464 



FALCON. 



probably also be included in this peculiar class of 

 birds ; but this is not the place to notice them ; and, 

 therefore, we shall reserve what we have to say con- 

 cerning them till we come to the article OWL, in which 

 we shall take occasion to examine the peculiarities of 

 the whole family of the StringicUe, as they are some- 

 times called in modern nomenclature. 



In their excursions, even at that season whe"n they 

 spread the most, the jerfalcons are rarely if ever seen 

 in England, and we believe they are equally rare in 

 the lowland and well-cultivated parts of Scotland. 

 They appear, however, not unfrequently in the Shet- 

 land islands, rather less so in the Orkneys, and less so 

 still in the western islands, and the west and north- 

 west islands of Scotland. When they do make their 

 appearance there, however, they are easily known 

 from any other birds of prey by their colour, their size, 

 and the splendid style of their flight. We have been 

 informed by those who have been much in the open 

 air, and were attentive to what was going on in these 

 places, that jerfalcons nearly white, and others much 

 darker, are occasionally seen, though of course not to- 

 gether ; and that the paler-coloured ones are larger, 

 bolder, and of more powerful wing. This would lead 

 one to conclude that the pale ones are from Iceland, 

 and those of a darker colour from Norway, by the way 

 of the northern isles ; and, as the rate of flight in a 

 jerfalcon is in all probability not less than one hun- 

 dred and fifty miles in the hour, none of the distances 

 which we have mentioned would be very fatiguing. 

 We are still, however, in want of more information 

 respecting the habits of these birds ; and also respect- 

 ing another species, darker coloured than either of 

 these, which is said to occur in the northern parts of 

 the American continent. t 



We omitted to mention that jerfalcons nestle on 

 the ledges or in the clefts of the rocks ; that the pair 

 are generally near each other during the time that 

 they have young ; and that the number of eggs varies 

 from two to four. Jerfalcons were the most esteemed 

 of the whole race, though the most difficult to train ; 

 and, therefore, they were, and in some places are still, 

 in great request. Even, as far from their native north 

 as Persia the female was used in bringing down the 

 most powerful birds, such as the stork and the crane, 

 while the male was employed against the heron, the kite 

 and the crow. But we must end this part of our subject, 

 as we have not space fully to enter into its details. 



FALCONRY. The natural history of the falcons 

 would be incomplete without some slight notice of the 

 use of them in the art of falconry, and the training of 

 them for that art, even thougfh, as a regular sport, it 

 may be said to be now wholly extinct in this country, 

 and very much on the decline in every other. The 

 . fact is, that of all engines, so to call them, used for the 

 ^ capture or the killing of game, falcons are by far the 

 most expensive, and require the most skilful manage- 

 ment, both in training at the first, and in exercising 

 them so as to keep them in training. 



The art is not a modern one ; for it was known in 

 the time of the Romans ; and it is not impossible that, 

 as was the case with most sciences and scientific 

 sports, it had its first beginning in Egypt. It would 

 be foreign to our purpose to enter into the details of 

 its history, farther than to mention that, though per- 

 haps it may be reckoned a savage sport in itself, it is 

 one the practice of which pre-supposes a very con- 

 siderable degree of observation of the habits of animals, 

 and of inference founded upon this observation more 



indeed than could be expected from any rude or bar- 

 barous nation ; and, accordingly, we do not find that 

 any uncivilised people ever employed falcons in the 

 chase of birds, how much soever they may have 

 abounded in their locality. Neither does it appear 

 from any of the older writers that any attempt was 

 made to reduce the flight of falcons to any thing like 

 principle, until about fifty years ago. 



Notwithstanding this, the division of birds of prey 

 into noble and ignoble, and of such of them as were 

 used in falconry into noble and ignoble hawks, is as 

 completely founded upon structural difference, as if 

 Cuvier himself had dissected and investigated them, 

 muscle by muscle, and bone by bone, in order to de- 

 termine in which way their active powers could be 

 most successfully employed, and in what respects the 

 one division differs from the others. 



In classing those birds according to the relative 

 powers of their wings and their modes of using them, 

 the French writers, who have treated this subject with 

 attention, distinguish them as rowers and sailers. The 

 distinction between those two terms is exactly that 

 between the noble and the ignoble hawks ; only the 

 kestrel, which was not used in falconry, rather disturbs 

 the arrangement, by so far agreeing in wing with the 

 kites, though its principal characters are those of the 

 falcon. 



In the rowing birds, the bones of the wing are re- 

 markably perfect ; and the bodies of the birds them- 

 selves are formed in such a manner as to offer the 

 least forcible resistance to the wind, when the head of 

 the bird is directed against it. The feathers are re- 

 markable for the strength and elasticity of their shafts, 

 and the closeness of their webs ; so that while the 

 feathers of the wings can strike against the air with 

 great force, they are not laid hold of by it, and car- 

 ried along by its current, as is .the case with birds of 

 more flocculent feather, and differently formed wing. 

 The ten quills which are nearest the extremity of the 

 wing, and which thus have the most rapid motion and 

 produce the most powerful effect when the wing acts, 

 are continuous, and have their barbs more firmly in- 

 terlinked with each other than in any other birds. 

 When the wing is raised, indeed, openings are made 

 which admit its upward motion with comparatively 

 little resistance, and the firm terminations of the barbs 

 have an advantage in this respect ; but when the wing 

 descends, which of course is the stroke in flying, this 

 most powerful part of it strikes as if it were the blade 

 of an oar of the best construction. Those wings are 

 narrow in proportion to their length, as compared 

 with those of birds of inferior flight ; they are also 

 nearly flat on their under sides, and the und'er coverts 

 and feathers are smooth and firm up almost to the 

 junction with the body. In ascending flight, the birds 

 do not carry the axis of the body horizontal, but have 

 it at an angle, with the head considerably elevated, 

 and the line of the body forming an angle with the 

 wind, which of course the bird regulates according to 

 the wind's velocity. A good paper kite seen in the 

 air during a breeze, when the boy who manages it is 

 running to windward, gives no bad idea of the position 

 and even the motion and action of the rowing bird, or 

 noble bird of prey, when it is rising against the wind ; 

 and in order to make the illustration almost perfect, 

 we have only to consider that the gravitation and 

 muscular action of the bird performs the same office 

 as the string of the kite, and the muscular action of 

 the boy in running along the ground. Such is the 



