I can not make (as yet) anie iust report how manie sorts of hawkes are
bred within this realme. Howbeit which of those that are vsuallie had
among vs are disclosed with in this land, I thinke it more easie and
lesse difficult to set downe. First of all therefore that we haue the
egle, common experience dooth euidentlie confirme, and diuerse of our
rockes whereon they bréed, if speach did serue, could well declare the
same. But the most excellent aierie of all is not much from Chester,
at a castell called Dinas Bren, sometime builded by Brennus, as our
writers doo remember. Certes this castell is no great thing, but yet a
pile sometime verie strong and inaccessible for enimies, though now
all ruinous as manie other are. It standeth vpon an hard rocke, in the
side whereof an eagle bréedeth euerie yeare. This also is notable in
the ouerthrow of hir nest (a thing oft attempted) that he which goeth
thither must be sure of two large baskets, and so prouide to be let
downe thereto, that he may sit in the one and be couered with the
other: for otherwise the eagle would kill him, and teare the flesh
from his bones with hir sharpe talons though his apparell were neuer
so good. The common people call this foule an erne, but as I am
ignorant whither the word eagle and erne doo shew anie difference of
sexe, I meane betwéene the male and female, so we haue great store of
them. And néere to the places where they bréed, the commons complaine
of great harme to be doone by them in their fields: for they are able
to beare a yoong lambe or kid vnto their neasts, therwith to féed
their yoong and come againe for more. I was once of the opinion that
there was a diuersitie of kind betwéene the eagle and the erne, till I
perceiued that our nation vsed the word erne in most places for the
eagle. We haue also the lanner and the lanneret: the tersell and the
gosehawke: the musket and the sparhawke: the iacke and the hobbie: and
finallie some (though verie few) marlions. And these are all the
hawkes that I doo heare as yet to be bred within this Iland. Howbeit
as these are not wanting with vs, so are they not verie plentifull:
wherefore such as delite in hawking doo make their chiefe purueiance &
prouision for the same out of Danske, Germanie, and the Eastcountries,
from whence we haue them in great abundance, and at excessiue prices,
whereas at home and where they be bred they are sold for almost right
naught, and vsuallie brought to the markets as chickins, pullets and
pigeons are with vs, and there bought vp to be eaten (as we doo the
aforesaid foules) almost of euerie man. It is said that the sparhawke
preieth not vpon the foule in the morning that she taketh ouer euen,
but as loth to haue double benefit by one seelie foule, dooth let it
go to make some shift for it selfe. But hereof as I stand in some
doubt, so this I find among the writers worthie the noting, that the
sparhawke is enimie to yoong children, as is also the ape; but of the
pecocke she is maruellouslie afraid & so appalled, that all courage &
stomach for a time is taken from hir vpon the sight thereof. But to
proceed with the rest. Of other rauenous birds we haue also verie
great plentie, as the bussard, the kite, the ringtaile, dunkite, &
such as often annoie our countrie dames by spoiling of their yoong
bréeds of chickens, duckes and goslings, wherevnto our verie rauens
and crowes haue learned also the waie: and so much are our rauens
giuen to this kind of spoile, that some idle and curious heads of set
purpose haue manned, reclaimed, and vsed them in stéed of hawkes, when
other could not be had. Some doo imagine that the rauen should be the
vulture, and I was almost persuaded in times past to beleeue the same:
but finding of late a description of the vulture, which better agreeth
with the forme of a second kind of eagle, I fréelie surcease to be
longer of that opinion: for as it hath after a sort the shape, colour,
and quantitie of an eagle, so are the legs and feet more hairie and
rough, their sides vnder their wings better couered with thicke downe
(wherewith also their gorge or a part of their brest vnder their
throtes is armed, and not with fethers) than are the like parts of the
eagle, and vnto which portraiture there is no member of the rauen (who
is also verie blacke of colour) that can haue anie resemblance: we
haue none of them in England to my knowledge, if we haue, they go
generallie vnder the name of eagle or erne. Neither haue we the
pygargus or gripe, wherefore I haue no occasion to intreat further. I
haue séene the carren crowes so cunning also by their owne industrie
of late, that they haue vsed to soare ouer great riuers (as the Thames
for example) & suddenlie comming downe haue caught a small fish in
their féet & gone awaie withall without wetting of their wings. And
euen at this present the aforesaid riuer is not without some of them,
a thing (in my opinion) not a little to be wondered at. We haue also
ospraies which bréed with vs in parks and woods, wherby the kéepers of
the same doo reape in bréeding time no small commoditie: for so soone
almost as the yoong are hatched, they tie them to the but ends or
ground ends of sundrie trees, where the old ones finding them, doo
neuer cease to bring fish vnto them, which the keepers take & eat from
them, and commonlie is such as is well fed, or not of the worst sort.
It hath not béene my hap hitherto to see anie of these foules, &
partlie through mine owne negligence: but I heare that it hath one
foot like an hawke to catch hold withall, and another resembling a
goose wherewith to swim; but whether it be so or not so, I refer the
further search and triall thereof vnto some other. This neuertheles is
certeine that both aliue and dead, yea euen hir verie oile is a
deadlie terrour to such fish as come within the wind of it. There is
no cause wherefore I should describe the cormorant amongst hawkes, of
which some be blacke and manie pied chiefelie about the Ile of Elie,
where they are taken for the night rauen, except I should call him a
water hawke. But sith such dealing is not conuenient, let vs now sée
what may be said of our venemous wormes, and how manie kinds we haue
of them within our realme and countrie.