The Ornithology of Shakespeare Part 5

Sometimes the word was written "accloy;" as, for instance, in Spenser's "Faerie Queene" (ii. 7)--

"And with uncomely weeds the gentle wave _accloyes_."

And in the same author's "Shepheard's Calendar" (February, 135)--

"The mouldie mosse which thee _accloyeth_."

It is clear, therefore, that the word occurring in the fourth scene of the fifth act of _Cymbeline_, should be written _cleys_, and not _cloys_.

[Sidenote: EAGLE'S EGGS.]

But to return from this digression; there is a pa.s.sage in the first act of _Henry V._ Sc. 2, which seems to deserve some notice while on the subject of eagles, _i.e._:--

"For once the eagle England being in prey, To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs."

That the weasel sucks eggs, and is partial to such fare, is very generally admitted. Shakespeare alludes to the fact again in _As You Like It_ (Act ii. Sc. 5), where Jaques says:--"I can suck melancholy out of a song, as a weasel sucks eggs." But whether the weasel has ever been found in the same situation or at such an alt.i.tude as the eagle, is not so certain. A near relative of the weasel, however, namely, a marten-cat, was once found in an eagle's nest. "The forester, having reason to think that the bird was sitting hard, peeped over the cliff into the eyrie. To his amazement, a marten was suckling her kittens in comfortable enjoyment."[30]

The allusion above made to the "princely eggs," reminds us of the princely bird which laid them, and those who have read the works of Shakespeare--and who has not?--must doubtless remember the beautiful simile uttered by Warwick when dying on the field of Barnet:--

"Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge, Whose arms gave shelter to the _princely_ eagle."

_Henry VI._ Part III. Act v. Sc. 2.

The conscious superiority of the eagle is depicted by Tamora, who tells us:--

"The eagle suffers little birds to sing, And is not careful what they mean thereby, Knowing that with the shadow of his wing He can at pleasure stint their melody."

_t.i.tus Andronicus_, Act iv. Sc. 4.

[Sidenote: LONGEVITY OF THE EAGLE.]

The great age to which this bird sometimes attains has been remarked by most writers on Ornithology. The Psalmist has beautifully alluded to it where he says of the righteous man,--"His youth shall be renewed like the eagle's." A golden eagle, which had been nine years in the possession of Mr. Owen Holland, of Conway, lived thirty-two years with the gentleman who made him a present of it, but what its age was when the latter received it from Ireland is unknown.[31] Another, that died at Vienna, was stated to have lived in confinement one hundred and four years.[32] A white-tailed eagle captured in Caithness, died at Duff House in February, 1862, having been kept in confinement, by the late Earl of Fife, for thirty-two years. But even the eagle may be outlived.

Apemantus asks of Timon:--

"Will these moss'd trees, That have outliv'd the eagle, page thy heels, And skip when thou point'st out?"

_Timon of Athens_, Act iv. Sc. 3.

The old text has "moyst trees." The emendation, however, which was made by Hanmer, is strengthened by the line in _As You Like It_ (Act iv.

Sc. 3):--

"Under an oak, whose boughs were _moss'd_ with age."

In an old French "riddle-book," ent.i.tled "Demands Joyous," which was printed in English by Wynkyn de Worde in 1511 (a single copy only of which is said to be extant), is the following curious "demande" and "response." It is here transcribed, as bearing upon the subject of the age of an eagle:--

"_Dem._ What is the age of a field-mouse?

_Res._ A year. And the life of a hedge-hog is three times that of a mouse; and the life of a dog is three times that of a hedge-hog; and the life of a horse is three times that of a dog; and the life of a man is three times that of a horse; and the life of a goose is three times that of a man; and the life of a swan is three times that of a goose; and the life of a swallow is three times that of a swan; _and the life of an eagle is three times that of a swallow_; and the life of a serpent is three times that of an eagle; and the life of a raven is three times that of a serpent; and the life of a hart is three times that of a raven; and an oak groweth 500 years, and fadeth 500 years."

[Sidenote: ITS AGE COMPUTED.]

The Rev. W. B. Daniel alludes[33] to "the received maxim that animals live seven times the number of years that bring them to perfection,"

upon which computation the average life of an eagle would be twenty-one years. But this maxim is founded on a misconception. Fleurens, in his treatise "De la Longevite Humaine," says that the duration of life in any animal is equal to five times the number of years requisite to perfect its growth, and that the growth has ceased when the bones have finally consolidated with their _epiphyses_, which in the young are merely cartilages.

Like many other rapacious birds, eagles are very fond of bathing, and it has been found essential to supply them with baths when in confinement, in order to keep them in good health. The freshness and vigour which they thus derive is alluded to in _Henry IV._ (Part I. Act iv. Sc. 1):--

"_Hotspur._ Where is his son, The nimble-footed mad-cap Prince of Wales, And his comrades?...

_Vernon._ All furnish'd, all in arms; ...

Like eagles having lately bath'd."

The larger birds of prey are no less fond of washing, though they care so little for water to drink, that it has been erroneously a.s.serted that they never drink. "What I observed," says the Abbe Spallanzani,[34] "is, that eagles, when left even for several months without water, did not seem to suffer the smallest inconvenience from the want of it, but when they were supplied with water, they not only got into the vessel and sprinkled their feathers like other birds, but repeatedly dipped the beak, then raised the head, in the manner of common fowls, and swallowed what they had taken up. Hence it is evident that they drink."

[Sidenote: EAGLES TRAINED FOR HAWKING.]

In Persia, Tartary, India, and other parts of the East, the eagle was formerly, and is still to a certain extent, used for hunting down the larger birds and beasts. In the thirteenth century, the Khan of Tartary kept upwards of two hundred hawks and eagles, some of which had been trained to catch wolves; and such was the boldness and power of these birds, that none, however large, could escape from their talons.[35]

Burton, in his "Anatomy of Melancholy,"[36] quoting from Sir Antony Shirley's "Travels," says: "The Muscovian Emperours reclaim eagles, to let fly at hindes, foxes, &c., and such a one was sent for a present to Queen Elizabeth."

A traveller to the Putrid Sea, in 1819, wrote: "Wolves are very common on these steppes; and they are so bold that they sometimes attack travellers. We pa.s.sed by a large one, lying on the ground with an eagle, which had probably attacked him, by his side. Its talons were nearly buried in his back; in the struggle both had died."[37]

[Sidenote: TIRING.]

Owing to the great difficulty in training them, as well as to the difficulty in obtaining them, eagles have rarely been trained to the chase in England. Some years since, Captain Green, of Buckden, in Huntingdonshire, had a fine golden eagle, which he had taught to take hares and rabbits;[38] and this species has been found to be more tractable than any other.

Whether Shakespeare was aware of the use of trained eagles or not, we cannot say, but he has in many cases employed hawking terms in connection with this bird:--

"That hateful duke, Whose haughty spirit, winged with desire, Will cost my crown, and, like an empty eagle, _Tire_ on the flesh of me and of my son!"

_Henry VI._ Part III. Act i. Sc. 1.

The meaning of the word _tire_ is thus explained by falconers. When a hawk was in training, it was often necessary to prolong her meal as much as possible, to prevent her from gorging; this was effected by giving her a tough or bony bit to _tire on_; that is, to tear, or pull at.

"Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast, _Tires_ with her beak on feathers, flesh, and bone, Shaking her wings, devouring all in haste, Till either gorge be stuff'd, or prey be gone."

_Venus and Adonis._

So also, in _Timon of Athens_ (Act iii. Sc. 6), one of the lords says:--

"Upon that were my thoughts _tiring_ when we encounter'd."

[Sidenote: THE EAGLE'S EYRIE.]

In the following pa.s.sage, two hawking terms are used in connection with the eagle:--

"Know, the gallant monarch is in arms, And, like an eagle o'er his aiery, _towers_, To _souse_ annoyance that comes near his nest."

_King John_, Act v. Sc. 2.