118 THE HOBBY FALCON. 



Coucheth the fowl below loith his wings' shade, 

 Whose crooked beak threats if he mounts he dies ; 

 So, under his insulting falchion, lies 

 Harmless Lucretia, marking what he tells 

 With trembling fear, as fowl hear falcon 's bells." 



And when the deed is done, how truly he says— 



" Pure Chastity is rifled of her store, 

 And Lust, the thief, far poorer than before ; 

 Look, as the full-fed hound or gorged haiok, 

 Unapt for tender smell or speedy jlight, 

 Make slow pursuit, or altogether baulk 

 The prey wherein by nature they delight, 

 So surfeit-taking Tarquin fares this night." 



And in one of his doubtful plays, " The London Prodigal," the 

 allusion to this bird in one of Flowerdale's speeches, I think, 

 fathers itself — 



" I' faith, brother, like a mad, unbridl'd colt, 

 Or as a hawk that never stoop'd to lure. 

 The one must be tamed with an iron bit ; 

 The other must be watched, or still she's wild. 

 Such is my son ; a while let him be so, 

 For counsel still is folly's deadly foe. 

 I'll serve his youth, for youth must have his course, 

 For, being restrain'd, it makes him ten times worse ; 

 His pride, his riot — all that may be nam'd — 

 Time may recall, and all his madness tamed." 



The Hobby. (Falco Subuteo.) Linn. 



The hobby falcon is not, to my knowledge, found in Scotland, 

 and rarely in England. In colour it resembles the peregrine ; 

 but much less, being about the size of the kestrel. It has all 

 the characteristics of the falcons. It preys on small birds — 

 chiefly larks — also on beetles, like the kestrel. In the time of 

 falconry it was trained to hunt small birds, but from its rarity 

 was not generally used ; and I merely mention the hobby here 

 as it stands in our list of British birds. 



