TUCK: THE ORNITHOLOGY OF. TENNYSON. 47 
‘Merlin and Vivien’ has siege allusions to falconry. Queen 
Guinevere declares her intentio 
Ride a-hawking with Sir Lancelot. 
He hath oie? us a fair falcon which he trained, 
We go to prove it. 
The gift proved well worthy of a Queen’s acceptance, when Sir 
Lancelot 
Unhooded casting off 
The goodly falcon free ; ; she towered; _her bells, 
d 
Who pounced her quarry and slew it 
In ‘Lancelot and Elaine’ the royal sport is introduced again. 
Elaine asks the Prince: 
ra sei king, 
5 beat - — . hse _ mine head, > said he, 
e lark aap 
O pak in the ight “ your “ios eyes 
Elaine, in another part oy or idyll is likened to 
ittle helpless, innocent bird, 
Will sing the simple passage o’er _ o’er 
eu =e an te a age till the 
Either the fie. anand or yellow bunting might be the bird 
referred to. hem, when the short life of the ‘lily maid of Astolat’ 
is nearing its close 
Death, like a friend’s ieee from a distant field 
Approaching thro ors darkness called ; the owls 
Wailing had pow: 
We have in the ‘Last Ben oes a spirited passage, introducing 
with noteworthy accuracy two well-known birds. Tristram, addressing 
Isolt, is made to say: 
Worldling of the world am I, and k 
The a. that ei ig ere his veal 
Woos his o wen we are not — here, 
Nor shall be: vows—I am woodman of the woods, 
And heen the ae ase i Mapate® 
Mock them 
Most lovers of wild birds are fond of the lintwhite or linnet, and 
the late Laureate seems to have been no exception. The few 
quotations here culled from his works may fitly conclude, as they 
began, with a mention of that charming little bird. The lines are 
from the novice’s conversation with the Queen in ‘Guinevere’: 
* Green woodpecker. 
Feb. 1893. 
