172 REMIXISCEXCES OF A SPORTSMAN". 



can boast of possessing it, in consequence of the art of 

 falconry being so little to the taste of the higher classes 

 in this country, and for some other substantial causes 

 which I shall hereafter explain. 



It is generally supposed by those who have treated 

 on falconry, that this field sport was introduced into 

 Europe from the East ; and from a recent discovery made 

 by the learned antiquary, Mr. Layard, we have good 

 authority to conclude that falconry was known in the 

 East 4000 years ago. In this author's work on Nineveh 

 and Babylon, he mentions that upon his visiting the 

 ruins of Khorsabad, he found a bas-relief in which there 

 appeared to be a falconer bearing a hawk on his wrist. 

 We know that at the present time falconry still retains 

 its ground as one of the favourite field amusements of 

 the princes and nobility ©f Asia. " It seems highly 

 probable," says Pennant, '-' that falconry had its rise in 

 Scythia, and passed thence to the northern parts of 

 Europe." Tartary is even at present celebrated for its 

 fine breed of falcons ; and the sport is in such general 

 esteem, that, according to Olearius, there was no hut but 

 what had its eagle or falcon. The boundless plains of 

 that country are finely adapted to that diversion. " In 

 our own country," says Pennant, "I cannot trace the 

 certainty of falconry till the reign of Ethelbert, the Saxon 

 monarch, in the year 760, when he wrote to Germany 

 for a brace of falcons which would fly at cranes and 

 bring them to the ground, as there were few such in 

 Kent. We may infer the common use of the diversion 

 from a king of Kent forbidding his monks to hunt in 

 the woods with dogs, and from haviog hawks and falcons. 

 Alfred the Great is commended for his early proficiency 

 in falconry, as well as other field amusements. Winifred 

 or Boniface, Archbishop of Mons, himself a native of 



