The Zoologist — October, 1866. 403 



As before observedj we find the word " haggard " occurring 

 throughout many of Shakespeare's plays. 



" She is too disdainful, 

 I know her spirits are as coy and wild 

 As haggards of the rock." 



Much Ado about Nothing, Act iii. Scene 1. 



*' And like the haggard check at every feather." 



Twelfth Night, Act iii. Scene 1. 



To " check " is a term used in Falconry signifying " to fly at " ; it 

 also means to forsake the proper quarry and take after another bird. 

 The word occurs again in the same play, Act ii. Sc. 4. 



Besides the "jesses," the "bells" were an indispensable part of a 

 hawk's trappings. These were of circular form, and from a quarter to 

 a full inch in diameter, and made of brass or silver, and were attached 

 one to each leg of the bird by means of small slips of leather called 

 *' bewits." The use of bells was to lead the falconer by their sound to 

 the hawk when in a wood, or out of sight. 



" As the ox hath his low, Sir, the horse his curb, and the falcon her bells, so man 

 hath his desires." — As You Like It, Act iii. Scene 3. 



The " hood " also was a most necessary appendage. This was a 

 cap or cover for the head of the hawk, which was not removed until 

 the " quarry " was started, in order to prevent the hawk from flying 

 before the proper time had arrived. 



The constable of France, speaking of the valour of the Dauphin 

 «ays: 



" 'Tis a hooded valour and when it appears it will bate." 



Henry V., Act iii. Scene 7. 



The allusion is to the ordinary action of a hawk, which when 

 unhooded bates, or flutters. But a quibble may be here intended 

 between " bate," the hawking technical, and " bate " to dwindle 

 or abate. 



We read also in ' Romeo and Juliet,' 



" Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks." 



Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Scene 2. 



And to any one not conversant with the terras used in Falconry, this 

 line would be perfectly unintelligible. An " unmanned " hawk was one 

 not sufficiently reclaimed to be familiar with her keeper; and such 



