DANTE AS A NATUBALIST. 367 



falconer), and "darts forward through strong desire for food that 

 draws him thither." He wheels up into the air (Par. xviii. 45), 

 carefully watched by the eye of the falconer. He spies his 

 quarry, and makes for it. The only actual instance we have is 

 in Inf. xxii, 131 : this time a Duck, that at the Falcon's approach 

 dives under, and comes up cross and weary. A very good de- 

 scription. I watched a big Hawk once in Norway that was 

 dividing its attentions between a Heron and a Duck, neither of 

 which left the sea-pool where they were. The Hawk settled on 

 a tree in a small island, and kept sweeping down on first one and 

 then the other. There was a great deal of shrieking, and the 

 Heron baffled it by its flight, and the Duck by diving, coming up 

 each time, one might judge from the sounds it emitted, distinctly 

 cross and weary (Inf. xvii. 127). In Dante's simile of the ap- 

 proach of Geryon, we have a picture of the disappointed Hawk : 



" E'en as a Falcon long upheld in air, 



Not seeing lure, or bird upon the wing. 



So that the falconer utters, in despair, 



' Alas, thou stoop'st! ' fatigued descends from high, 

 And, whirling quickly round in many a ring, 



Far from his master sits — disdainfully." 



With this ends Dante's allusion to sporting; but, as the modern 

 Italian, who goes alia caccia with his gun and his game-bag, 

 shoots for the pot, and spares neither Yellowhammer nor Wag- 

 tail, perhaps this would be the place to mention the professional 

 '' che dietro all' uccello sua vita perde " (Purg. xxiii. 3). He 

 apparently crept up, and looked cautiously through the leaves, 

 and then took a sitting shot; for we are told (Purg. xxxi. 61) 

 that the young inexperienced bird will wait till he has had two or 

 three shots, but at the full-fledged (pennuto) it is no good shoot- 

 ing, and in vain is the net spread in its sight. The latter part 

 is a quotation from the Book of Proverbs, *' frustra jacitur rete 

 ante oculos pennatorum " (an equivalent of " Old birds are not to 

 be caught with chaff"), which in our version has been reduced to 

 nonsense by translating (pennati) as " any bird." 



Domestic animals and cattle next claim attention. Of the 

 former, we have the Cat pursuing the Mouse (Inf. xxii. 58), and 

 four allusions to Dogs. In the first, as in Calverley, " the Dog 

 said nothing, but searched for fleas." He is describing the 



