2 14 The Field Naturalist's Quarte7'ly Aug. 



Some Birds in Shakspear. 



By J. L. Bevir, M.A. 

 The Raptores. 



( Co fit in tied from p. 137.) 



As hawking was largely indulged in throughout the middle 

 ages, one would expect to find many references to it in 

 Shakspear, and one is not disappointed ("2 Henry VI.," 

 ii. i). We have a royal party returning from the sport, 

 where they have been " flying at the brook " — i.e., hawk- 

 ing — after Heron and Waterfowl. 



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

 I saw not better sport these seven years' day, 

 And, ten to one, old Joan ^ had not gone out. 



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

 And what a pitch she flew above the rest ! 



'"'■ Suffolk. No marvel, and 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 the falcon's pitch." 



In the " Merry Wives of Windsor" (iii. 4) we have milder 

 sport, better becoming well-to-do citizens ; for Page says, 

 "After we'll a-birding together, I have a fine hawk for 

 the bush." 



With regard to the different sorts of Hawks used, I do 

 not think I can do better than give the Faulkner's list in 

 Walton's ' Compleat Angler,' and select from it those that 

 occur in Shakspear : — 



"You are to note that they are usually distinguished into two 

 kinds, namely, the long-winged and short-winged Hawks : of the first 

 kind there be chiefly in use among this nation — The Gerfalcon and 



^ I take "old Joan" 10 be Dame Juliana Berners, who lived in Henry VI. 's 

 reign, and wrote a treatise on Falconry. 



