The Birds of Shakespeare 
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.! 
Whether in captivity or in stuffed speci- 
mens, the dramatist had evidently set eyes 
on the bird close at hand, so as to be able 
to put so whimsical a comparison into 
Falstaff’s mouth : 
My own knee! When I was about thy 
years, Hal, I was not an eagle’s talon in the 
waist; 1 could have crept into any alderman’s 
thumb-ring.? 
Shakespeare’s acquaintance with the 
family of HAWKs was manifestly of the 
most intimate kind. These birds were 
common natives of the country, and in 
great request for the sport of falconry. 
His writings prove him to have had a 
detailed knowledge of the terminology of 
this sport, and he was probably himself a 
keen falconer in his early years, if not 
throughout his life. Huis Plays are full of 
1 Venus and Adonis, 55. 51 Heary IV. 1. 1. 320. 
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