62 AN “UNMANN’D” HAWK. 
The Constable of France, speaking of the valour of the 
Dauphin, says :— 
“Tis a hooded valour, and when it appears it will date.” 
Henry V. Act iii. Sc. 7. 
The allusion is to the ordinary action of a hawk, which, 
when unhooded, dazes, or flutters. But a quibble may be 
here intended between “ bate,” the hawking technical, and 
“bate,” to dwindle or abate. The word occurs again in 
Romeo and Fuliet (Act iii. Sc. 2)— 
“ flood my unmann’d blood, dating in my cheeks.” 
And to those not conversant with the terms employed 
in falconry, this line would be unintelligible. An 
“unmanned” hawk was one not sufficiently reclaimed to 
be familiar with her keeper, and such birds generally 
“bated,” that is, fluttered or beat their wings violently in 
their efforts to escape. 
Petruchio, in The Taming of the Shrew, gives us a 
lesson in reclaiming a hawk when speaking thus of 
Catherine :— 
“ My falcon now is sharp, and passing empty, 
And, till she stoop, she must not be full-gorg’d, 
For then she never looks upon her Lure. 
Another way I have to man my haggard, 
To make her come, and know her keeper’s call, 
That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites 
