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DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



I 





The Falconer's Favorite Peregrine Falcon 



At one time among our ancestors it was accustomed to 

 make much use of the larger hawks in hunting. Curiously 

 enough this amusement, more refined and elaborated than 

 any other form of the chase, has gradually fallen into disuse 



among Europeans. 

 So far as I have 

 been able to learn, 

 the only region in 

 which it is well 

 preserved is in 

 northern Africa, a 

 country in which 

 the custom was 

 probably intro- 

 duced from Spain 

 during the occu- 

 pancy of that pen- 

 insula by the 

 Moors. From the 

 literature of this 

 art of hawking, 

 even after we allow 

 much for the exag- 

 geration of unob- 

 servant men, it 

 seems certain that the training of these fierce birds was car- 

 ried to a point of singular perfection. The creatures learned 

 to do their duty in a very skilful way, and they readily 

 acquired habits of obedience, under circumstances of excite- 

 ment, more perfect than those which we succeed in instilling 

 in any animal but the dog. When we consider the natural 



