PEREGRINE FALCON. I29 



Genus— FALCO. 

 FALCO PEREGRINUS— Peregrine Falcon. 



Quara facile accipiter saxo, sacer ales, ab alto 

 Consequitur pennis sublimem in nube colnmbam, 

 Comprensamque tenet, pedibusque evisceiat uncis ; 

 Turn cruor et vulsae labuntur ab aethere plumae. 



YiiLGiL—jEneid XL, 7iS. 



So dashes from some rock above, 

 The hawk on some defenceless dove ; 

 Fiercely he follows her on high, 

 Pursues the combat in the sky, 

 O'ertakes and holds her fast. 

 His cruel talons tear the prey. 

 The bloodstained feathers float away, 

 And to the winds are cast. 



Rev. Thomas Woodhouse— TVans. 



I soar, I am a Hawk. 



Shakespeare— ^enr^ V., III., 7. 



My falcon flies not at ignoble game. 



Byron— fl'omce. 



The Peregrine Falcon is very highly esteemed and sought 

 after for the sport of Falconry. It is bold, very docile, and com- 

 paratively easy to procure. It is second only in estimation to the 

 Gyr Falcon, which has greater power, but at the same time is more 

 rare and costly. The male Peregrine Falcon, as is usual with 

 hawks, is smaller in size, and in the language of Falconry, is called 

 a " Tiercel," or commonly " Tassel " ; and the female, which is 

 larger and more powerful, is called the '' Falcon." The young 

 bird is called an " Eyas," and when the Eyasses have lost their 

 nest feathers, they are termed, from the reddish tinge of their 

 plumage, "Red Falcon," or "Red Tiercel," according to their sex. 

 A young bird caught during the season of migration is called a 

 " Peregrine," or " Passage Hawk " ; and when caught after the 

 first moult is completed, a " Haggard." 



If I do prove her Haggard, 

 Though at her jesses were my dear heart-strings, 

 I'd whistle her oflf and let her down the wind, 

 To prey at fortune. 



Shakespeare— O^Ae^Zo, ///, 3. 



Such are the ordinary terms used in Falconry, and without 

 krK)wing them, half the interest in the beautiful bird Would be lost. 



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