzzard, and both were considered birds of ill omen.

THE BIRD OF JOVE.

In Act iv. Sc. 2, of the same play, we read,-

"I saw Jove's bird, the Roman eagle, wing'd

From the spungy south to this part of the west,

There vanish'd in the sunbeams."

This was said to portend success to the Roman host. In Izaak Walton's "Compleat Angler," we are furnished with a reason for styling the eagle "Jove's bird." The falconer, in discoursing on the merits of his recreation with a brother angler, says,-"In the air my troops of hawks soar upon high, and when they are lost in the sight of men, then they attend upon and converse with the gods; therefore I think my eagle is so justly styled Jove's servant in ordinary."

"For the Roman eagle,

From south to west on wing soaring aloft,

Lessen'd herself, and in the beams o' the sun

So vanish'd: which foreshadow'd our princely eagle,

The imperial C?sar, should again unite

His favour with the radiant Cymbeline,

Which shines here in the west."

Cymbeline, Act v. Sc. 5.

THE ROMAN EAGLE.

In a paper "On the Roman Imperial and Crested Eagles,"29 Mr. Hogg says,-"The Roman Eagle, which is generally termed the Imperial Eagle, is represented with its head plain, that is to say, not crested. It is in appearance the same as the attendant bird of the 'king of gods and men,' and is generally represented as standing at the foot of his throne, or sometimes as the bearer of his thunder and lightning. Indeed he also often appears perched on the top of his sceptre. He is always considered as the attribute or emblem of 'Father Jove.'"

A good copy of this bird of Jupiter, called by Virgil and Ovid "Jovis armiger," from an antique group, representing the eagle and Ganymedes, may be seen in Bell's "Pantheon," vol. i. Also "a small bronze eagle, the ensign of a Roman legion," is given in Duppa's "Travels in Sicily" (2nd ed., 1829, tab. iv.). That traveller states, that the original bronze figure is preserved in the Museum of the Convent of St. Nicholas d'Arcun, at Catania. This Convent is now called Convento di S. Benedetto, according to Mr. G. Dennis, in his "Handbook of Sicily," (p. 349); and he mentions this ensign as "a Roman legionary eagle in excellent preservation."

THE ENSIGN OF THE EAGLE.

From the second century before Christ, the eagle is said to have become the sole military ensign, and it was mostly small in size, because Florus (lib. 4, cap. 12) relates that an ensign-bearer, in the wars of Julius C?sar, in order to prevent the enemy from taking it, pulled off the eagle from the top of the gilt pole, and hid it by placing it under cover of his belt.

In later times, the eagle was borne with the legion, which, indeed, occasionally took its name, "aquila." This eagle, which was also adopted by the Roman emperors for their imperial symbol, is considered to be the Aquila heliaca of Savigny (imperialis of Temminck), and resembles our golden eagle, Aquila chrysa?tos, in plumage, though of a darker brown, and with more or less white on the scapulars. It differs also in the structure of the foot. It inhabits Southern Europe, North Africa, Palestine, and India. Living examples of this species may be seen at the present time in the Gardens of the Zoological Society.

HABITS AND ATTITUDES.

Sicilius, in Cymbeline (Act v. Sc. 4), speaking of the apparition and descent of Jupiter, who was seated upon an eagle, says,-

"The holy eagle

Stoop'd, as to foot us: his ascension is

More sweet than our blest fields: his royal bird

Prunes the immortal wing, and cloys his beak,

As when his god is pleas'd."

"Prune" signifies to clean and adjust the feathers, and is synonymous with plume. A word more generally used, perhaps, than either, is preen.

Cloys is, doubtless, a misprint for cleys, that is, claws. Those who have kept hawks must often have observed the habit which they have of raising one foot, and whetting the beak against it. This is the action to which Shakespeare refers. The same word occurs in Ben Jonson's "Underwoods," (vii. 29) thus:-

"To save her from the seize

Of vulture death, and those relentless cleys."

The verb "to cloy" has a very different signification, namely, "to satiate," "choke," or "clog up." Shakespeare makes frequent use of it.

In "Lucrece" it occurs:-

"But poorly rich, so wanteth in his store,

That, cloy'd with much, he pineth still for more."

And again, in Richard II. (Act i. Sc. 3):-

"O, who can hold a fire in his hand,

By thinking on the frosty Caucasus?

Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite,

By bare imagination of a feast?"

See also Henry V. Act ii. Sc. 2.

Sometimes the word was written "accloy;" as, for instance, in Spenser's "Faerie Queene" (ii. 7)-

"And with uncomely weeds the gentle wave accloyes."

And in the same author's "Shepheard's Calendar" (February, 135)-

"The mouldie mosse which thee accloyeth."

It is clear, therefore, that the word occurring in the fourth scene of the fifth act of Cymbeline, should be written cleys, and not cloys.

EAGLE'S EGGS.

But to return from this digression; there is a passage in the first act of Henry V. Sc. 2, which seems to deserve some notice while on the subject of eagles, i.e.:-

"For once the eagle England being in prey,

To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot

Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs."

That the weasel sucks eggs, and is partial to such fare, is very generally admitted. Shakespeare alludes to the fact again in As You Like It (Act ii. Sc. 5), where Jaques says:-"I can suck melancholy out of a song, as a weasel sucks eggs." But whether the weasel has ever been found in the same situation or at such an altitude as the eagle, is not so certain. A near relative of the weasel, however, namely, a marten-cat, was once found in an eagle's nest. "The forester, having reason to think that the bird was sitting hard, peeped over the cliff into the eyrie. To his amazement, a marten was suckling her kittens in comfortable enjoyment."30

The allusion above made to the "princely eggs," reminds us of the princely bird which laid them, and those who have read the works of Shakespeare-and who has not?-must doubtless remember the beautiful simile uttered by Warwick when dying on the field of Barnet:-

"Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge,

Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle."

Henry VI. Part III. Act v. Sc. 2.

The conscious superiority of the eagle is depicted by Tamora, who tells us:-

"The eagle suffers little birds to sing,

And is not careful what they mean thereby,

Knowing that with the shadow of his wing

He can at pleasure stint their melody."

Titus Andronicus, Act iv. Sc. 4.

LONGEVITY OF THE EAGLE.

The great age to which this bird sometimes attains has been remarked by most writers on Ornithology. The Psalmist has beautifully alluded to it where he says of the righteous man,-"His youth shall be renewed like the eagle's." A golden eagle, which had been nine years in the possession of Mr. Owen Holland, of Conway, lived thirty-two years with the gentleman who made him a present of it, but what its age was when the latter received it from Ireland is unknown.31 Another, that died at Vienna, was stated to have lived in confinement one hundred and four years.32 A white-tailed eagle captured in Caithness, died at Duff House in February, 1862, having been kept in confinement, by the late Earl of Fife, for thirty-two years. But even the eagle may be outlived. Apemantus asks of Timon:-

"Will these moss'd trees,

That have outliv'd the eagle, page thy heels,

And skip when thou point'st out?"

Timon of Athens, Act iv. Sc. 3.

The old text has "moyst trees." The emendation, however, which was made by Hanmer, is strengthened by the line in As You Like It (Act iv. Sc. 3):-

"Under an oak, whose boughs were moss'd with age."

In an old French "riddle-book," entitled "Demands Joyous," which was printed in English by Wynkyn de Worde in 1511 (a single copy only of which is said to be extant), is the following curious "demande" and "response." It is here transcribed, as bearing upon the subject of the age of an eagle:-

"Dem. What is the age of a field-mouse?

Res. A year. And the life of a hedge-hog is three times that of a mouse; and the life of a dog is three times that of a hedge-hog; and the life of a horse is three times that of a dog; and the life of a man is three times that of a horse; and the life of a goose is three times that of a man; and the life of a swan is three times that of a goose; and the life of a swallow is three times that of a swan; and the life of an eagle is three times that of a swallow; and the life of a serpent is three times that of an eagle; and the life of a raven is three times that of a serpent; and the life of a hart is three times that of a raven; and an oak groweth 500 years, and fadeth 500 years."

ITS AGE COMPUTED.

The Rev. W. B. Daniel alludes33 to "the received maxim that animals live seven times the number of years that bring them to perfection," upon which computation the average life of an eagle would be twenty-one years. But this maxim is founded on a misconception. Fleurens, in his treatise "De la Longévité Humaine," says that the duration of life in any animal is equal to five times the number of years requisite to perfect its growth, and that the growth has ceased when the bones have finally consolidated with their epiphyses, which in the young are merely cartilages.

Like many other rapacious birds, eagles are very fond of bathing, and it has been found essential to supply them with baths when in confinement, in order to keep them in good health. The freshness and vigour which they thus derive is alluded to in Henry IV. (Part I. Act iv. Sc. 1):-

"Hotspur. Where is his son,

The nimble-footed mad-cap Prince of Wales,

And his comrades?...

Vernon. All furnish'd, all in arms; ...

Like eagles having lately bath'd."

The larger birds of prey are no less fond of washing, though they care so little for water to drink, that it has been erroneously asserted that they never drink. "What I observed," says the Abbé Spallanzani,34 "is, that eagles, when left even for several months without water, did not seem to suffer the smallest inconvenience from the want of it, but when they were supplied with water, they not only got into the vessel and sprinkled their feathers like other birds, but repeatedly dipped the beak, then raised the head, in the manner of common fowls, and swallowed what they had taken up. Hence it is evident that they drink."

EAGLES TRAINED FOR HAWKING.

In Persia, Tartary, India, and other parts of the East, the eagle was formerly, and is still to a certain extent, used for hunting down the larger birds and beasts. In the thirteenth century, the Khan of Tartary kept upwards of two hundred hawks and eagles, some of which had been trained to catch wolves; and such was the boldness and power of these birds, that none, however large, could escape from their talons.35

Burton, in his "Anatomy of Melancholy,"36 quoting from Sir Antony Shirley's "Travels," says: "The Muscovian Emperours reclaim eagles, to let fly at hindes, foxes, &c., and such a one was sent for a present to Queen Elizabeth."

A traveller to the Putrid Sea, in 1819, wrote: "Wolves are very common on these steppes; and they are so bold that they sometimes attack travellers. We passed by a large one, lying on the ground with an eagle, which had probably attacked him, by his side. Its talons were nearly buried in his back; in the struggle both had died."37

TIRING.

Owing to the great difficulty in training them, as well as to the difficulty in obtaining them, eagles have rarely been trained to the chase in England. Some years since, Captain Green, of Buckden, in Huntingdonshire, had a fine golden eagle, which he had taught to take hares and rabbits;38 and this species has been found to be more tractable than any other.

Whether Shakespeare was aware of the use of trained eagles or not, we cannot say, but he has in many cases employed hawking terms in connection with this bird:-

"That hateful duke,

Whose haughty spirit, winged with desire,

Will cost my crown, and, like an empty eagle,

Tire on the flesh of me and of my son!"

Henry VI. Part III. Act i. Sc. 1.

The meaning of the word tire is thus explained by falconers. When a hawk was in training, it was often necessary to prolong her meal as much as possible, to prevent her from gorging; this was effected by giving her a tough or bony bit to tire on; that is, to tear, or pull at.

"Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast,

Tires with her beak on feathers, flesh, and bone,

Shaking her wings, devouring all in haste,

Till either gorge be stuff'd, or prey be gone."

Venus and Adonis.

So also, in Timon of Athens (Act iii. Sc. 6), one of the lords says:-

"Upon that were my thoughts tiring when we encounter'd."

THE EAGLE'S EYRIE.

In the following passage, two hawking terms are used in connection with the eagle:-

"Know, the gallant monarch is in arms,

And, like an eagle o'er his aiery, towers,

To souse annoyance that comes near his nest."

King John, Act v. Sc. 2.

This passage has been differently rendered, by removing the punctuation between "aiery" and "towers," and reading the former "airey" or "airy," and making "towers" a substantive. But the meaning of the passage, as it stands above, seems to us sufficiently clear.

"Aiery" is equivalent to "eyrie," the nesting-place. The word occurs again in Richard III. (Act i. Sc. 3):-

"Our aiery buildeth in the cedar's top;"

and,

"Your aiery buildeth in our aiery's nest."

The verb "to tower," in the language of falconry, signifies "to rise spirally to a height." Compare the French "tour." As a further argument, too, for reading "towers" as a verb, and not as a substantive, compare the following passage from Macbeth, which plainly shows that Shakespeare was not unacquainted with this word as a hawking term:-

"A falcon towering in her pride of place."

Macbeth, Act ii. Sc. 4.

THE FATAL SWOOP.

The word "souse," above quoted, is likewise borrowed from the language of falconry, and, as a substantive, is equivalent to "swoop." It would seem to be derived from the German "sausen," which signifies to rush with a whistling sound like the wind; and this is certainly expressive of the "whish" made by the wings of a falcon when swooping on her prey.

There is a good illustration of this passage in Drayton's "Polyolbion," Song xx., where a description of hawking at wild-fowl is given. After the falconers have put up the fowl from the sedge, the hawk, in the words of the author, having previously "towered," "gives it a souse." Beaumont and Fletcher also make use of this word as a hawking term in The Chances, iv. 1; and it occurs in Spenser's "Faerie Queene," Book iv. Canto v. 30.

A notice of the various hawks made use of by falconers, and mentioned by Shakespeare, might be here properly introduced, but it will be more convenient to reserve this notice for a separate chapter, and confine our attention for the present to the larger diurnal birds of prey which, like the eagles, are seldom, if ever, reclaimed by man.

Of these, excluding the eagle, Shakespeare makes mention of four-the Vulture, the Osprey, the Kite, and the Buzzard.

THE VULTURE:

Those who are acquainted with the repulsive habits of the Vulture, led as he is by instinct to gorge on carrion, will best understand the allusions to this bird which are to be met with in the works of Shakespeare.

What more forcible expression can be found to indicate a guilty conscience than "the gnawing vulture of the mind"? (Titus Andronicus, Act v. Sc. 2.)

"There cannot be

That vulture in you, to devour so many."

Macbeth, Act iv. Sc. 3.

When King Lear would denounce the unkindness of a daughter, which he could never forget, laying his hand upon his heart, he exclaims:-

"O Regan, she hath tied

Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here."

King Lear, Act ii. Sc. 4.

ITS REPULSIVE HABITS.

One of the worst wishes to which Falstaff could give vent when in a bad humour, was:-

"Let vultures gripe thy guts!"

Merry Wives of Windsor, Act i. Sc. 3.

And the same idea is expressed in Henry IV. (Part II. Act v. Sc. 4):-

"Let vultures vile seize on his lungs also!"

Occasionally we find the word "vulture" employed as an adjective:-

"Her sad behaviour feeds her vulture folly."

Lucrece.

And-

"Whose vulture thought doth pitch the price so high."

Venus and Adonis.

THE OSPREY:

The structure of the Osprey is wonderfully adapted to his habits, and an examination of the feet of this bird will prove how admirably contrived they are for grasping and holding a slippery fish. Mr. St. John, who had excellent opportunities of studying the Osprey in his native haunts, says:39-"I generally saw the osprey fishing about the lower pools of the rivers near their mouths; and a beautiful sight it is. The long-winged bird hovers (as a kestrel does over a mouse), at a considerable distance above the water, sometimes on perfectly motionless wing, and sometimes, wheeling slowly in circles, turning his head and looking eagerly down at the water. He sees a trout when at a great height, and suddenly closing his wings, drops like a shot bird into the water, often plunging completely under, and at other times appearing scarcely to touch the water, but seldom failing to rise again with a good-sized fish in his talons. Sometimes, in the midst of his swoop, the osprey stops himself suddenly in the most abrupt manner, probably because the fish, having changed its position, is no longer within range. He then hovers, again stationary, in the air, anxiously looking below for the re-appearance of the prey. Having well examined one pool, he suddenly turns off, and with rapid flight takes himself to an adjoining part of the stream, where he again begins to hover and circle in the air. On making a pounce into the water, the osprey dashes up the spray far and wide, so as to be seen for a considerable distance."

After this description, it is easy to understand the allusion of Aufidius, who says:-

"I think he'll be to Rome,

As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it

By sovereignty of nature."

Coriolanus, Act iv. Sc. 7.

ITS POWER OVER FISH.

Mr. Staunton thinks that the image is founded on the fabulous power attributed to the osprey of fascinating the fish on which he preys. In Peele's play of The Battle of Alcazar, 1594 (Act i. Sc. 1), we read:-

"I will provide thee of a princely osprey,

That, as he flieth over fish in pools,

The fish shall turn their glistering bellies up,

And thou shalt take thy liberal choice of all."

THE KITE,

Another of the birds of prey mentioned by Shakespeare is "the lazar Kite" (Henry V. Act ii. Sc. 1). Although a large bird, and called by some the royal Kite (Milvus regalis), it has not the bold dash of many of our smaller hawks in seizing live and strong prey, but glides about ignobly, looking for a sickly or wounded victim, or for offal of any sort.

"And kites

Fly o'er our heads, and downward look on us,

As we were sickly prey."

Julius C?sar, Act v. Sc. 1.

"Ere this

I should have fatted all the region kites

With this slave's offal."

Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 2.

"A prey for carrion kites."

Henry VI. Part II. Act v. Sc. 2.

From the ignoble habits of the bird, the name "kite" became a term of reproach:-

"You kite!"

Antony and Cleopatra, Act iii. Sc. 13.

And-

"Detested kite!"

King Lear, Act i. Sc. 4.

When pressed by hunger, however, the kite becomes more fearless; and instances have occurred in which a bird of this species has entered the farmyard and boldly carried off a chicken.

"Wer't not all one, an empty eagle were set

To guard the chicken from a hungry kite,

As place Duke Humphrey for the king's protector?"

Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 1.

The synonym "puttock" is sometimes applied to the kite, sometimes to the common buzzard. In the following passage, where reference is made to the supposed murder of Gloster by Suffolk, it evidently has reference to the former bird:-

"Who finds the partridge in the puttock's nest,

But may imagine how the bird was dead,

Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak?"

Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 2.

A BIRD OF ILL-OMEN.

With the ancients the kite appears to have been a bird of ill-omen. In Cymbeline (Act i. Sc. 2), Imogen says:-

"I chose an eagle, and did avoid a puttock."

And the superiority of the eagle is again adverted to by Hastings, in Richard III. (Act i. Sc. 1):-

"More pity that the eagle should be mew'd,

While kites and buzzards prey at liberty."

The intractable disposition of the kite is thus noticed:-

"Another way I have to man my haggard,

To make her come, and know her keeper's call;

That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites,

That bate, and beat, and will not be obedient."

Taming of the Shrew, Act iv. Sc. 1.

A wild hawk was sometimes tamed by watching it night and day, to prevent its sleeping. In "An approved treatyse of Hawks and Hawking," by Edmund Bert, Gent., which was published in London in 1619, the author says:-"I have heard of some who watched and kept their hawks awake seven nights and as many days, and then they would be wild, rammish, and disorderly." This practice is often alluded to by Shakespeare:-

"You must be watch'd ere you be made tame, must you?"

Troilus and Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 2.

"I'll watch him tame."

Othello, Act iii. Sc. 3.

"But I will watch you from such watching now."

Romeo and Juliet, Act iv. Sc. 4.

HABITS OF THE KITE.

The habit which the kite has, in common with other rapacious birds, of rejecting or disgorging the undigested portions of its food, such as bones and fur, in the shape of pellets, was apparently well known to Shakespeare, for he says:-

"If charnel-houses and our graves must send

Those that we bury back, our monuments

Shall be the maws of kites."

Macbeth, Act iii. Sc. 4.

And again,-

"Thou detestable maw ...

Gorg'd with the dearest morsel of the earth."

Romeo and Juliet, Act v. Sc. 3.

THE KITE'S NEST.

Another curious fact in the natural history of the kite is adverted to in the Winter's Tale (Act iv. Sc. 2). It is there said,-

"When the kite builds, look to lesser linen."

This line may be perhaps best illustrated by giving a description of a kite's nest which we have seen, and which was taken many years ago in Huntingdonshire. The outside of the nest was composed of strong sticks; the lining consisted of small pieces of linen, part of a saddle-girth, a bit of a harvest glove, part of a straw bonnet, pieces of paper, and a worsted garter. In the midst of this singular collection of materials were deposited two eggs. The kite is now almost extinct in England, and a kite's nest, of course, is a great rarity. The Rev. H. B. Tristram, speaking of the habits of the Egyptian kite (Milvus ?gyptius), says:40-"Its nest, the marine store-shop of the desert, is decorated with whatever scraps of bournouses and coloured rags can be collected; and to these are added, on every surrounding branch, the cast-off coats of serpents, large scraps of thin bark, and perhaps a bustard's wing."

THE BUZZARD.

We have alluded to the Buzzard (Buteo vulgaris) in the passage above quoted from Richard III., and also to the synonym "puttock," which was sometimes applied to this bird, as well as to the kite.

Mr. St. John, who was well acquainted with the common buzzard, thought that in all its habits it more nearly resembled the eagle than any other kind of hawk.41

In the following passage, it seems probable, as suggested by Mr. Staunton, that a play upon the words is intended, and that "buzzard" in the second line means a beetle, so called from its buzzing noise:-

"O slow-wing'd turtle! shall a buzzard take thee?

Ay, for a turtle, as he takes a buzzard."

Taming of the Shrew, Act ii. Sc. 1.

Neither the kite nor the buzzard were ever trained for hawking, being deficient both in speed and pluck.

The former, however, was occasionally "flown at" by falconers, although oftener for want of a better bird, than because he showed much sport.

Both are now far less common than in Shakespeare's day. The increased number of shooters, and the war of extermination which is carried on by gamekeepers, inevitably seal their doom.

TO those who have ever taken part in a hawking excursion, it must be a matter of some surprise that so delightful a pastime has ceased to be popular. Yet, at the present day, perhaps not one person in five hundred has ever seen a trained hawk flown. In Shakespeare's time things were very different. Every one who could afford it kept a hawk, and the rank of the owner was indicated by the species of bird which he carried.

To a king belonged the gerfalcon; to a prince, the falcon gentle; to an earl, the peregrine; to a lady, the merlin; to a young squire, the hobby; while a yeoman carried a goshawk; a priest, a sparrowhawk; and a knave, or servant, a kestrel. But the sport was attended with great expense, and much time and attention were required of the falconer before his birds were perfectly trained, and he himself a proficient.

This, combined with the increased enclosure and cultivation of waste lands, has probably contributed as much as anything to the decline of falconry in England.

THE AGE OF HAWKING.

During the age in which Shakespeare lived, the sport was at its height, and it is, therefore, not surprising that he has taken much notice of it in his works, and has displayed a considerable knowledge on the subject.

In the second part of King Henry VI. Act 2, we find a scene laid at St. Alban's, and the King, Queen, Gloster, Cardinal, and Suffolk appearing, with falconers halloaing. We quote that portion of the scene which refers more particularly to the sport:-

"Queen. Believe me, lords, for flying at the brook,

I saw not better sport these seven years' day:

Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high;

And, ten to one, old Joan42 had not gone out.

King. But what a point, my lord, your falcon made,

And what a pitch she flew above the rest!-

To see how God in all his creatures works!

Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high.

Suff. No marvel, an it like your majesty,

My lord protector's hawks do tower so well;

They know their master loves to be aloft,

And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch.

Glo. My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind

That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.

Card. I thought as much; he'd be above the clouds.

* * * * *

Believe me, cousin Gloster,

Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly,

We had had more sport."

HAWKING TERMS.

"Flying at the brook" is synonymous with "hawking by the river," and shows us that the party were in pursuit of water-fowl. Chaucer speaks of

"Ryding on, hawking by the river,

With grey goshawk in hand."

"Point."-The fluttering or hovering over the spot where the "quarry" has been "put in."

"Pitch."-The height to which a hawk rises before swooping.

"How high a pitch his resolution soars!"

Richard II. Act i. Sc. 1.

"Tower."-A common expression in falconry, signifying to rise spirally to a height. Compare the French "tour." The word occurs again in Macbeth, Act ii. Sc. 4, with reference to a fact which we might well be excused for doubting, did we not know that it was related as an unusual circumstance:-

"On Tuesday last,

A falcon, tow'ring in her pride of place,

Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd."

THE FALCON AND TERCEL.

Many of the incidents connected with Duncan's death are not to be found in the narrative of that event, but are taken from the chronicler's account of King Duffe's murder. Among the prodigies there mentioned is the one referred to by Shakespeare. "Monstrous sightes also, that were seene without the Scottishe kingdome that year, were these.... There was a sparhauke also strangled by an owle." We have known a Tawny Owl to kill and devour a Kestrel which had been kept in the same aviary with it.

By "tow'ring in her pride of place," is here understood to mean circling at her highest point of elevation. So in Massinger's play of The Guardian, Act i. Sc. 2:-

"Then for an evening flight

A tiercel gentle which I call, my masters,

As he were sent a messenger to the moon,

In such a place, flies, as he seems to say

See me or see me not."

By the falcon is always understood the female, as distinguished from the tercel, or male, of the peregrine or goshawk. The latter was probably called the tercel, or tiercel, from being about a third smaller than the falcon. Some authorities, however, state that of the three young birds usually found in the nest of a falcon, two of them are females and the third a male; hence the name of tercel.43

THE TERCEL-GENTLE.

By others, again, the term is supposed to have been derived from the French gentil, meaning neat or handsome, because of the beauty of its form.

There appears to be a great deal of confusion in the nomenclature of the hawks used in falconry. The same name has been applied to two distinct species, and the same species, in different states of plumage, has received two or more names. With regard to the "tercel," as distinguished from the "tercel-gentle," it would appear that the former name was given to the male goshawk, and the latter to the male peregrine; for the peregrine being a long-winged hawk, and the more noble of the two, the word "gentle," or "gentil," was applied to it with that signification.

In this view we are supported to some extent by quaint old Izaak Walton. In his "Compleat Angler," there is an animated conversation between an angler, a hunter, and a falconer, each of whom in turn commends his own recreation. The falconer gives a list of his hawks, and divides them into two classes, viz.: the long-winged and short-winged hawks. In enumerating each species in pairs, he gives first the name of the female, and then that of the male: among the first class we find-

The gerfalcon and jerkin,

The falcon and tercel-gentle, &c.

In the second class we have-

The eagle and iron,44

The goshawk and tercel, &c.

From this we may conclude that the name tercel-gentle was applied to the male peregrine, a long-winged hawk, to distinguish it from the tercel, or male goshawk, a short-winged hawk.

DOCILITY OF THE FALCON.

The female falcon, from her greater size and strength, was always considered superior to the male-stronger in flight:-

"As confident as is the falcon's flight

Against a bird."

Richard II. Act i. Sc. 3.

And possessing more powerful talons:-

"So doves do peck the falcon's piercing talons."

Henry VI. Part III. Act i. Sc. 4.

She was more easily trained, and capable of being flown at larger game. Hence Shakespeare asserts-

"The falcon as the tercel, for all the ducks i' the river."

Troilus and Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 2.

Sometimes we find the word "tercel" written "tassel," as in Romeo and Juliet (Act ii. Sc. 2):-

"O, for a falconer's voice,

To lure this tassel-gentle back again!"

Spenser almost invariably spells the word in this way.45 To understand the allusion to the falconer's voice, it should be observed that after a hawk had been flown, and had either struck or missed the object of her pursuit, the "lure" (which we shall presently describe) was thrown up to entice her back, and at the same time the falconer shouted to attract her attention.

QUALITIES OF A GOOD FALCONER.

Professor Schneider, in a Latin volume published at Leipsic, in 1788,46 thus enumerates the qualities of a good falconer: "Sit mediocris statur?; sit perfecti ingenii; bon? memori?; levis auditu; acuti vis?s; homo magn? vocis; sit agilis et promptus; sciat natare," &c. &c.

Each falconer had his own particular call, but it was generally somewhat like-

"Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come!"

Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 5.

THE LURE AND ITS USE.

The "lure" was of various shapes, and consisted merely of a piece of iron or wood, generally in the shape of a heart or horseshoe, to which were attached the wings of some bird, with a piece of raw meat fixed between them. A strong leathern strap, about three feet long, fastened to it with a swivel, enabled the falconer to swing it round his head, or throw it to a distance. With high-flying hawks, however, it was often found necessary to use a live pigeon, secured to a string by soft leather jesses, in order to recall them.47

The long-winged hawks were always brought to the lure, the short-winged ones to the hand:-

"As falcon to the lure, away she flies."

Venus and Adonis.

The game flown at was called in hawking parlance the "quarry," and differed according to the hawk that was used. The gerfalcon and peregrine were flown at herons, ducks, pigeons, rooks, and magpies; the goshawk was used for hares and partridges; while the smaller kinds, such as the merlin and hobby, were trained to take blackbirds, larks, and snipe. The French falconers, however, do not appear to have been so particular:-

"We'll e'en to 't like French falconers, fly at anything we see."-Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 2.

THE QUARRY.

The word "quarry" occurs in many of the Plays.

"This 'quarry' cries on havoc."48

Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 2.

In the language of the forest, "quarry" also meant a heap of slaughtered game. So, in Coriolanus (Act iii. Sc. 1), Caius Marcius says:-

"And let me use my sword, I'd make a 'quarry'

With thousands of these quarter'd slaves."

The beauty of the following passage, from its being clothed in technicalities, will be likely to escape the notice of those who are not conversant with hawking phraseology; but an acquaintance with the terms employed will elicit admiration at the force and beauty of the metaphor.

Othello, mistrusting the constancy of Desdemona towards him, and comparing her to a hawk, exclaims:-

"If I do prove her haggard,

Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings,

I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind,

To prey at fortune."

Othello, Act iii. Sc. 3.

By "haggard" is meant a wild-caught and unreclaimed mature hawk, as distinguished from an "eyess," or nestling; that is, a young hawk taken from the "eyrie" or nest.

"There is, sir, an aiery of children, little eyases, that cry out."

Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 2.

By some falconers "haggards" were also called "passage hawks," from being always caught when in that state, at the time of their periodical passage or migration. As will be seen hereafter, the word "haggard" occurs frequently throughout the Plays.

HAWK'S TRAPPINGS.

The "jesses" were two narrow strips of leather, fastened one to each leg, the other ends being attached to a swivel, from which depended the "leash." When the hawk was flown, the swivel and leash were taken off, the jesses and bells remaining on the bird.

Some of the old falconers' directions on these points are very quaint. Turbervile, in his "Book of Falconrie," 1575, speaking of the trappings of a hawk, says:-"Shee must haue jesses of leather, the which must haue knottes at the ende, and they should be halfe a foote long, or there about; at the least a shaftmeete betweene the hoose of the jesse, and the knotte at the ende, whereby you tye the hauke."

THE JESSES.

In the modern "jesse," however, there are no knots. It is fastened in this wise. The leg of the hawk is placed against the "jesse," between the slits A and B. The end A is then passed through the slit B, and the end C in turn through the slit A. The swivel, with its dependent leash, is then attached to slit C; and the same with the other leg.

Othello says:-

"I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind,

To prey at fortune."

Falconers always flew their hawk against the wind. If flown down the wind, she seldom returned. When, therefore, a useless bird was to be dismissed, her owner flew her "down the wind;" and thenceforth she shifted for herself, and was said "to prey at fortune."

The word "haggard," as before observed, is of frequent occurrence throughout the Plays of Shakespeare. In the Taming of the Shrew (Act iv. Sc. 2), Hortensio speaks of Bianca as "this proud disdainful haggard." In Much Ado about Nothing (Act iii. Sc. 1), Hero, alluding to Beatrice, says-

"I know, her spirits are as coy and wild

As haggards of the rock."

In Twelfth Night (Act iii. Sc. 1), Viola says of the Clown:-

"This fellow's wise enough to play the fool;

And to do that well craves a kind of wit:

He must observe their mood on whom he jests,

The quality of persons, and the time;

And, like the haggard, check at every feather

That comes before his eye."

To "check" is a term used in falconry, signifying to "fly at," although it sometimes meant to "change the bird in pursuit."49 The word occurs again in the same play (Act ii. Sc. 4), and in Hamlet, Act iv. Sc. 7.

THE BELLS.

Besides the "jesses," the "bells" formed an indispensable part of a hawk's trappings. These were of circular form, from a quarter to a full inch in diameter, and made of brass or silver, and were attached, one to each leg of the bird, by means of small slips of leather called "bewits." The use of bells was to lead the falconer by their sound to the hawk when in a wood, or out of sight.

"As the ox hath his bow,50 sir, the horse his curb, and the falcon her bells, so man hath his desires."-As You Like It, Act iii. Sc. 3.

So in Henry VI. Part III. Act i. Sc. 1-

"Nor he that loves him best,

The proudest he that holds up Lancaster,

Dares stir a wing, if Warwick shake his bells."

Again-

"Harmless Lucretia, marking what he tells

With trembling fear, as fowl hears falcon's bells."

Lucrece.

THE HOOD.

The "hood," too, was a necessary appendage to the trained falcon. This was a cap or cover for the head, which was not removed until the "quarry" was started, in order to prevent the hawk from flying too soon.

AN "UNMANN'D" HAWK.

The Constable of France, speaking of the valour of the Dauphin, says:-

"'Tis a hooded valour, and when it appears it will bate."

Henry V. Act iii. Sc. 7.

The allusion is to the ordinary action of a hawk, which, when unhooded, bates, or flutters. But a quibble may be here intended between "bate," the hawking technical, and "bate," to dwindle or abate. The word occurs again in Romeo and Juliet (Act iii. Sc. 2)-

"Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks."

And to those not conversant with the terms employed in falconry, this line would be unintelligible. An "unmanned" hawk was one not sufficiently reclaimed to be familiar with her keeper, and such birds generally "bated," that is, fluttered or beat their wings violently in their efforts to escape.

Petruchio, in The Taming of the Shrew, gives us a lesson in reclaiming a hawk when speaking thus of Catherine:-

"My falcon now is sharp, and passing empty,

And, till she stoop, she must not be full-gorg'd,

For then she never looks upon her lure.

Another way I have to man my haggard,

To make her come, and know her keeper's call,

That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites

That bate, and beat, and will not be obedient.

She eat no meat to-day, nor none shall eat;

Last night she slept not, nor to-night she shall not."

Taming of the Shrew, Act iv. Sc. 1.

The word "stoop," sometimes written "stoup" (Spenser's "Faerie Queene," Book I. Canto XI. 18), and "swoop" (Macbeth, "at one fell swoop"), signifies a rapid descent on the "quarry." It occurs again in Henry V. Act iv. Sc. 1:-

"And though his affections are higher mounted than ours, yet, when they stoop, they stoop with the like wing."

THE CADGE.

The hawks, when carried to the field, were borne on "the cadge," as shown in the engraving; the person carrying it being called "the cadger." The modern word "cad," now generally used in an opprobrious sense, is in all probability an abbreviation of "cadger," and therefore synonymous with "servant" or common fellow.

Florizel, addressing Perdita, in the Winter's Tale (Act iv. Sc. 3), says,-

"I bless the time

When my good falcon made her flight across

Thy father's ground;"

for this was the occasion of his first meeting her.

THE HAWK'S "MEW."

In the following passage from Measure for Measure, (Act iii. Sc. 1), there occurs a word in connection with falconry, which requires some explanation,-

"This outward-sainted deputy,

Whose settled visage and deliberate word

Nips youth i' th' head, and follies doth enmew

As falcon doth the fowl."

The verb "to mew," or "enmew," signifies to enclose or shut up, owing its origin to the word "mews," the place where the hawks were confined:-

"To-night she's mew'd up."

Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Sc. 4.

Gremio, speaking of Bianca to Signor Baptista, says,-

"Why, will you mew her?"

Taming of the Shrew, Act i. Sc. 1.

A question presently solved by Tranio, who says:-

"And therefore has he closely mew'd her up,

Because she will not be annoy'd with suitors."

ORIGIN OF THE WORD "MEW."

The word "mew," derived from the old French "mue," signifies a change, or moult, when birds and other animals cast their feathers, hair, or horns. Hence Latham observes that "the mew is that place, whether it be abroad or in the house, where you set down your hawk during the time she raiseth or reproduceth her feathers."

It was necessary to take great care of a hawk in her mewing time. In "The Gentleman's Academie," edited by Gervase Markham, 1595, there are several sections on the mewing of hawks, from one of which it may be learnt that the best time to commence is in the beginning of Lent; and if well kept, the bird will be mewed, that is, moulted, by the beginning of August.

"Forthcoming from her darksome mew."

Faerie Queene, Book I. Canto v. 20.

THE ROYAL MEWS.

The Royal hawks were kept at the mews at Charing Cross during many reigns (according to Stowe, from the time of Richard II., in 1377), but they were removed by Henry VIII., who converted the place into stables. The name, however, confirmed by the usage of so long a period, remained to the building, although, after the hawks were withdrawn, it became inapplicable. But, what is more curious still, in later times, when the people of London began to build ranges of stabling at the back of their streets and houses, they christened those places "mews," after the old stabling at Charing Cross.

THE FOWL ENMEWED.

The word "enmew," quoted above in the passage from Measure for Measure, would seem rather to signify here, "to seize upon," or "to disable." It is sometimes written "enewe." In Nash's "Quaternio; or, a Fourefold Way to a Happie Life," published in 1633, it occurs in a spirited description of hawking at water-fowl:-"And to hear an accipitary relate againe how he went forth in a cleare, calme, and sunshine evening, about an houre before the sunne did usually maske himselfe, unto the river, where finding of a mallard, he whistled off51 his falcon, and how shee flew from him as if shee would never have turned head againe, yet presently upon a shoote came in; how then by degrees, by little and little, by flying about and about, shee mounted so high, until shee had lessened herselfe to the view of the beholder to the shape of a pigeon or partridge, and had made the height of the moon the place52 of her flight; how presently, upon the landing of the fowle, shee came downe like a stone and enewed it, and suddenly got up againe, and suddenly upon a second landing came down againe, and missing of it, in the downe course recovered it beyond expectation, to the admiration of the beholder at a long flight."

Another method of spelling the same word may be instanced by the following quotation from Turbervile's "Book of Falconrie," 1575:-

"And if shee misse, to mark her how shee then gets up amaine,

For best advantage, to eneaw the springing fowle againe."

IMPING.

In the days of falconry53 a peculiar method of repairing a broken wing-feather was known to falconers by the term "imping." The verb "to imp," appears to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon "impan," signifying to graft, or inoculate; and the mode of operation is thus described in a scarce pamphlet by Sir John Sebright, entitled "Observations on Hawking":-

"When any of the flight or tail-feathers of a hawk are accidentally broken, the speed of the bird is so injured, that the falconer finds it necessary to repair them by an expedient called 'imping.'

"This curious process consists in attaching to the part that remains an exact substitute for the piece lost. For this purpose the falconer is always provided with pinions (right and left) and with tail-feathers of hawks, or with the feathers separated from the pinion carefully preserved and numbered, so as to prevent mistake in taking a true match for the injured feather. He then with a sharp knife gently parts the web of the feather to be repaired at its thickest part, and cuts the shaft obliquely forward, so as not to damage the web on the opposite edge. He next cuts the substitute feather as exactly as possible at the corresponding point and with the same degree of slope.

"For the purpose of uniting them, he is provided with an iron needle with broad angular points at both ends, and after wetting the needle with salt-and-water, he thrusts it into the centre of the pith of each part, as truly straight and as nearly to the same length in each as may be.

"When this operation has been skilfully performed, the junction is so neat, that an inexperienced eye would hardly discern the point of union, and as the iron rusts from having been wetted with brine, there is little or no danger of separation."

After this explanation, the meaning of the following lines is clear:-

"If then we shall shake off our slavish yoke,

Imp out our drooping country's broken wing."

Richard II. Act ii. Sc. 1.

Passages such as this are likely enough to be overlooked by the majority of readers, but it is in such chiefly that the ornithologist sees a proof that Shakespeare, for the age in which he lived, possessed a surprising knowledge of ornithology.

SEELING.

Besides "imping," there was another practice in use, now happily obsolete, termed "seeling," to which we find several allusions in the Plays. It consisted in sewing a thread through the upper and under eyelids of a newly-caught hawk, to obscure the sight for a time, and accustom her to the hood.

HOW TO SEEL A HAWK.

Turbervile, in his "Book of Falconrie," 1575, gives the following quaint directions "how to seele a hawke":-"Take a needle threeded with untwisted thread, and (casting your Hawke) take her by the beake, and put the needle through her eye-lidde, not right against the sight of the eye, but somewhat nearer to the beake, because she may see backwards. And you must take good heede that you hurt not the webbe, which is under the eye-lidde, or on the inside thereof. Then put your needle also through that other eye-lidde, drawing the endes of the thread together, tye them over the beake, not with a straight knotte, but cut off the threedes endes neare to the knotte, and twist them together in such sorte, that the eye-liddes may be raysed so upwards, that the Hawke may not see at all, and when the threed shall ware loose or untyed, then the Hawke may see somewhat backwardes, which is the cause that the threed is put nearer to the beake. For a Sparrow-hawke should see somewhat backwardes, and a Falcon forwardes. The reas? is that if the Sparrow-hawke should see forwardes, shee would beate off her feathers, or break them when she bateth upon the fist, and seeing the companie of men, or such like, she would bate too much."

In Antony and Cleopatra (Act iii. Sc. 13) we read-

"The wise gods seel our eyes."

And in the same play (Act v. Sc. 2) Seleucus says:-

"Madam,

I had rather seel my lips, than, to my peril,

Speak that which is not."

In his beautiful soliloquy on sleep, Henry IV., addressing the fickle goddess, exclaims,-

"Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast

Seel up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains

In cradle of the rude imperious surge?"

Henry IV. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 1.

The word occurs again in Othello (Act i. Sc. 3)-

"When light-wing'd toys

Of feather'd Cupid seel with wanton dulness," &c.

And in the same play (Act iii. Sc. 3)-

"She that, so young, could give out such a seeming,

To seel her father's eyes up close as oak."

In the last line it is more probable, considering the use of the technical term "seel," above explained, that Shakespeare wrote "close as hawk's."

Sir Emerson Tennant, in his "Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon," speaking of the goshawk (p. 246), says:-"In the district of Anarajapoora, where it is trained for hawking, it is usual, in lieu of a hood, to darken its eyes by means of a silken thread passed through holes in the eyelids." This practice of "seeling" appears to be of some antiquity, but has happily given way, to a great extent, to the more merciful use of the hood.

QUAINT RECIPES.

The old treatises on falconry contain numerous quaint recipes for the various ailments to which hawks are subject. From one of these we learn that petroleum is nothing new, as some people now-a-days would have us believe. Turbervile, writing in 1575, says, in his "Booke of Falconrie":-"An other approued medecine is to annoint the swelling of your hawkes foot with Oleum petr?lium (which is the oyle of a rocke) and with oyle of white Lillies, taking of each of these like quantity, the blood of a pigeon, and the tallow of a candle, heating all these together a little at the fire. This unguent wil throughly resolue the mischief."-P. 258.

GOING A-BIRDING.

Hawking was sometimes called "birding." In the Merry Wives of Windsor (Act iii. Sc. 3), Master Page says,-

"I do invite you to-morrow morning to my house to breakfast; after, we'll a-birding together; I have a fine hawk for the bush."

This was probably a goshawk, for, being a short-winged hawk and of slower flight, this species was considered the best for a woody district, or, as Shakespeare terms it, "the bush."

In the same play (Act iii. Sc. 5) Dame Quickly, referring to Mistress Ford, says,-"Her husband goes this morning a-birding;" and Mistress Ford, herself, says (Act iv. Sc. 2),-"He's a-birding, sweet Sir John."

But it seems that birding was not always synonymous with hawking, for, later on in the last-mentioned scene, we read as follows:-

"Falstaff. What shall I do? I'll creep up into the chimney.

Mrs. Ford. There they always use to discharge their birding-pieces."

The word "hawk," as in the case of the eagle, is almost invariably employed by Shakespeare in its generic sense:-

"Dost thou love hawking? thou hast hawks will soar

Above the morning lark."

Taming of the Shrew, Induction, Sc. 2.

In Henry V. (Act iii. Sc. 7), the Dauphin, when speaking in praise of his horse, says,-

"When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk."

And in the first part of Henry VI. (Act ii. Sc. 4), the Earl of Warwick boasts that

"Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch;

········

I have perhaps some shallow spirit of judgment."

Again,-

"Twenty crowns!

I'll venture so much of my hawk or hound,

But twenty times so much upon my wife."

Taming of the Shrew, Act v. Sc. 2.

THE KESTREL.

In two instances only does Shakespeare allude to a particular species of hawk. These are the Kestrel and Sparrowhawk.

When Malvolio, in Twelfth Night (Act ii. Sc. 5), finds the letter which Maria has purposely dropt in his path, Sir Toby Belch, looking on from ambush, exclaims, in sporting terms:-

"And with what wing the stanniel checks at it!"

Here stanniel is a corruption of standgale, a name for the kestrel hawk, and Malvolio is said to "check at" the letter, just as a kestrel hovers over a mouse or other object which has suddenly attracted its attention.

It is true that the reading of the folios here is stallion; but the word wing, and the falconers' term checks, abundantly prove that a bird must be meant. Sir Thomas Hanmer, therefore, proposed this correction, which all subsequent editors have received as justifiable.

The origin of the word "kestrel" is somewhat uncertain. By some it is derived from "coystril," a knave or peasant, from being the hawk formerly used by persons of inferior rank, as we learn from Dame Juliana Berners, in her "Boke of St. Albans." This opinion is strengthened by the reading "coystril," in Twelfth Night (Act i. Sc. 3), and "coistrel," in Pericles (Act iv. Sc. 6). A different spelling again occurs in "The Gentleman's Recreation," by Ric. Blome (folio, London, 1686), where the word is written "castrell."

THE SPARROWHAWK.

The sparrowhawk is only mentioned once by Shakespeare, and the passage is one which might be very easily overlooked by any one not conversant with the language of falconry. In the Merry Wives of Windsor, Mrs. Ford addresses Falstaff's page with-

"How now, my eyas-musket?"

"Musket"54 was the name given by the falconers of old to the male sparrowhawk; "eyas" or "eyess," as before explained, signifying a nestling, or young bird from the eyrie or nest. In the above speech, Mrs. Ford probably intended to imply no more than we should now-a-days mean by the expression "a perky little fellow."

HAWK AND HERNSHAW.

The words of Hamlet with reference to a hawk must be familiar to all readers of Shakespeare, the more so, possibly, because the passage in question appears to have puzzled many commentators:-

"I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw."

Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 2.

The explanation is simple enough. The last word should be "hernshaw," the old name for the heron. It is not every one who knows a hawk from a heron when he sees it, although it is scarcely possible to conceive two birds more unlike in appearance. Hamlet's statement, then, is simply to the effect that he only feigned madness when it suited his purpose; at other times he could even outwit the many, and see a distinction where they, from ignorance, would fail.

The ingenuity which has been exercised in a laudable endeavour to interpret this passage is really surprising. "An ingenious friend," says the Athen?um,55 "suggests the following explanation:-'Among the ancient ?gyptians, the hawk signified the Etesian, or northerly wind (which, in the beginning of summer, drives the vapour towards the south, and which, covering Ethiopia with dense clouds, there resolves them into rains, causing the Nile to swell), because that bird follows the direction of that wind (Job xxxix. 26). The heron, hern, or hernshaw signified the southerly wind, because it takes its flight from Ethiopia into Upper Egypt, following the course of the Nile as it retires within its banks, and living on the small worms hatched in the mud of the river. Hence the heads of these two birds may be seen surmounting the canopi used by the ancient ?gyptians to indicate the rising and falling of the Nile respectively. Now Hamlet, though feigning madness, yet claims sufficient sanity to distinguish a hawk from a hernshaw when the wind is southerly; that is, in the time of the migration of the latter to the north, and when the former is not to be seen. Shakespeare may have become acquainted with the habits of these migrating birds of Egypt through a translation of Plutarch, who gives a particular account of them, published in the middle of the sixteenth century by Thomas North.'"

VALUE OF HAWKS.

The present chapter, embodying, as it does, a treatise on hawking, illustrated by quotations from Shakespeare, would scarcely be complete without some reference to the prices paid for hawks, and to the expenses of keeping them, at the period at which Shakespeare lived. These particulars may be gleaned from scattered entries in certain "Household Books" and "Privy Purse Accounts" of noble owners, which the invaluable labours of antiquaries have placed within reach of the curious.

We have been at some pains to collect and arrange the following entries, believing that the information which they supply will be far more interesting to the reader if allowed to remain in the form in which we have found it:-

PRICES OF HAWKS.

Itm? the viij daye paied to Walshe for so moche money by him layed out for one goshawke and ij fawcons iij li.

Itm? the xv daye paied for v fawcons and a tarsell viij li.

Itm? the iij daye paied in rewarde to Sr Richard Sandes s'v?t for the bringing of a saker to the king at hampton courte v s?.

Itm? the same daye paied for fyve ffawcons vij li. vj s?. viij d.

Itm? the iij daye paied to a stranger called Jasper, fawconer, for vj sakers and v sakeretts at viij corons a pece which amots to xx/iiij viij corons xx li. x s?. viij d.

Itm? the viij daye paied to maister Walshe for so much money by him paied for goshawks the which the king's grace bought upon the cage iij li.

Itm? to iij of maister Skevington's s'v?ts in rewarde for bringing iij hobbyes to the king's grace iij li.

Itm? the xj daye paied to a s'v?t of Maister Saint John in rewarde for bringing a caste of hawks xx s?.

Itm? the viij daye paied to a s'v?t of the duc of Ferrers in rewarde for bringing of a caste of fawcons to the king's grace at Westm xxiij li. vj s?. viij d.

Itm? the xix daye paid to a s'v?t of Maister Walshe's for bringing of a caste of Laneretts to the king's grace in rewarde x s?.

Itm? the xxvij daye paied to the Abbot of Tewxbury s'v?t in rewarde for bringing a caste of Launners to the king's grace xx s?.

Itm? the xvj daye paied to Augustyne the fawconer for viij hawks at vj Angells a pece, whiche amounteth to xviij li.

KEEP OF HAWKS.

HAWKS' FURNITURE.

Itm? the iiij daye paied for ij dousin of hawks' hoods at iij s?. iiij d. le dousin vj s?. viij d.

Itm? the same daye paied for iij hawks' gloves at vj s?. viij d. le glove xx s?.

Itm? the same day paied for vj dousin gilte bells at iij corons le dousin xliij s?.

HAWKS' MEAT.

Itm? the xx daye paied to Philip Clampe for the mete of ij hawks after the rate of ij d. by the daye from the xx daye of Aprill unto the xviij day of Novembre xxv s?.

Itm? the xxj daye paied to James the henne taker for hawks' mete x s?.

Itm? the xj daye paied to Hans the fawconer for hawks' mete xiiij s?. iiij d.

Itm? to the same Hugh paied the same daye for the mete of v hawks by the same space that is to saye for one quarter of a yere; e?y hawke at one penny by the daye xxxviij s?. vj d.

Itm? the xvj daye to maister Hennage for the birds' mete xij d.

Itm? the v day to Nicholas Clampe for the mete of iiij hawks fro the x daye of Maye unto the xxiij daye of June after one peny a daye for a hawke xv s?.

Itm? to the same John Evans for the mete of iiij hawks by the space of lxxxxvij dayes for e?y hawke one penny by the daye xxxij s?. iiij d.

FALCONERS' WAGES.

Itm? the vij daye paied to John Evans for his bourde wages for one quarter due at our Lady daye laste paste xxx s?. v d.

Itm? the ix daye paied to the same John Evans for his bourde wages fro Mydsom tyll Michelmas after iiij d. by the daye xxx s?. v d.

Itm? the xxvj daye paied to Nicholas Clampe one of the fawconers for his wages due for one quarter ended at Easter laste paste l s?.

Itm? the same daye paied to the same Clampe for his bourde wages from the xxv daye of Decembre unto the laste daye of this monethe the which amounts to cxxvij dayes, at iiij d. by the daye xlij s?. iiij d.

SUNDRIES.

SUNDRIES.

Itm? the vth daye paied to old Hugh in rewarde when his hawks went to the mewe xl s?.

Itm? the xxv daye paied to Walter in rewarde for a Jerfawcon that dyed xl s?.

Itm? the same daye paied to one that toke up a Lanner that had been lacking a hole yere x s?.

Itm? the laste daye paied unto Nicholas Clampe for keeping of a lanneret called 'Cutte' for one hole yere at j d. a daye xxx s?. v d.

Itm? the xxvij daye paied to a s'v?t of my lorde Brayes in rewarde for taking up of a fawcon of the kings in Bedfordshire vj s?. viij d.

Itm? the xvij daye paied to one Richard Mason for taking up of a fawcon of the kings besides Hartford vj s?. viij d.

Itm? the xiij daye paied to a s'v?t of my lorde Darcys in rewarde for taking up of a hawke of the kings and bringing hir to Yorke place vij s?. vi d.

Itm? the xiij daye paied to Iohn Weste of the garde to ryde into the contry for an hawke by the kings comandet xx s?.

Itm? the xxviij daye paid to Willm Tyldesley, grome of the Chambre, for lying oute to take hawkes by the kings comandet x s?.

Itm? the xiiij paied to a s'v?t of maister Skevingtons in rewarde for bringing hawkes out of Irlande xl s?.

Itm? the x daye paied to Garard the fawconer in rewarde for taking of a fawcon and a tarsell lvj s?.

Itm? the xj daye of Marche paied to Garrat and Richard the fawconers in rewarde for finding the Herons x s?.

The interest which attaches to these curious extracts must excuse us with the reader for their length.

We cannot peruse them without being carried back, in spirit, to an age in which, for all that concerns sport, we would fain have lived to bear a part. Alas! that so delightful a pastime as hawking should have declined, and that we should live to see our noble falcons gibbeted, like thieves, upon "the keeper's tree."

AS Jove assumed the shape of an Eagle, so Juno selected that of an Owl, for, as Aldrovandus tells us, it was not decorous that the queen of heaven should take on herself the likeness of any small or vulgar bird, but rather that she should be embodied in one whose reign by night was equal with that of the eagle by day. The owl has usually been regarded as a bird of ill omen, and superstitiously considered a messenger of woe.

The Athenians alone among the ancients seem to have been free from this popular prejudice, and to have regarded the owl with veneration rather than abhorrence, considering it as the favourite of Minerva, and the image of wisdom. The Romans viewed the owl with detestation and dread. By them it was held sacred to Proserpine: its appearance foreboded unfortunate events, and, according to Pliny, the city of Rome underwent a solemn lustration in consequence of an owl having accidentally strayed into the Capitol.

ITS USE IN MEDICINE.

In the ancient pharmacop?ia, which savoured not a little of magic, the owl appears to have been "great medicine." Ovid tells us that this bird was used wholesale in the composition of Medea's gruel:-

"Et strigis infames ipsis cum carnibus alas."

While, according to Horace, the old witch Canidia made use of the feathers in her incantations:-

"Plumamque nocturn? strigis."

A BIRD OF ILL OMEN.

The "owlet's wing" was an ingredient of the cauldron wherein the witches prepared their "charm of powerful trouble" (Macbeth, Act iv. Sc. 1); and, with the character assigned to it by the ancients, Shakespeare, no doubt, felt that the introduction of an owl in a dreadful scene of a tragedy would help to make the subject come home more forcibly to the people, who had, from early times, associated its presence with melancholy, misfortune, and death. Accordingly, we find the unfortunate owl stigmatized at various times as the "obscure," "ominous," "fearful," and "fatal" "bird of night." Its doleful cry pierces the ear of Lady Macbeth while the murder is being done:-

"Hark!-Peace! It was the owl that shriek'd,

The fatal bellman which gives the stern'st good night."

Macbeth, Act ii. Sc. 1.

And when the murderer rushes in immediately afterwards, exclaiming,-

"I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?"

She replies,-

"I heard the owl scream."

And later on-

"The obscure bird clamour'd the live-long night."

Macbeth, Act ii. Sc. 2.

The awe, no doubt, with which this bird is regarded by the superstitious, may be attributed in some measure to the fact of its flying by night.

"Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night,

········

The time when screech-owls cry and ban-dogs howl."

Henry VI. Part II. Act i. Sc. 4.

And yet, strange to say, the appearance of an owl by day is by some considered equally ominous:-

"The owl by day,

If he arise, is mocked and wondered at."

Henry VI. Part III. Act v. Sc. 4.

"For night-owls shriek, where mounting larks should sing."

Richard II. Act iii. Sc. 3.

ITS HABITS MISUNDERSTOOD.

Should an owl appear at a birth it is said to forbode ill-luck to the infant. King Henry VI., addressing Gloster, says,-

"The owl shriek'd at thy birth, an evil sign."

Henry VI. Part III. Act v. Sc. 6.

While upon any other occasion its presence was supposed to predict a death, or at least some dire mishap:-

"The screech-owl, screeching loud,

Puts the wretch, that lies in woe,

In remembrance of a shroud."

Midsummer Night's Dream, Act v. Sc. 2.

When Richard III. is irritated by the ill-news showered thick upon him, he interrupts the third messenger with-

"Out on ye, owls! nothing but songs of death?"

Richard III. Act iv. Sc. 4.

It is curious how wide-spread is the superstition regarding certain birds, and particularly the owl. Even amongst the Land Dayaks of Borneo, the owl is considered a bird of ill omen. Mr. Spenser St. John, in his "Life in the Forests of the Far East," observes with regard to omens (vol. i. p. 202):-

"If a man be going on a war expedition, and has a slip during his first day's journey, he must return to his village, especially if by the accident blood be drawn, for then, should he proceed, he has no prospect but wounds or death. If the accident occur during a long expedition, he must return to his last night's resting place. In some tribes, if a deer cry near a party who are setting out on a journey, they will return. When going out at night to the jungle, if the scream of a hawk, or an owl, or of a small kind of frog be heard, it is a sign that sickness will follow if the design be pursued; and again, if the screech of the two former be heard in front of a party on the warpath, it is an evil sign, and they must return. Omens derived from the cry of birds are always sought previously to setting out on a journey, and before fixing on a spot to build new houses, or to prepare their farms."

ITS UTILITY TO THE FARMER.

Far from bringing any ill-luck to our dwellings, owls are really of the greatest service to us in destroying great numbers of vermin. A Swiss naturalist, speaking of the quantity of field-voles which are annually destroyed by owls and buzzards, says:56-

"C'est un fait curieux que l'homme s'acharne tout particulièrement à detruire ses meillures amis, et qu'il poursuive de ses malédictions les êtres qui le servent le mieux. Je joindrai donc ma faible voix à celle de bien d'autres naturalistes pour demander que l'on protége les premières de ces bêtes.

"Les hibous et les chouettes, bien loin de jeter de mauvais sorts sur nos demeures, prennent au contraire, un grand soin de nos intérêts. Ces oiseaux exterminent, en effet, bien plus de souris que n'en pourront prendre jamais les meilleurs taupiers. Les buses n'ont nullement mérité leur place sur la porte de nos granges, et plut?t que de les tuer, l'on ferait bien mieux d'établir chez nous, comme cela s'est fait avec succès dans certaines localités, de hauts perchoirs dans nos campagnes pour attirer ces oiseaux bienfaisants."

A CURIOUS TRADITION.

Among the many curious legends which exist with reference to this bird, we may mention one to which Shakespeare has alluded in Hamlet:-

"They say the owl was a baker's daughter."

Hamlet, Act iv. Sc. 5.

Mr. Staunton, in his edition of Shakespeare's Plays, says this has reference to a tradition still current in some parts of England. "Our Saviour went into a baker's shop where they were baking, and asked for some bread to eat. The mistress of the shop immediately put a piece of dough into the oven to bake for him, but was reprimanded by her daughter, who, insisting that the piece of dough was too large, reduced it considerably in size. The dough, however, immediately afterwards began to swell, and presently became of an enormous size. Whereupon the baker's daughter cried out, 'Wheugh! wheugh! wheugh!' which owl-like noise, it is said, probably induced our Saviour, for her wickedness, to transform her into that bird."

Mr. Douce represents this story as still current amongst the common people in Gloucestershire.57 According to Nuttall, the north country nurses would have it that the owl was a daughter of Pharaoh, and when they heard it hoot on a winter's night, they sang to the wondering child-

"Oh! ? ? ?, ō ō;

I once was a king's daughter, and sat on my father's knee,

But now I'm a poor hoolet, and hide in a hollow tree."

There is much difference of opinion amongst naturalists as to whether the power of hooting and shrieking is possessed by the same species. In the following passage from Julius C?sar (Act i. Sc. 3), both sounds are attributed to the same bird:-

"Yesterday the bird of night did sit,

Even at noonday, upon the market-place,

Hooting and shrieking."

It is generally supposed that the common barn or white owl does not hoot, but only shrieks, and is, in fact, the bird always alluded to as the "screech-owl," while the brown owls (Strix otus, brachyotus, and aluco) are the hooters-

"The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots."

Midsummer Night's Dream, Act ii. Sc. 2.

But Mr. Colquhoun, speaking of the white or barn owl, says,58 "It does hoot, but very rarely. I heard one six times in succession, and then it ceased." Sir William Jardine once shot a white owl in the act of hooting; and Mr. Boulton, of Beverley, Yorkshire, describes59 the note of one of these birds which he had reared from the nest, and kept in confinement for fifteen months, as follows:-"It does hoot exactly like the long-eared owl, but not so frequently. I use the term 'hoot' in contradistinction to 'screech,' which it often does when irritated."

NOTE OF THE OWL.

In Gardiner's "Music of Nature" the note of the brown owl is thus rendered:-

[MIDI]

Mr. Colquhoun, to whom allusion has just been made, says, that the music of the white or barn owl is a little different from that of the brown owls. It is only one prolonged cadence, lower and not so mournful as that of the tawny fellow.

It would appear that owls do not keep to one note. A friend of Gilbert White's remarked that most of his owls hooted in B flat, but that one went almost half a note below A. The pipe by which he tried their notes was a common half-crown pitchpipe. A neighbour, also, of the Selborne naturalist, who was said to have a nice ear, remarked that the owls about Selborne hooted in three different keys: in G flat (or F sharp), in B flat, and A flat. He heard two hooting to each other, the one in A flat, the other in B flat.

It did not appear, however, whether the sounds proceeded from different species of brown owls, or from different individuals of the same species.

AN OWL ROBBING NESTS.

Another question in the life-history of the owl is raised by the following passage from Macbeth (Act iv. Sc. 2):-

"For the poor wren,

The most diminutive of birds, will fight,

Her young ones in her nest, against the owl."

This defence of their young by birds has often been noticed by Shakespeare:-

"Unreasonable creatures feed their young;

And though man's face be fearful to their eyes,

Yet, in protection of their tender ones,

Who hath not seen them (even with those wings

Which sometimes they have us'd with fearful flight)

Make war with him that climb'd unto their nest,

Off'ring their own lives in their young's defence?"

Henry VI. Part III. Act ii. Sc. 2.

EVIDENCE NOT CONCLUSIVE.

We are not aware, however, that an owl has ever been caught in the act of robbing a nest, and, indeed, it would not be easy to detect him, from the fact of his preying by night. Nevertheless, there is presumptive evidence to support the charge. A writer in The Field, of 29th June, 1867, says:-"Standing in my garden in Bedford Park, Croydon, an evening or two since, I saw a white owl fly to a sparrow's nest lodged on a water-spout under the roof of the house, and as though that visit was not successful, he repeated it, and then went to a nest on the next house, in the same way. It was too dark for me to see if he succeeded in his marauding expedition against the poor sparrows. Is it a common occurrence for an owl to go robbing nests? I never saw it done before, though I have lived all my life in the country, and of course seen this favourite bird skimming over the water meadows for its supper." To this communication the editor adds the following note:-"This fact is extremely interesting, and, we think, generally unknown. It would, however, have added much to the interest, had the robbery actually been proved; it does not seem quite certain that this was the owl's object in visiting the roof."

ITS CHARACTER MALIGNED.

Some years ago, having made the discovery that some stock-doves were building in the wooden spire of our village church, we commissioned the parish clerk to secure a pair of young birds as soon as they were ready to fly. He made several attempts for this purpose, paying occasional visits to see how the young birds were getting on, when, on going to the nest, as he supposed for the last time, to carry them off, he found it empty. This happened three or four times, and he was much puzzled to account for it. The birds could not have flown-they were not old enough. No one else could have taken them, for the church could not be entered without the key, which he always kept. Had rats carried them off? The clerk said there were none. Had there been any, he must have heard or seen them on one or other of his many visits to the church, or at least have found signs of their presence. But this was never the case. He stated, however, that a pair of barn owls lived in the same spire, and he thought that they were the culprits, taking the young ones, as he said, as soon as they were fat enough, to save themselves the trouble of hunting out of doors. Be this as it may, we feel bound to say, on behalf of the owls, they were never caught in the fact, and that the parent stock-doves were not deterred from laying again and again, and at length rearing a brood. Charles Waterton, whose name will be familiar to all naturalists, argues strongly against the notion of the barn owl robbing dove-cotes. He says60:-"When farmers complain that the barn owl destroys the eggs of their pigeons, they lay the saddle on the wrong horse. They ought to put it on the rat.

"Formerly, I could get very few young pigeons till the rats were excluded effectually from the dove-cot. Since that took place, it has produced a great abundance every year, though the barn owls frequent it, and are encouraged all around it. The barn owl merely resorts to it for repose and concealment. If it were really an enemy to the dove-cot, we should see the pigeons in commotion as soon as it begins its evening flight, but the pigeons heed it not; whereas if the sparrowhawk or hobby should make its appearance, the whole community would be up at once-proof sufficient that the barn owl is not looked upon as a bad or even a suspicious character by the inhabitants of the dove-cot."

ITS RETIRING HABITS.

Its habit of breeding in retired situations is alluded to in Titus Andronicus, Act ii. Sc. 3:-

"Here never shines the sun; here nothing breeds,

Unless the nightly owl."

And Shakespeare has truly characterized the appearance of this bird on the wing, when he speaks of

"The night-owl's lazy flight."

Henry VI. Part III. Act ii. Sc. 1.

ITS FIVE WITS.

Why the owl has been called the "bird of wisdom" it is not easy to determine. Possibly because it can see in the dark, and is the only bird which looks straightforward. Shakespeare frequently alludes to its "five wits," and the readers of Tennyson's poems will no doubt remember the lines:-

"Alone, and warming his five wits,

The white owl in the belfry sits."

With our early writers the five senses appear to have been generally called the "five wits." Chaucer, in the "Parsone's Tale," says:-"Certes delites been after the appetites of the 'five wittes;' as sight, hereing, smelling, savouring, and touching." But it is not clear how this proverbial phrase became connected with the owl, nor what is the origin of "warming" the wits.

"Petruchio. Am I not wise?

Katharine. Yes, keep you warm."

Taming of the Shrew, Act ii. Sc. 1.

"If he have wit enough to keep himself warm."

Much Ado, Act i. Sc. 1.

"Bless thy five wits."

King Lear, Act iii. Sc. 4, and Act iii. Sc. 6.

ITS FAME IN SONG.

The allusion above made to Tennyson's well-known poem, reminds us of the quaint and characteristic song in the last scene of Love's Labour's Lost:-

III.

"When icicles hang by the wall,

And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,

And Tom bears logs into the hall,

And milk comes frozen home in pail;

When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul,

Then nightly sings the staring owl,

To-who;

Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note,

While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

IV.

When all aloud the wind doth blow,

And coughing drowns the parson's saw,

And birds sit brooding in the snow,

And Marian's nose looks red and raw;

When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,

Then nightly sings the staring owl,

To-who;

Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note,

While greasy Joan doth keel the pot."

Nor do we forget Ariel's song in The Tempest (Act v. Sc. 1)-

"Where the bee sucks, there lurk I;

In a cowslip's bell I lie,

There I couch when owls do cry."

Amongst the fairies, at least, the owl seems to have found friends, and is generally represented as a companion in their moonlight gambols:-

"This is the fairy land!-O, spite of spites!-

We talk with goblins, owls, and elvish sprites."

Comedy of Errors, Act ii. Sc. 2.

The folio of 1623 omits "elvish," but the folio of 1632 has "elves," which Rowe changed to "elvish."

ITS COMRADES.

The following quotation we have some hesitation in introducing, for there appears to be a difference of reading, which quite alters the sense:-

"No, rather, I abjure all roofs, and choose

·······

To be a comrade with the wolf and owl,-

Necessity's sharp pinch."

King Lear, Act ii. Sc. 4.

Mr. Collier, taking into consideration the last line, reads:-

"To be a comrade with the wolf, and howl

Necessity's sharp pinch."

And this seems more likely to be the correct reading. Albeit, in support of the former version, the following passage in Lucrece has been adduced:-

"No noise but owls' and wolves' death-boding cries."

It is not to be supposed that Shakespeare was always a firm believer in the popular notions respecting animals and birds to which he has made allusion. In many cases he had a particular motive in introducing such notions, although possibly aware of their erroneous nature, and he evidently adopted them only to impart an air of reality to the scenes which he depicted, and to bring them home more forcibly to the impressionable minds of his auditors, to whom such "folks-lore" would be familiar. This is notably the case as regards the owl, and no one can read the first scene in the second act of Macbeth, or the fourth scene in the first act of Henry VI. (Part II.), without feeling the impressive effect produced by the introduction of a bird which is held in such detestation by the ignorant, but which naturalists have shown to be not only harmless, but useful.

THE OWL'S GOOD NIGHT.

But-

"The owl, night's herald, shrieks,-'tis very late."

Venus and Adonis.

And, therefore, with Boyet, in Love's Labour's Lost (Act iv. Sc. 1), we will say:-

"Good night, my good owl."