[201] "Ornithology of Shakespeare," pp. 190, 191.
Mahomet, we are told, had a dove, which he used to feed with wheat out of his ear; when hungry, the dove lighted on his shoulder, and thrust its bill in to find its breakfast, Mahomet persuading the rude and simple Arabians that it was the Holy Ghost, that gave him advice.[202] Hence, in "1 Henry VI." (i. 2), the question is asked:
[202] Sir W. Raleigh's "History of the World," bk. i. pt. i. ch. 6.
_Duck._ A barbarous pastime in Shakespeare's time was hunting a tame duck in the water with spaniels. For the performance of this amusement[203] it was necessary to have recourse to a pond of water sufficiently extensive to give the duck plenty of room for making its escape from the dogs when closely pursued, which it did by diving as often as any of them came near it, hence the following allusion in "Henry V." (ii. 3):
"And hold-fast is the only dog, my duck."[204]
[203] Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes," 1876, p. 329.
[204] There is an allusion to the proverbial saying, "Brag is a good dog, but Hold-fast is a better."
"To swim like a duck" is a common proverb, which occurs in "The Tempest" (ii. 2), where Trinculo, in reply to Stephano's question how he escaped, says: "Swam ashore, man, like a duck; I can swim like a duck, I'll be sworn."
_Eagle._ From the earliest time this bird has been associated with numerous popular fancies and superstitions, many of which have not escaped the notice of Shakespeare. A notion of very great antiquity attributes to it the power of gazing at the sun undazzled, to which Spenser, in his "Hymn of Heavenly Beauty" refers:
"And like the native brood of eagle's kind, On that bright sun of glory fix thine eyes."
In "Love's Labour's Lost" (iv. 3) Biron says of Rosaline:
"What peremptory eagle-sighted eye Dares look upon the heaven of her brow, That is not blinded by her majesty?"[205]
"A lover's eyes will gaze an eagle blind."
Cf. "Romeo and Juliet," iii. 5; "Richard II.," iii. 3.
And in "3 Henry VI." (ii. 1) Richard says to his brother Edward:
"Nay, if thou be that princely eagle's bird, Show thy descent by gazing 'gainst the sun."
The French naturalist, Lacepede,[206] has calculated that the clearness of vision in birds is nine times more extensive than that of the farthest-sighted man. The eagle, too, has always been proverbial for its great power of flight, and on this account has had assigned to it the sovereignty of the feathered race. Aristotle and Pliny both record the legend of the wren disputing for the crown, a tradition which is still found in Ireland:[207] "The birds all met together one day, and settled among themselves that whichever of them could fly highest was to be the king of them all. Well, just as they were starting, the little rogue of a wren perched itself on the eagle's tail. So they flew and flew ever so high, till the eagle was miles above all the rest, and could not fly another stroke, for he was so tired. Then says he, 'I'm the king of the birds,' says he; 'hurroo!' 'You lie,' says the wren, darting up a perch and a half above the big fellow. The eagle was so angry to think how he was outwitted by the wren, that when the latter was coming down he gave him a stroke of his wing, and from that day the wren has never been able to fly higher than a hawthorn bush." The swiftness of the eagle's flight is spoken of in "Timon of Athens," (i. 1):