The Zoologist — September, 1866. 359 



" More pity that the eagle should be mew'd." 

 While kites and buzzards prey at liberty." 



Richard III. Act i. Scene 1. 



The word "mew," derived from the old French word "mue," sig- 

 nifies a change, or the period when birds and other animals moult, 

 or cast their feathers, hair or horns : hence Latham observes that the 

 *' Mew is that place, whether it he abroad or in the house, where you 

 set down your hawk during the time she raiseth (or reproduces) her 

 feathers" 



It was necessary to take great care of a hawk in her mewing time, 

 and in ' The Gentleman's Academie ' (London, 1595, edited by Gervase 

 Markham) there are several sections on the mewing of hawks, from 

 one of which it may be learned that the best time to commence is in 

 the beginning of Lent, and, if well kept, the bird will be mewed (that 

 is, moulted) by the beginning of August. The verb " to mew," or 

 " enmew," subsequently possessed the secondary meaning, as in the 

 last quotation, of " to enclose," " shut up," or " confine." Thus, also, 



* * " To-night she's mew'd up." 



Romeo and Juliet, Act ill. Scene 4. 



And 



* " Forth comming from her darksome mew." 



Faerie Queen*,, Book I. Canto v. 20. 



" Captiv'd eternally in yron mewes." 



Id. Book II. Canto v. 27. 



The Royal hawks were kept at the mews at Charing Cross during 

 many reigns (according to Stowe from the time of Richard II. in 1377), 

 but they were removed by Henry VIII., who converted the place into 

 stables. The name, however, confirmed by the usage of so long a 

 period, remained to the building, although after the hawks were with- 

 drawn it became inapplicable. But, what is more curious still, in 

 more modern times, when the people of London began to build 

 ranges of stabling at the back of their streets and houses, they 

 christened those places " mews," after the old stabling at Charing 

 Cross. 



The eagle has always been considered so far superior to all other 

 birds as to merit the title of king of birds. We find many comparisons 

 illustrating this throughout the plays. 



In the first act of ' Troilus and Cressida' (Scene 2), when the forces 

 are passing in review, so soon as the generals have passed, Pandarus, 

 who with Cressida, is looking on, says, 



