406 Origines Zoologies, 



never designedly exposes it to its pursuers. From this cir- 

 cumstance, and the inimitable manner in which, notwithstand- 

 ing the molestation which it receives, it counterfeits death, in 

 order to deceive its enemies, we say of a person notorious 

 for duplicity, that he is as sly as a badger. 



THE HAWK. 



This bird, from its having been one of those animals which 

 afforded our ancestors so much amusement in the field, has 

 furnished us with many similes. We will pass over the 

 keenness of his vision, so universally known, and throw light 

 upon a passage in Shakspeare's Hamlet, which has hitherto 

 puzzled all the commentators on the grand master of the 

 drama. The phrase we allude to is the following: — '' I am 

 not so mad but I know a hawk from a hand-saw." There 

 appearing no connection between the two objects of compa- 

 rison, a reading, which has been universally adopted, and 

 which is very ingenious, is, " a hawk from a heronshaw^' 

 [see IV. 425.]; but the hawk of Shakspeare is not the 

 bird; it is that j^«^ board with a handle centrally fixed on 

 the lower surface, which is used to this day by masons for 

 smoothing the plastering of a wall, and which still retains 

 that appellation. The comparison, therefore, is between two 

 operative implements. [For this solution, which restores the 

 original text, we are indebted to an oral communication from 

 Dr. Turton.] 



The hawk, from its rapacious habits, has received its 

 Latin name, acciptter, and was held in dislike by the Roman 

 poet : — 



" Odimus accipitrem quia semper vivit in armis." 



A hawk that happened to be once beaten, was ever after- 

 wards effectually cowed, and was technically termed a craven ; 

 whence the appellation has been transferred to a person 

 eminent for pusillanimity, as being the most bitter term of 

 reproach that can be employed. * 



THE DOVE, OR PIGEON. 



From the most ancient records that we possess, we find 

 this bird has ever been considered as the emblem of peace 



[* The term " craven " has also, it seems, been applied to the rook : 

 some poet has these lines : — 



" The craven rook, and pert jackdaw, 

 Though neither birds of moral kind. 

 Yet serve, when hang'd, and stufF'd with straw. 

 To tell from which point blows the wind."] 



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