316 NATURAL IIISTVRY OF BIRDS. 



Madagascar furiiislics another peculiar form, and others still are found in the Malay 

 Arcliij)eiago and Australia. 



Few allusions have purjiosely been raade thus far to the uses of birds of prey in 

 the chase, it being our intention to defer this until most of the species thus used 

 shouhl have been mentioned in their regular jilaces. It is therefore fitting, here, in 

 connection with the gro.u]) of birds which has given its name to the sport, to devote a 

 few pages to the considei'ation of that most time-honored of allTield sports, hawking 

 or falconry. This, in its broadest sense may be defined as the use of hawks or falcons 

 in the cajjture of other animals. In strictness, wc ought, j)erh3p.s, to limit the term to 

 the actual taking of game with hawks or falcons, this being the sense in which it is 

 commonly understood. 



Yet trained hawks are still used merely to hover over game and ])rcvcnt its flying 

 until it can be netted or killed ; and eagles or large falcons were formerly much used 

 in parts of Asia and Africa to annoy and hinder gazelles and deer, by flying in their 

 faces, and striking at nose, eyes, or back, thus retarding their flight, and giving time 

 for the hunters and dogs to come up. In one form or another falconry has undoubt- 

 edly an antiquity as great as that of the Egyptian mummies, as it is known to have 

 been practice<l among the Kgyptians centuries before the Christian Era, and certainly 

 flourished in China earlier than (JOO u. c, jirobably existing there over a thousand 

 years earlier still. In Europe, also, it was a favorite pastime before the Christian Era, 

 but it w.as not introduced into England until about the middle of the ninth century, 

 and for the nc.vt eight hundred years was by far the most popular sport practised in 

 both England and France. 



Monarchs ke])t their hawks by hundreds, knights and ladies paid fabulous sums 

 for the best trained birds, and even peasants took to rearing sparrow-hawks and 

 kestrels, and sjjcnt their holidays in hiuiting sparrows and larks. Men gave their 

 lives to the study and training of falcon.s, and in many families generation succeeded 

 generation in tlie ])ractice of this art, father handing down to son his store of experi- 

 ence, and with it often his well-earned jilacc of honor at the castle or the court. At 

 one time we are told, " In the court of the King of Wales there were only three 

 oflicers of liis household above the master of the hawks. This person occupied the 

 fourth ]ilace from the sovereign at the royal table, but he was )>rohil>ited from drink- 

 ing more than three times, lest he should become intoxicated, and, in consequence, 

 neglect his birds. Not only had he the management of the hawks and of the people 

 employed in this sport, but, when he had been very successful in it, the king was 

 accustomed to ri.se uji and receive him on his entrance; and even, on some occasions, 

 to hold his stirru]). Ethel8tt>n made North Wales provide him not only with so many 

 dogs as he chose, ' whose 8cent-]iursuing noses might explore the haunts and coverts 

 of the deer,' but ' birds who knew how to hunt others along the sky.' In France 

 there was an officer called the 'Grand Falconer,' who was a person of so much impor- 

 tance that his salary w.is four thousand florins, and he was attended by fifty gentle- 

 men and fifty assistant falconers. lie was allowed to keep three hundred hawks; he 

 licensed every vender of hawks in the kingdom, and received a fee on every one of 

 these birds that was sold. The king never rode out on any occasion of consequence 

 without being attended by this oflicer." 



Soon laws became necessary for the regulation and ]irotcction of the sport. In 

 the reign of Henry VII. the taking of the eggs of hawk or falcon was punishable with 

 imprisonment for ' a year and a day,' and a fine at the king's pleasure ; and this, too, 



