The Falcon. 207 



habitants call Shaheen (Falco peregrinator\ and which is 

 of so fierce and courageous a disposition, that it will 

 attack any bird, however large or powerful, which pre- 

 sents itself. " Were there not," says Dr. Russel, in his 

 Account of Aleppo, " several gentlemen now in Eng- 

 land to bear witness to the fact, I should hardly venture 

 to assert that, with this bird, which is about the size of a 

 pigeon, the inhabitants sometimes take large eagles. This 

 Hawk was in former times taught to seize the eagle 

 under the pinion, and thus depriving him of the use of 

 one wing, both birds fell to the ground together ; but 

 the present mode is to teach the Hawk to fix on the 

 back, between the wings, which has the same effect, 

 only, that as the bird tumbles down more slowly, the 

 falconer has more time to come to his Hawk's assistance ; 

 but in either case, if he be not very expeditious, the 

 falcon is inevitably destroyed. I never saw the Shaheen 

 fly at eagles, that sport having been disused before my 

 time ; but I have often seen him take herons and storks. 

 The Hawk, when thrown off, flies for some time in a 

 horizontal line, not six feet from the ground ; then 

 mounting perpendicularly, with astonishing swiftness, 

 he seizes his prey under the wing, and both together 

 come tumbling to the ground." 



