582 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 
the nobility, from the monarch to the lowest courtier, were passion- 
ately fond of Aawking—the name specially applied to it. Sovereigns 
and noblemen expended princely sums upon it. The gift of a few fine 
falcons was considered a magnificent present. The kings of France 
solemnly received twelve falcons every year from the grand-master of 
the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. They were entrusted on their 
‘voyage to a French knight, to whom the monarch accorded, under 
the name of a present, a sum of £3,000, and the expenses of his 
journey. 
Gentlemen, and even ladies, of the Middle Ages, seldom made 
their appearance in public without a falcon on their wrists ; and this 
example was followed by bishops and abbots—they entered the 
churches supporting their favourite birds, depositing them on the 
steps of the altar during mass. Noblemen on public ceremonies 
proudly held their falcons in one hand and the hilt of their sword 
in the other. 
Louis XIII. was devoted to falconry. Daily he went hawking 
before going to church; and his favourite, Albert de Luynes, owed | 
his fortune to his great skill in this science. Charles d’Arcussia of 
Capri, Lord of Esparron, published, in 1615, a “Treatise on Fal- 
conry,” in which it is stated that the Baron de la Chastaigneraie, 
chief falconer of France under Louis XIII., purchased his office at 
a cost of s,ooo crowns. He had the direction of 140 birds, which 
required the assistance of a staff of 100 men for their care. 
This kind of sport has almost totally disappeared ; a revival of it 
in England and Germany took place, but only with moderate success. 
For this purpose a society, called the “ Hawking Club,” meets to- 
gether annually in a dependency of the royal castle of Loo, under 
the presidency of the King of the Netherlands, to hawk herons. 
From 100 to 200 of these birds in the space of two months have 
been taken; but this is only a feeble resuscitation of an institution 
which once flourished in great grandeur. 
Falcons were formerly divided into birds of the ob/e and znferior 
grades. The former comprehended the gyrfalcon, the falcon, the 
hobby, the merlin, and the kestrel; the latter, the goshawk, and 
sparrow-hawk. 
The falcons destined for ¢razning must be captured young. Those 
that have been providing their own food, and have nearly reached 
maturity, are taken with a lure, which is generally a pigeon. Young 
birds which have just left the nest are called eyases; when rather 
more mature, drazchers; that is to say, birds about three months old, 
strong enough to hop from branch to branch, but incapable of flying 
