A BIRD OF ILL-OMEN. 45 



" I chose an eagle, and did avoid a puttock." 



And the superiority of the eagle is again adverted to 

 by Hastings, in Richard III. (Act i. Sc. i) :— 



" More pity that the eagle should be mew'd, 

 While kites and buzzards prey at liberty." 



The intractable disposition of the kite is thus noticed : — 



" 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, 

 That bate, and beat, and will not be obedient." 



Taming of the Shrew, Act iv. Sc. I . 



A wild hawk was sometimes tamed by watching it 

 night and day, to prevent its sleeping. In " An approved 

 treatyse of Hawks and Hawking," by Edmund Bert, 

 Gent., which was published in London in 1619, the author 

 says : — " I have heard of some who watched and kept 

 their hawks awake seven nights and as many days, and 

 then they would be wild, rammish, and disorderly." This 

 practice is often alluded to by Shakespeare : — 



" You must be watch' d ere you be made tame, must you ?" 



Troilus and Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 2. 



" I '11 watch him tame." 



Othello, Act iii. Sc. 3. 



