124 HA WKING. 



part of training it was prevented from escaping by a long 

 string. When quite familiar with the lure, it was taught to 

 fly at live game, chiefly by means of a Duck, which was blind- 

 folded that it might not escape. The natural disposition of 

 the Hawk would induce it to carry off its game when caught, 

 but this was checked by the skill and kind treatment of the 

 falconer, so that the Hawk, as soon as it had taken the live 

 lure, always returned to its master, knowing that it was sure 

 to be well fed as a reward. 



Having completed its education, when at home it was 

 placed on a perch without a hood. Straps of leather or silk, 

 called jesses, were put about its legs, for the purpose of holding 

 it, and bells were also attached, so small as not to impede its 

 flight ; besides this part of the Hawk's furniture, the person 

 who carried it was provided with thick gloves, to prevent its 

 talons from hurting the hand, and these were often very costly 

 and highly embroidered. 



Attached as were our ancestors to this sport, it was by no 

 means confined to England. In Denmark we have seen, from 

 the attention paid to their importation, how highly good 

 Hawks were prized. In France, too, it was as eagerly and 

 expensively pursued, and even the Turks followed the example 

 of Christendom. 



A certain Sultan, called Bajazet Ilderim, maintained a 

 corps of 7000 falconers, about the time it was so fashionable 

 in Europe ; and to this day, in the plains of Turkey, travellers 

 may meet with parties of falconers, with Hawks upon 'their 

 wrists, in pursuit of hares and a particularly large kind of 

 Lark, at which their Falcons are trained to fly. 



Wild and shy as Hawks are, it will scarcely be credited that 

 at one time the common Gledes or Kites were numerous in 

 London streets. This happened in the time of Henry VIII. , 

 when it seems that they were attracted by the offal of butchers' 

 and poulterers' stalls; and as, on account of their use in 

 removing so offensive a nuisance, they were not allowed to be 

 killed, they became so fearless as actually to mingle with the 

 passengers, and take their prey in the very midst of the greatest 



