The Zoologist — September, 1866. 355 



" O Regan, she halh tied 

 Sharp-loolh'd UDkiudness like a vulture here." 



Lear, Act ii. Scene 4. 

 " Lei vultures gripe thy guls." 



Merry Wives, Act i. Scene 3. 



Eagle {Falco chrysaetos). 



" Were't not all one, an empty eagle were set 

 To guard the chicken from a hungry kite, 

 As place Duke Humphrey for the King's protector?' 

 Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Scene 1. 



* * * " That hateful Duke, 

 Whose haughty spirit, winged with desire. 

 Will cost my crown, and, like an empty eagle. 

 Tire on the flesh of me and of my son." 



Id. Part III. Act i. Scene 1. 



Tire is a term used in falconry. When a hawk was in training- it 

 was frequently necessary to prolong its meal as much as possible, to 

 prevent it from gorging : this was effected by giving it a tough or 

 bony bit to tire on, that is, to tear or peck at. Steevens quotes an 

 example of the word used in this sense from Decker's ' Match Me in 

 London,' 1631. 



* * * " Tljg vulture tires 

 Upon the eagle's heart." 



And Mr. Collier quotes another from ' Histriomastix,' 1610, sig. F. 3. 



" O how this vulture, vile ambition, 

 Tires on the heart of greatnesse and devours.'' 



So, in * Timon of Athens ' (Act iii. Scene 6), one of the lords says, 



" Upon that were my thoughts tiring when we encounter'd." 



And in Ben Jonson's ' Catiline ' (Act iii. Scene 3) we read, 



* * * " And let 



His own gaunt eagle fly at him and tire." 



The eagle has always been considered the emblem of majesty, and 

 has been variously styled the " king of birds," " the royal bird," " the 

 princely eagle," and " Jove's bird." The power of vision in this bird 

 is so extraordinary that to have an " eagle eye " has become pro- 

 verbial. 



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