  | PAGE | INTRODUCTION.
SHAKESPEARE’S GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF NATURAL HISTORY. | | His Love of Sport.—Hawking.—Fishing.—Hunting.—Fowling.—Deer-Shooting.—Deer-Stealing.—“The Subtle Fox” and “Timorous Hare.”—Coursing.—Coney-Catching.—Wild Animals mentioned by Shakespeare.—His Knowledge of their Habits.—Insects referred to in the Plays.—Shakespeare’s Powers of Observation.—Practical Knowledge of Falconry.—Love of Birds. | 1 | CHAPTER I.
THE EAGLE AND LARGER BIRDS OF PREY. | | An “Eagle Eye.”—Power of Flight.—A good Omen.—“The Bird of Jove.”—The Roman Eagle.—The “Ensign” of the Eagle.—Habits and Attitudes.—Eagles’ Eggs.—Longevity of the Eagle: its Age computed.—The Eagle trained for Hawking.—The Vulture: its Repulsive Habits.—The Osprey: its Power over Fish.—The Kite.—The Kite’s Nest.—The Buzzard. | 23 | CHAPTER II.
HAWKS AND HAWKING. | | Explanation of Hawking Terms.—The Falcon and Tiercel.—The Qualities of a good Falconer.—The “Lure” and its Use.—The “Quarry”—The Hawk’s “Trappings.”—Jesses, Bells, and Hood.—An Unmann’d Hawk.—The Cadge—The Hawks Mew.—The Royal Mews.—Origin of the word “Mews.”—Imping.—How to “Seel” a Hawk.—A Hawk for the Bush.—Going “a-birding.”—The “Stanniel” or Kestrel.—Origin of the Two Names.—The “Musket” or Sparrow-Hawk.—Hawk and Hernshaw.—Prices of Hawks.—Hawk’s Furniture.—Hawk’s Meat.—Falconer’s Wages.—Sundries. | 49 | CHAPTER III.
THE OWL AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. | | “The Bird of Juno.”—“The Favourite of Minerva.”—“The Bird of Wisdom.”—Sacred to Proserpine.—Use in Medicine.—The Bird of Ill-Omen.—Its Appearance by Day.—Its Habits misunderstood.—Its Utility to the Farmer.—A Curious Tradition.—Its Note or Cry.—An Owl Robbing Nests.—Evidence not conclusive.—Its Retiring Habits.—Its “Five Wits.”—Its Fame in Song.—The Owl’s Good Night. | 83 | CHAPTER IV.
THE CROWS AND THEIR RELATIONS. | | The Raven: a Bird of Ill Omen.—Its Supposed Prophetic Power.—Its Deep and Solemn Voice.—The Raven’s Croak foreboding Death.—The “Night-Raven” and “Night-Crow.”—The Raven’s Presence on Battlefields.—Its alleged Desertion of its Young.—The Rook and Crow.—The Crow-Keeper, and “Scare-Crow.”—The Chough.—Russet-pated Choughs.—The Daw, Magpie, and Jay. | 99 | CHAPTER V.
THE BIRDS OF SONG. | | The Nightingale.—“Lamenting Philomel.”—Singing against a Thorn.—Erroneously supposed to Sing only by Night.—“Recording.”—The Lark.—“The Herald of the Morn.”—Singing at Heaven’s Gate.—Song of the Lark.—Soaring and Singing.—Changing Eyes with Toad.—Lark-Catching.—The Common Bunting.—“The Throstle, with his Note so True.”—Imitation of his Song.—The Ouzel-Cock.—The Robin-Redbreast, or Ruddock.—Covering the Dead with Leaves.—“Redbreast Teacher.”—“The Wren with Little Quill.”—Its Loud Song.—The Sparrow.—“Philip Sparrow.”—Providence in the Fall of a Sparrow.—The Hedge-Sparrow and Cuckoo.—“The Cuckoo’s Bird.”—“Ungentle Gull.”—“The Plain Song Cuckoo Gray.”—The Song of the Cuckoo.—Cuckoo Songs.—The Wagtail, or Dishwasher.—Bird-catching.—Springes.—Gins.—Bat-fowling.—Its Two Significations.—Bird-Lime, Bird-Bolts, and Birding-Pieces. | 123 | CHAPTER VI.
THE BIRDS UNDER DOMESTICATION. | | Cock.—“Cock-Crow.”—“Cock-shut-time.”—“Cock-a-Hoop.”—“Cock and Pye.”—Cock-Fighting.—Ancestry of the Domestic Cock.—The Peacock.—Its Introduction into Europe, and Ancient Value.—In Request for the Table.—The Turkey.—Date of Introduction into England.—Shakespeare’s Anachronism.—Pigeons.—First used as Letter-Carriers.—A Present of Pigeons.—Meaning of “Pigeon-Liver’d.”—Pigeon-Post.—Mode of Feeding the Young.—The Barbary Pigeon.—The Rock-Dove.—Doves and Dovecotes.—The “Doves of Venus.”—“The Dove of Paphos.”—“As True as Turtle to her Mate:” “as Plantage to the Moon.”—Mahomet’s Dove.—A Dish of Doves.—The Goose.—“Green-Geese,” and “Stubble-Geese.”—“Cackling home to Camelot.”—“The Wild-Goose Chase.”—The Swan.—“The Bird of Apollo.”—Song of the Swan.—Habits of the Swan.—The Swan’s Nest.—As Soft as Swan’s-down.—“Juno’s Swans.”—Cygnets. | 167 | CHAPTER VII.
THE GAME-BIRDS AND “QUARRY” FLOWN AT BY FALCONERS. | | Sporting in Shakespeare’s Day.—The Pheasant.—Date of its Introduction into Britain.—Ancient Value of Game.—Game-Preserving.—Game-Laws.—Partridge-Hawking.—Anecdote of Charles I.—Quails.—Quail-Fighting.—The Lapwing.—Feigning to be Wounded.—Running as soon as Hatched.—The Heron, or Hernshaw.—Heron-Hawking.—Hawk and Hernshaw—Heron at Table.—The Woodcock.—Springes for Woodcocks.—How to Make a Springe.—A Gin.—“The Woodcock’s Head.”—The Snipe. | 209 | CHAPTER VIII.
WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL. | | “A Flight of Fowl.”—Habit of Wounded Birds.—“Duck-Hunting.”—Swimming “like a Duck.”—Wild-fowling in Shakespeare’s Day.—“The Stalking-Horse.”—“The Caliver.”—“The Stale.”—Wild-Geese.—Sign of Hard Weather.—The Barnacle Goose.—Barnacles.—Wild Fowl.—Divers and Grebes.—The “Loon.”—The “Di-dapper.”—The Cormorant.—Its Voracity.—Fishing with Cormorants.—The King’s Cormorants.—Their “Keep” at Westminster.—Fishing at Thetford.—The Master of the Cormorants.—Entr
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