The Birds of Shakespeare 
The suzzARD is mentioned several times 
by Shakespeare, and always in a more or 
less depreciatory sense. It is a large hand- 
some bird, but compared with the falcon 
is slow and heavy in flight. So in the 
encounter of wits between Petruchio and 
Katharine, he in his characteristic falconer’s 
language asks her : 
O slow-winged turtle, shall a buzzard take thee ?? 
In a passage already cited the buzzards 
are coupled with the disreputable kites. 
Professor Newton remarks that “in the old 
days of falconry, buzzards were regarded 
with infinite scorn, and hence in common 
English to call a man a ‘buzzard’ is to 
denounce him as stupid.” * 
In the time of Elizabeth the kiTe (or 
Puttock), now one of the rarest of our 
birds, was quite common in this country. 
It was particularly abundant in London, 
where it fed on the garbage of the streets, 
1 Taming of the Shrew, u. 1, 206. 
2 Dictionary of Birds, p. 67. 
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