The Ornithology of Shakespeare Part 8

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER II.

HAWKS AND HAWKING.

To those who have ever taken part in a hawking excursion, it must be a matter of some surprise that so delightful a pastime has ceased to be popular. Yet, at the present day, perhaps not one person in five hundred has ever seen a trained hawk flown. In Shakespeare's time things were very different. Every one who could afford it kept a hawk, and the rank of the owner was indicated by the species of bird which he carried. To a king belonged the gerfalcon; to a prince, the falcon gentle; to an earl, the peregrine; to a lady, the merlin; to a young squire, the hobby; while a yeoman carried a goshawk; a priest, a sparrowhawk; and a knave, or servant, a kestrel. But the sport was attended with great expense, and much time and attention were required of the falconer before his birds were perfectly trained, and he himself a proficient.

This, combined with the increased enclosure and cultivation of waste lands, has probably contributed as much as anything to the decline of falconry in England.

[Sidenote: THE AGE OF HAWKING.]

During the age in which Shakespeare lived, the sport was at its height, and it is, therefore, not surprising that he has taken much notice of it in his works, and has displayed a considerable knowledge on the subject.

In the second part of _King Henry VI._ Act 2, we find a scene laid at St. Alban's, and the King, Queen, Gloster, Cardinal, and Suffolk appearing, with falconers halloaing. We quote that portion of the scene which refers more particularly to the sport:--

"_Queen._ Believe me, lords, for _flying at the brook_, I saw not better sport these seven years' day: Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high; And, ten to one, old Joan[42] had not gone out.

_King._ But what a _point_, my lord, your falcon made, And what a _pitch_ she flew above the rest!-- To see how G.o.d in all his creatures works!

Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high.

_Suff._ No marvel, an it like your majesty, My lord protector's hawks do _tower_ so well; They know their master loves to be aloft, And bears his thoughts above his falcon's _pitch_.

_Glo._ My lord, 'tis but a base ign.o.ble mind That mounts no higher than a bird can _soar_.

_Card._ I thought as much; he'd be above the clouds.

Believe me, cousin Gloster, Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly, We had had more sport."

[Sidenote: HAWKING TERMS.]

"Flying at the brook" is synonymous with "hawking by the river," and shows us that the party were in pursuit of water-fowl. Chaucer speaks of

"Ryding on, hawking by the river, With grey goshawk in hand."

"_Point._"--The fluttering or hovering over the spot where the "quarry"

has been "put in."

"_Pitch._"--The height to which a hawk rises before swooping.

"How high a _pitch_ his resolution soars!"

_Richard II._ Act i. Sc. 1.

"_Tower._"--A common expression in falconry, signifying to rise spirally to a height. Compare the French "_tour_." The word occurs again in _Macbeth_, Act ii. Sc. 4, with reference to a fact which we might well be excused for doubting, did we not know that it was related as an unusual circ.u.mstance:--

"On Tuesday last, A falcon, _tow'ring_ in her pride of place, Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd."

[Sidenote: THE FALCON AND TERCEL.]

Many of the incidents connected with Duncan's death are not to be found in the narrative of that event, but are taken from the chronicler's account of King Duffe's murder. Among the prodigies there mentioned is the one referred to by Shakespeare. "Monstrous sightes also, that were seene without the Scottishe kingdome that year, were these.... There was a sparhauke also strangled by an owle." We have known a Tawny Owl to kill and devour a Kestrel which had been kept in the same aviary with it.

By "tow'ring in her pride of place," is here understood to mean circling at her highest point of elevation. So in Ma.s.singer's play of _The Guardian_, Act i. Sc. 2:--

"Then for an evening flight A tiercel gentle which I call, my masters, As he were sent a messenger to the moon, In such a _place_, flies, as he seems to say See me or see me not."

By the falcon is always understood the female, as distinguished from the tercel, or male, of the peregrine or goshawk. The latter was probably called the tercel, or tiercel, from being about _a third_ smaller than the falcon. Some authorities, however, state that of the three young birds usually found in the nest of a falcon, two of them are females and _the third_ a male; hence the name of tercel.[43]

[Sidenote: THE TERCEL-GENTLE.]

By others, again, the term is supposed to have been derived from the French _gentil_, meaning neat or handsome, because of the beauty of its form.

There appears to be a great deal of confusion in the nomenclature of the hawks used in falconry. The same name has been applied to two distinct species, and the same species, in different states of plumage, has received two or more names. With regard to the "tercel," as distinguished from the "tercel-gentle," it would appear that the former name was given to the male goshawk, and the latter to the male peregrine; for the peregrine being a long-winged hawk, and the more _n.o.ble_ of the two, the word "gentle," or "gentil," was applied to it with that signification.

In this view we are supported to some extent by quaint old Izaak Walton.

In his "Compleat Angler," there is an animated conversation between an angler, a hunter, and a falconer, each of whom in turn commends his own recreation. The falconer gives a list of his hawks, and divides them into two cla.s.ses, viz.: the long-winged and short-winged hawks. In enumerating each species in pairs, he gives first the name of the female, and then that of the male: among the first cla.s.s we find--

The gerfalcon and jerkin, The falcon and tercel-gentle, &c.

In the second cla.s.s we have--

The eagle and iron,[44]

The goshawk and tercel, &c.

From this we may conclude that the name tercel-gentle was applied to the male peregrine, a long-winged hawk, to distinguish it from the tercel, or male goshawk, a short-winged hawk.

[Sidenote: DOCILITY OF THE FALCON.]

The female falcon, from her greater size and strength, was always considered superior to the male--stronger in flight:--

"As confident as is the falcon's flight Against a bird."

_Richard II._ Act i. Sc. 3.

And possessing more powerful talons:--

"So doves do peck the falcon's piercing talons."

_Henry VI._ Part III. Act i. Sc. 4.