402 The Zoologist — October, 1866. 



The word " quarry " also, in the language of the forest, meant a pile 

 of slaughtered game. So in ' Coriolanus,' Caius Marcius says : 



" And lei me use my sword I'd make a quarnj 

 With thousands of these quarter'd slaves." 



Coriolanus, Act iii. Scene 1. 



The beauty of the following passage, from its being clothed in 

 technicalities, will be likely to escape the notice of such as are not 

 conversant with hawking phraseology, but an acquaintance with the 

 terms employed will elicit admiration at the force and beauty of the 

 metaphor. Othello, with forcible expression, compares his young 

 wife Desdemona to a hawk, and, doubtful of her constancy and 

 affection towards him, exclaims, 



" If I do prove her haggard, 

 Tho' that heT jesses were my dear heart strings, 

 I'd whistle her oEF and let her dotvn the wind 

 To prey at fortune." 



Othello, Act iii. Scene 3. 



By "haggard" is meant a wild caught and unreclaimed mature hawk, 

 as distinguished from an "cyess" or nestling, which is a young hawk 

 taken from the " eyrie " or nest. 



" There is, sir, an aieri/ of children, little eyases that cry out." 



Hamlet, Act ii. Scene 2. 



By some falconers "haggards" were also called "passage hawks," 

 from being always caught when in that state at the time of their 

 periodical passage or migration. And as will be seen hereafter, the 

 word "haggard" occurs several times throughout various Plays. 



The "jesses " are the leathern straps fastened to the legs of the hawk 

 to strengthen them in holding the " quarry " when struck, especially on 

 the ground. They are consequently not removed when the bird is 

 flown, as is the hood and other trappings. 



Othello says : 



" I'd whistle her down the wind." 



" The falconers always let fly the hawk against the wind; if she flies 

 with the wind behind her she seldom returns. If therefore a hawk 

 was, for any reason, to be dismissed, she was let down the wind, and 

 from that time shifted for herself, and preyed at fortune.'" (Johnson). 



