Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/352

328 In Hamlet, Act i., Scene 5, occurs the oft-quoted line—

The Duke of York, speaking of the rebel Jack Cade, remarks—

Even in Shakspeare's day coursing appears to have been a popular amusement. In the amusing farce with the drunken tinker, a servant asks—

With our mischievous little friend the Rabhit we conclude our notes on "The Mammals of Shakspeare," merely quoting a remark of the much-abused but amusing Falstaff—

In the foregoing brief notes mention has been made of forty-one animals — fere naturæ. The allusions made to them by Shak- speare, although in many cases almost trivial in their nature, exhibit nevertheless an acquaintance with many peculiarities of haunt and habit which, as regards the indigenous animals, could only have been acquired by close observation in the woods and fields. In regard to the species which he would not be likely to meet with in this country, reading and memory evidently served him in good stead.