132 The Field Natur alls f s Quarterly May 



The CyperacecB is not a popular family with beginners at 

 Botany, who will hardly admit that its flowers have a right 

 to the name ; but to the micro-botanist this family offers 

 a fascinating study, to which we may refer on some future 

 occasion. 



Some Birds in Shakspear. 



By J. L. Bevir, M.A. 



The Raptores. 



At an entrance examination at one of our public schools 

 a candidate replied, in answer to the question, Who was 

 Shakspear? "He was a poacher." This, though not a 

 very exhaustive account of the immortal bard, and pos- 

 sibly not a true one, speaks of the fact that the poet was 

 brought up in the country, and took an interest in natural 

 history. His intimate knowledge of nature is largely 

 borne out by a careful perusal of his works, which are 

 full of references to birds and beasts, and I thought it 

 might not be uninteresting to collect what he says about 

 the Raptores and Corvidae, adding a few notes relative to 

 the birds in his day and our own. 



Before speaking actually of the birds, I should like to 

 remind my readers of a peculiarity of Shakspear which runs 

 through all his works, and that is his fondness for assonance, 

 and for playing upon words. No situation is too serious 

 for him to pun, for Lady Macbeth says to her trembling 

 and unnerved husband after he has murdered Duncan, 

 as she takes the dagger from his hands — 



" I'll gild the faces of the knaves withal, 

 That it may seem their guilt" ; 



and no jcit de mot comes amiss to him, however far-fetched. 

 At times he will go on making a series of puns on the same 

 word. I recall this, for this playing upon words may help 

 one to explain several of the quotations in which he alludes 

 to birds. 



Having said this much, I will turn to the Raptores, and 

 naturally the biggest birds claim attention first. Even in 



