"Because he is, commonly, a third part lesse than the female." (Cotgrave, )
Juliet calls Romeo her "tassell gentle" (ii. 2). Muskett was a name given to the male sparrow-hawk.
"Musket, a lytell hauke, mouchet." (Palsgrave.)
Mushet is the same name. It comes from Ital. moschetto, a little fly. For its later application to a firearm cf. falconet. Other names of the hawk class are Buzzard and Puttock, i.e. kite-—
"Milan, a kite, puttock, glead"
(Cotgrave);
and to the same bird we owe the name Gleed, from a Scandinavian name for the bird
"And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind." (Deut. xiv. 13.)
To this class also belongs Ramage—
"Ramage, of, or belonging to, branches; also, ramage, hagard, wild, homely, rude"