The Zoologist— October, 1866. 407 



partridges, while the smaller kinds, such as the merlin and hobby, 

 were trained to take blackbirds, larks and snipe. 



The French falconers, however, do not appear to have been so par- 

 ticular. 



" We'll e'en to it like French falconers. 

 Fly al anything we see." 



Hamlet, Act ii. Scene 2. 



Hawk. 



Hobby [Falco suhhuteo). 

 Merlin [F. cesalon). 

 Kestrel {F. tinnunciilits). 

 Sparrowhawk {F. nisus). 



Although allusions to a hawk are so frequent throughout the Plays, 

 yet there is only one passage in which any particular species is 

 mentioned. However, as the four species above named were all 

 employed in Falconry, I have thought it advisable to mention them. 

 ^ The line above referred to, which is the only one in which a par- 

 ticular species of hawk is intended, occurs in ' Twelfth Night,' where 

 we read, 



" And with what wing the stannyel checks at it." 



Twelfth Night, Act ii. Scene 4. 



" Stannyel " is a corruption of standgale, which is synonymous with 

 windhover, a name for the kestrel hawk. 



The meaning of the word kestrel is somewhat uncertain. By some 

 it is derived from « coystril," which meant a knave or inferior person. 



" Dost thou love hawking P 

 Thou hast hawks will soar above the morning lark." 



Taming of the Shrew, Induction, Scene 2. 



Tn ' Henry V.' the Dauphin, when speaking in praise of his horse, 

 says, 



" When I bestride him I soar, I am a hawk." 



Henry V., Act iii. Scene 7. 



And in Part I. of ' Henry VI.' the Earl of Warwick boasts that 



" Between two hawks which flies the higher pitch. 



***** 



I have perhaps some shallow spirit of judgment." 



Hennj VI., Part I. Act ii. Scene 4. 



