128 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIED LIFE 



Modern Falconry 



Although only a few French, Dutch, and British 

 enthusiasts now take pleasure in the sport, there 

 was a period when it was considered as necessary 

 for a member of a noble family to be familiar 

 with all the intricacies of falcony as it was for 

 him to be conversant with horsemanship. In 

 those days from the tenth to the end of the 

 seventeenth century the sport had a firm hold 

 upon civilization. So powerful was its grip that 

 many stringent laws, which seem wholly unjust 

 and childish to us now, were enacted by various 

 monarchs to govern its performance. A code was 

 worked out which was adhered to by every one, 

 royalty and serf alike. Special hawks were 

 allotted to the various degrees of rank. To the 

 king went the use of the gerfalcon ; to the noble- 

 man, the peregrine ; to the yeoman, the goshawk ; 

 to the priest, the sparrow-hawk; and to the 

 servant, the useless kestrel. A king naturally 

 could utilize any hawk or falcon beneath his own 

 in rank, but it was not permitted to the nobleman 

 to fly a gerfalcon. 



Severe penalties were imposed upon any per- 

 sons who transgressed the law. During the reign 

 of several English sovereigns, among them Henry 

 VII and Henry VIII, the stealing of a falcon was 



