FALCON KY. 



FAMILIES OF PLANTS. 



Wo mhjoin a list of the British IIWCIM of PalconHlte from Mr. 

 Tamil's ' British Birds': 



A i/ ml a H.rrm, the Spotted Eagle. 



A. duytuitot, the Golden Eagle. 



Hali**t<u aUieOU, the White-Tailed Eagle an.l Chlorous Eagle. 



/'aiuVion J/atttHttu, the Osprey, or Fishing-Hawk. 



/Wro (ryrfalco, the tJyr-Falcnn. 



/". pcrrsrrimu, the Peregrine Falcon. 



f. nbkuln, the Hobby. 



P. nfftt, the Red-Footed Falcon. 



P. JS*O<m, the Merlin. 



f. rinHMcH/iu, the Kestrel or Windhover. 



Attur falmnbarim, the Goshawk. 



Aeeipiter MUM, the Spnrrow-Hawk. 



.V>/riu rutyari*. the Kite, the Fork-Tailed Kite and Qlead. 



tfmcienuftu-catut, the Swallow-Tailed Kite. 



Billet mlgarii, the Common Buzzard. 



B. lagopta, the Rough-Legged Buzzard. 

 I'ma apirona, the Honey-Buzzard. 

 Circta (tnffvtonu, the Marsh-Harrier. 



C. cyanriu, the Hen-Harrier. 



I'. Montaytti, Montagu's Harrier. 



A very line collection of the Falcunidir, unequalled in the number 

 of species, is at present to be seen in the Gardens of the Zoological 

 Society, Regent's Park, London. 



FALCONRY, or HAWKING, the art of training and flying hawks 

 to take other birds. Julius Firmicus, who lived in the middle of the 

 4th century, is the first Latin writer who speaks of falconers, and the 

 art of teaching one species of birds to fly at and catch another. The 

 art however had been in all probability practised in the east from 

 remote ages, whence it certainly came to Europe. 



From the Heptarchy to the time of Charles II. falconry was the 

 principal amusement of our ancestors in England. A person of rank 

 scarcely stirred out without a hawk upon his hand, which, in old 

 illuminations and upon ancient seals, is the criterion of nobility. 

 Harold, afterwards king of England, is thus represented in the Bayeux 

 Tapestry, when visiting the court of William, duke of Normandy. 



Florence of Worcester (4to edit 1592, p. 310) states that King 

 Alfred had his falconers among the persons whom he encouraged for 

 their skill in different professions ; and a metrical treatise on the art 

 of falconry, still extant, is ascribed to King Edward the Confessor. 



In Domesday Book the practice of falconry is illustrated by nume- 

 rous entries. In several places we find a sum, no less than ten pounds, 

 made the optional payment instead of finding a hawk (' Domesday 

 Book,' torn. L foL 134, b. 172, 230) ; and once, at Worcester (torn. i. 

 172) a Norway hawk is specified. Aeries, or places destined for the 

 breeding or training of hawks, are entered in the Survey, in Bucking- 

 hamshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, 

 and, more frequently than in other counties, in Cheshire ; as well as 

 among the lands between the Kibble and the Mersey. (' Domesday 

 Book/ torn. L foL 144, 152, 163 b, 172, 180, 252 b, 256 b, 257, 264, 

 265, 265 b, 266 b, 267, 267 b, 268 b, 269, 270.) 



Nor were hawks less prized at subsequent periods. According to 

 Hadox (' Hist Excheq.' i. 273), in the 14th Hen. II., Walter Cnot, 

 one of the king's tenants, rendered hU rent at the exchequer in three 

 hawks and three girfalcons. King John had also his hawks (' Pat' 4, 

 ' Job.' m. 2) ; and upon the Patent Roll of the 34th Hen. III. a copy 

 occurs of the letter which the king sent in that year to the king of 

 Norway for hawks. Bray, in the History of Surrey ' (vot iii. p. 82), 

 relate* a curious anecdote of Henry III.'s anger with one Roger Belet, 

 who, by reason of something he had done or omitted about a spar- 

 hawk, was disseised of all his lands and 40*. rent in Bagshot In the 

 34th Edw. III. it was made felony to steal a hawk ; to take its eggs, 

 even in a person's own ground, was punishable with imprisonment for 

 m year and a day, besides a fine at the king's pleasure. In Queen 

 Elizabeth's n-ign the imprisonment was reduced to three months; 

 but the offender was to find security for bis good behaviour for seven 

 years, or lie in prison till he did. (Pennant, ' Brit Kool.' 8vo, Lond. 

 1812, voL i. p. 21'J.) 



Edward 111., according to Froismrt ('Chron.' L c. 210), had with 

 him in his army, when he invaded France, thirty falconers on horse- 

 back, who had charge of his hawks; and every day he either hunted 

 or went to the river for the purpose of hawking, as his fancy inclined 

 him. Queen Elisabeth is represented enjoying this sport in a wood- 

 cut hi Turbervile's ' Falconry,' published in 1675 ; and it was the 

 favourite amusement with King James I. 



By an entry upon the ' Original ia Rolls' of the 85th Edw. III. 

 (' Origin.' vol. ii. p. 267), it appears that a falcon gentil cost 20*. ; a 

 tcrsil gentil, 10.. ; a tonil lestour, 6*. 8d. ; and a lanncr, 6*. 8rf. : 

 thaw were the prices which the sheriff was to give for hawks for the 

 king's use. In au account-book of the 20th Hon. VIII. a goshawk 

 and two falcons are prized at 31, and five falcons and a tersil at 81. 

 l!-rt, in bi 'Address to the Reader,' prefixed to his 'Treatise of 

 ilawkcii and Hawking,' published in 1C19, says he "had for a gos- 

 hawke and a Untcll a hundred marks." 



Falconry was attempted to be revived by George, earl of Orford, 

 who died in 17U1 ; and in Yorkshire Colonel Thornton had a hawking 

 ' at a rather later period. Sir John Sebright and a few 



other gentlemen also practised it in Norfolk at the beginning of the 

 present century. As a rural diversion however, principally in conse- 

 quence of the inclosuras, it has gone into disuse. 



A list of the hawks which were most used by sportsmen in the 

 time of Charles I. is given in Walton's ' Complete Angler ;' and an 

 explanation of the words of art in hawking will be found in Latham's 

 ' Falconry,' 4to, Lond. 1688. 



The earliest printed treatise on hawking in English is the ' Book 

 of St Albans,' fol. 1481, ascribed to Juliana Barnes or Berners,' abbess 

 of Sopwell. There are numerous other and curious treatises upon 

 falconry both in French and English, some of them of very rare 

 occurrence. ' Le Miroir do Phebus, avec 1'Art de Faucoin-rii-,' pub- 

 lished at Paris in 8vo. without datu, was the first work upon the 

 subject printed in the French language. 



For further information upon falconry and its practice the reader 

 may refer to Spelmau's 'Glossary/ v. 'Acceptor,' edit fol., Loud. 

 1626, p. 7; Warton's ' Observ. on Spenser's Fairy Queen,' vol. ii. 

 pp. 171-173 : Strutt's ' Sports and Pastimes of the People of England,' 

 -It. i., Lond. 1810, pp. 21-33; and Haslewood's ' Literary Researches 

 into the History of the Book of St Albans,' 4to., Lond. 1810, pp. 

 21-48. 



FALCOPERN. [FALCOSIDA] 



FALCUNCULUS. [LAN-IAD*.] 



FALLOPIAN TUBES, so called from Fallopius the anatomist, 

 who first accurately described them. They arc tortuous and slender 

 membranous canals, about three inches in length, which proceed on 

 fiith side from the two upper corners of the flattened triangular or 

 pear-shaped body of the uterus. They communicate with its c:i\ ity 

 by minute openings capable of admitting a large briatle. As they 

 diverge outwards from their origin they enlarge, and, curving back- 

 wards, terminate obliquely in open fringed extremities directed 

 towards the ovaries, which lie below and somewhat behind them. 

 They are included, as are likewise the ovaries, in the duplicature of 

 the peritoneal lining of the abdomen, called the broad ligaments of 

 the uterus, by which that body is itself invested and attached laterally 

 to the cavity of the pelvis. A production of this membrane sheathes 

 them to their loose trumpet-shaped extremities, and turning over the 

 edge is continued for some distance up the interior surface, finally 

 blending with the mucous lining which accompanies them in their 

 exit from the uterus. This is the only instance in the body of the 

 continuity of a serous and mucous membrane, and probably has some 

 concern in the spreading of inflammation from the interior of the 

 uterus to the peritoneum, which constitutes one of the forms of 

 puerperal fever. 



Before the period of conception these tubes are observed in the 

 lower animals to become more full of blood, and to have a writhing 

 peristaltic motion like that which impels the aliment along the intes- 

 tinal canal. Certain prominences are also observed at this time on 

 the surface of the ovaries, produced by the maturation and swelling 

 of the Graaflan vesicles, which are the ova or germs of the future 

 progeny. The Fallopian tubes then become attached by their open 

 fimbriated mouths over these prominences ; and receiving the vesicles 

 as they burst through the peritoneal covering of the ovaries, convey 

 them by the peristaltic motion we have mentioned into the uterus. 



These germs ore sometimes fecundated before they reach their 

 destination, when what is called extra-uterine conception occurs. In 

 these cases the germ never reaches the uterus at all, but remains in 

 the intermediate canal, and becomes attached to its surface ; in this 

 position it may attain its full size, expanding the tube as it grown, till 

 at length it gives way, and the foetus escapes into the general cavity 

 of the abdomen. Such cases are not necessarily fatal ; the foetus, dead 

 of course, sometimes becomes inclosed after a certain period in a 

 membranous cyst, gradually extended around it from the porietes of 

 the abdomen ; and may remain for many years without exciting much 

 irritation. In other instances abscesses form and break in succession, 

 discharging the bones and other unabaorbcd parts of the foetus, and 

 the case eventually does well. But such results are rare ; and nothing 

 but the Cicsarcan operation affords much prospect of saving life. 



FALLOW-CHAT. [SAJUCOLA.] 



FALLOW-DEER [CKBVID*.] 



FAMILIES OF PLANTS. The word Family in Botany is mostly 

 applied to a group of Plants of the same value as a Natural Order. In 

 this sense it has been mostly employed throughout the pages of this 

 work. At the same time, in the arrangements of some writers, a Family 

 is made a group of less value than an Order ; whilst in the writings of 

 others the term is loosely applied to distinguish any group of plants 

 of higher value than a single species. It is thus sometimes employed 

 synonymously with Genus. The names of natural orders, being mostly 

 those of a genus, which serves as a type for the rest of the group, are 

 easily Englished by adding the word Family. Thus the Order Om- 

 tianacea is called in English the Gentian Family, and so on. By this 

 means the word Family is sometimes restricted to the species of a 

 genus. Another word used synonymously with Natural Order by Dr. 

 Lindley is Tribe. In his Natural System, all the orders having typical 

 genera with English names have been called Tribes, with the English 

 names attached. Thus, Cinchonacea, the Coffee tribe ; Pieliacea, the 

 Duck-Weed tribe ; Eujihorbiacea, the Euphorbium tribe. At the same 

 time, Tribe is frequently used to express a group of less value than an 



