BIRDS OF PREY. 



Fashions change with the times about bird-keeping 

 as well as other matters. In olden days birds of prey 

 were the principal pets ; and, when hawking was a 

 common sport amongst all ranks, the smaller birds 

 were only valued as game for the larger and more 

 rapacious kinds. No one then cared to make pets 

 of singing birds, but every one had his special and 

 appointed Hawk : from the emperor to the peasant, 

 each, according to his station in life, had his appor- 

 tioned pet bird of prey. The emperor h,ad his Eagle 

 or Vulture ; the king his Ger-Falcon ; the nobles their 

 Rock, Peregrine, and Bastard Falcons ; the esquire 

 his Harrier ; the lady her Merlin ; the yeoman his 

 Goshawk ; the servant his Kestrel. Even the priest 

 had the Sparrow Hawk appointed for his game bird. 

 Treatises were written upon the " noble art of falconry," 

 and no person of high rank was thought fit for his 

 station if he were ignorant of it. Great sums were 

 paid for hawks which were properly trained ; and 

 falconers experienced in the care, feeding, and train- 

 ing of these birds could obtain very high prices for 



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