The Zoologist— October, 1866. 393 



The Birds of Shakespeare. By J. E. Harting, F.Z.S. 



(Continued from S. S. 360). 



*' Was Mahomet inspired with a dove ? 

 Thou with an eagle art inspired then." 



Henry VI. Part I. Act iv. Scene 1. 



It is related that Mahomet had a dove which he used to feed with 

 wheat out of his ear, which dove, when it was hungry, lighted on 

 Mahomet's shoulder, and thrust its bill in to find its breakfast, Mahomet 

 persuading the rude and simple Arabians that it was the Holy Ghost 

 that gave him advice. (See Sir Walter Raleigh's 'History of the World,' 

 Book I. Parti, c. 6). 



" For once the eagle, England being in prey, 

 To her ung-uarded nest the weasel Scot 

 Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs." 



Henry V. Act i. Scene 2. 



Tn comparing England to an eagle and the cunning Scot to a 

 weasel, the poet elicits our admiration at the simile. But the inquiring 

 naturalist, forgetful of the poet's license, will ask whether the simile 

 is a natural one ; in other words, whether the weasel is ever found in 

 the same situation or at such an altitude as the eagle. This 

 appears questionable, as also does the assumption that a weasel would 

 or could suck an eagle's egg. A near relative of the weasel, however, 

 viz. a marten, was once found in an eagle's nest, "The forester 

 having reason to think that the bird was sitting hard, peeped over the 

 cliff into the eyrie. To his amazement, a marten was suckling her 

 kittens, in comfortable enjoyment." (Colquhoun's ' Moor and Loch,' 

 p. 330). 



By the allusion above made to the "princely eggs " we are reminded 

 of the princely bird that laid them, and few who have read the Plays 

 of Shakespeare can fail to remember that beautiful simile uttered on 

 the fall of Warwick, and which commences : 



" Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge 

 Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle." 



Henry VI. Part III. Act v. Scene 2. 



With the Romans the eagle was a bird of good omen ; Josephus, 

 the Jewish Historian, says the eagle was selected for the Roman 

 legionary standard because he is the king of all birds, and the most 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. I. 3 E 



