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 God 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 ignoble 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 circumstance:--

“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 Massinger’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 _noble_ 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 classes, 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 class we find--

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

In the second class 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.

She was more easily trained, and capable of being flown at larger game. Hence Shakespeare asserts--

“The falcon as the tercel, for all the ducks i’ the river.”

_Troilus and Cressida_, Act iii. Sc. 2.

Sometimes we find the word “tercel” written “tassel,” as in _Romeo and Juliet_ (Act ii. Sc. 2):--

“O, for a falconer’s voice,
To lure this _tassel-gentle_ back again!”

Spenser almost invariably spells the word in this way.[45] To understand the allusion to the falconer’s voice, it should be observed that after a hawk had been flown, and had either struck or missed the object of her pursuit, the “lure” (which we shall presently describe) was thrown up to entice her back, and at the same time the falconer shouted to attract her attention.

[Sidenote: QUALITIES OF A GOOD FALCONER.]

Professor Schneider, in a Latin volume published at Leipsic, in 1788,[46] thus enumerates the qualities of a good falconer: “Sit mediocris staturæ; sit perfecti ingenii; bonæ memoriæ; levis auditu; acuti visûs; _homo magnæ vocis_; sit agilis et promptus; sciat natare,” &c. &c.

Each falconer had his own particular call, but it was generally somewhat like--

“Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come!”

_Hamlet_, Act i. Sc. 5.

[Sidenote: THE LURE AND ITS USE.]

The “lure” was of various shapes, and consisted merely of a piece of iron or wood, generally in the shape of a heart or horseshoe, to which were attached the wings of some bird, with a piece of raw meat fixed between them. A strong leathern strap, about three feet long, fastened to it with a swivel, enabled the falconer to swing it round his head, or throw it to a distance. With high-flying hawks, however, it was often found necessary to use a live pigeon, secured to a string by soft leather jesses, in order to recall them.[47]

The long-winged hawks were always brought to the lure, the short-winged ones to the hand:--

“As falcon to the lure, away she flies.”

_Venus and Adonis._

The game flown at was called in hawking parlance the “quarry,” and differed according to the hawk that was used. The gerfalcon and peregrine were flown at herons, ducks, pigeons, rooks, and magpies; the goshawk was used for hares and partridges; while the smaller kinds, such as the merlin and hobby, were trained to take blackbirds, larks, and snipe. The French falconers, however, do not appear to have been so particular:--

“We’ll e’en to ’t like French falconers, fly at anything
we see.”--_Hamlet_, Act ii. Sc. 2.

[Sidenote: THE QUARRY.]

The word “quarry” occurs in many of the Plays.

“This ‘quarry’ cries on havoc.”[48]

_Hamlet_, Act v. Sc. 2.

In the language of the forest, “quarry” also meant a heap of slaughtered game. So, in _Coriolanus_ (Act iii. Sc. 1), Caius Marcius says:--

“And let me use my sword, I’d make a ‘quarry’
With thousands of these quarter’d slaves.”

The beauty of the following passage, from its being clothed in technicalities, will be likely to escape the notice of those who are not conversant with hawking phraseology; but an acquaintance with the terms employed will elicit admiration at the force and beauty of the metaphor.

Othello, mistrusting the constancy of Desdemona towards him, and comparing her to a hawk, exclaims:--

“If I do prove her _haggard_,
Though that her _jesses_ were my dear heart-strings,
I’d whistle her off, and let her down the wind,
To prey at fortune.”

_Othello_, Act iii. Sc. 3.

By “haggard” is meant a wild-caught and unreclaimed mature hawk, as distinguished from an “eyess,” or nestling; that

“There is, sir, an aiery of children, little eyases, that cry out.”

_Hamlet_, Act ii. Sc. 2.

By some falconers “haggards” were also called “passage hawks,” from being always caught when in that state, at the time of their periodical passage or migration. As will be seen hereafter, the word “haggard” occurs frequently throughout the Plays.

[Sidenote: HAWK’S TRAPPINGS.]

The “jesses” were two narrow strips of leather, fastened one to each leg, the other ends being attached to a swivel, from which depended the “leash.” When the hawk was flown, the swivel and leash were taken off, the jesses and bells remaining on the bird.

Some of the old falconers’ directions on these points are very quaint. Turbervile, in his “Book of Falconrie,” 1575, speaking of the trappings of a hawk, says:--“Shee must haue jesses of leather, the which must haue knottes at the ende, and they should be halfe a foote long, or there about; at the least a shaftmeete betweene the hoose of the jesse, and the knotte at the ende, whereby you tye the hauke.”

[Sidenote: THE JESSES.]

In the modern “jesse,” however, there are no knots. It is fastened in this wise. The leg of the hawk is placed against the “jesse,” between the slits A and B. The end A is then passed through the slit B, and the end C in turn through the slit A. The swivel, with its dependent leash, is then attached to slit C; and the same with the other leg.

Othello says:--

“I’d whistle her off, and let her down the wind,
To prey at fortune.”

Falconers always flew their hawk _against_ the wind. If flown _down_ the wind, she seldom returned. When, therefore, a useless bird was to be dismissed, her owner flew her “down the wind;” and thenceforth she shifted for herself, and was said “to prey at fortune.”

The word “haggard,” as before observed, is of frequent occurrence throughout the Plays of Shakespeare. In the _Taming of the Shrew_ (Act iv. Sc. 2), Hortensio speaks of Bianca as “this proud disdainful _haggard_.” In _Much Ado about Nothing_ (Act iii. Sc. 1), Hero, alluding to Beatrice, says--

“I know, her spirits are as coy and wild
As _haggards_ of the rock.”

In _Twelfth Night_ (Act iii. Sc. 1), Viola says of the Clown:--

“This fellow’s wise enough to play the fool;
And to do that well craves a kind of wit:
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons, and the time;
And, _like the haggard_, check at every feather
That comes before his eye.”

To “check” is a term used in falconry, signifying to “fly at,” although it sometimes meant to “change the bird in pursuit.”[49] The word occurs again in the same play (Act ii. Sc. 4), and in _Hamlet_, Act iv. Sc. 7.

[Sidenote: THE BELLS.]

Besides the “jesses,” the “bells” formed an indispensable part of a hawk’s trappings. These were of circular form, from a quarter to a full inch in diameter, and made of brass or silver, and were attached, one to each leg of the bird, by means of small slips of leather called “bewits.” The use of bells was to lead the falconer by their sound to the hawk when in a wood, or out of sight.

“As the ox hath his bow,[50] sir, the horse his curb, and the _falcon her bells_, so man hath his desires.”--_As You Like It_, Act iii. Sc. 3.

So in _Henry VI._ Part III. Act i. Sc. 1--

“Nor he that loves him best,
The proudest he that holds up Lancaster,
Dares stir a wing, if Warwick _shake his bells_.”

Again--

“Harmless Lucretia, marking what he tells
With trembling fear, _as fowl hears falcon’s bells_.”

_Lucrece._

[Sidenote: THE HOOD.]

The “hood,” too, was a necessary appendage to the trained falcon. This was a cap or cover for the head, which was not removed until the “quarry” was started, in order to prevent the hawk from flying too soon.

[Sidenote: 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 _bate_.”

_Henry V._ Act iii. Sc. 7.

The allusion is to the ordinary action of a hawk, which, when unhooded, _bates_, 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 Juliet_ (Act iii. Sc. 2)--

“_Hood_ my unmann’d blood, _bating_ 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
That _bate_, and beat, and will not be obedient.
She eat no meat to-day, nor none shall eat;
Last night she slept not, nor to-night she shall not.”

_Taming of the Shrew_, Act iv. Sc. 1.

The word “stoop,” sometimes written “stoup” (Spenser’s “Faerie Queene,”