23. Alanus de Insulis, a Sicilian poet and orator of the twelfth
century, who wrote a book “De Planctu Naturae” — “The
Complaint of Nature.”
24. The falcon was borne on the hand by the highest
personages, not merely in actual sport, but to be caressed and
petted, even on occasions of ceremony, Hence also it is called
the “gentle” falcon — as if its high birth and breeding gave it a
right to august society.
25. The merlion: elsewhere in the same poem called “emerlon;”
French, “emerillon;” the merlin, a small hawk carried by ladies.
26. The scorning jay: scorning humbler birds, out of pride of his
fine plumage.
27. The false lapwing: full of stratagems and pretences to divert
approaching danger from the nest where her young ones are.