IIAWKIXG IX SCOTLAND. 201 



west of Scotland * (Ayrshire) up till late in the 18th cen- 

 tury, auil the grandfather of the present Lord Eglinton, 

 ■\vlio had large estates in Ayrshire, was particularly 

 partial to hawking, and had an expensive establishment 



for the training of his hawks. The falcon and tercel 



* 

 gentle were tlown at herons, gi'ouse, partridges, wood- 

 cocks, wild ducks, crows, woodpigeon, and snijDe ; the 

 merlin at snipes and larks. They are both beautiful 

 birds, and readily trained (although requiring great care 

 and most attentive management). The falconers of 

 Ayrshire get eyesses (young hawks) of the falcon and 

 tercel gentle from eyries in the island of Arran, the 

 high country in Ayrshire towards the sources of the 

 Doon and the Grirvan, and from the extraordinary rock 

 called the Craig of Ailsa. The eyrie of the falcon and 

 tercel gentle is never found but in some precipitous and 

 high rock, always difficult and dangerous of access. 

 Upon the rock of Ailsa there is an eyrie every year, 

 from which may be obtained three or four eyesses. 

 This rock is the property of the jMarquis of Ailsa. It 

 rises from the sea to a height of 1098 feet, the first 

 400 feet being a cylindrical rock, consequently com- 

 pletely precipitous, with only some exceptions, and the 

 remaining 698 feet is of a nearly conical form. It is 

 accessible only on the north-east side. It is, of course, 

 only on the precipitous rock of the first 400 feet that 

 the eyrie is to be found, and the difficult operation of 

 reaching it, to take out the eyesses, is performed by 



* Peter Fleming, of Baroclian Tower, Renfrewshire, hnd ancestor of 

 the present Fleming family, and who for several generations have been 

 falconers, received a hawk's head set -w-ith jewels from James IV. of 

 Scotland, for beating the Iting's falcon with his tercel. This interesting 

 relic is careftdly preserved in the family. 

 VOL. II. P 



