CHAPTER XII 

 BIRDS 



THE FALCONID/E or Acciptrinae form one of the two divisions of 

 diurnal birds of prey, and include falcons, hawks and eagles. The 

 falcons proper (genus Falco), for strength, symmetry and powers 

 of flight, are the most perfectly developed of the feathered race, 

 and have been employed for affording sport, known as falconry 

 or hawking, in Europe, Asia and Africa from time immemorial. 

 King Alfred wrote on the subject, and the pastime once took pre- 

 cedence of fox-hunting in England, where it was in great favour, 

 having its hereditary grand falconer the Duke of St. Albans 

 who, in his office of grand falconer, presents the king with a cast 

 of falcons on the day of his coronation. A similar service was due 

 from the representative of the Stanley family in the Isle of Man. 

 These observances have fallen into desuetude, and the pursuit of 

 hawking in Britain has practically ceased. Attempts have re- 

 cently been made to revive that sport in this country, but it is 

 hardly consistent with the usages of our times, particularly in the 

 case of highly cultivated land, on account of the general enclosures 

 and from the game being largely followed on foot. Formerly the 

 quarry was usually followed on horseback, but where horses could 

 not follow without difficulty, it was the practice to carry poles. 

 In this connexion Dean Stanley told a good story of King Henry 

 VIII, who, while pursuing his hawk at Hitchin, attempted, with 

 the assistance of his pole, to jump over a wide ditch full of muddy 

 water ; but the pole unfortunately breaking, the king " fell head 

 over ears " into the thick mud, where he might have been suffo- 

 cated had not one of his attendants, seeing the accident, leaped 

 into the ditch after his royal master and pulled him out. 



The question of breed in falcons was years ago carefully studied, 

 and the prices paid for good birds were great, a sum of 1,000 

 being paid for a pair of Iceland hawks, which were regarded as 

 amongst the finest birds for the sport about two hundred years ago. 

 The Iceland falcon (Falco Islandus) (Fig. 141), also the Greenland 

 falcon (F. Greenlandicus or candicans), and the Gyrfalcon proper 

 (F. gyrfalco) have been shot in the British Islands. Cranes and 

 herons were considered to furnish the best sport with these large 



