THE FALCON. 



45 



f. Sir Thomas Monson is said to have given 

 a thousand pounds for a cast of hawks ; and 

 such was their value in general, that it was 

 made felony in the reign of Edward III. to 

 steal a hawk. To take its eggs, even in a 

 person's own ground, was punishable with 

 imprisonment for a year and a day, together 

 with a fine at the king's pleasure. In the 

 reign of Elizabeth the imprisonment was re- 

 duced to three months; but the offender was 

 to lie in prison till he got security for his good 

 behaviour for seven years farther. In the 

 earlier times the art of gunning was but little 

 practised, and the hawk was then valuable, 

 not only for its affording diversion, but for its 

 procuring delicacies for the table, that could 

 seldom be obtained any other way. 



Of many of the ancient falcons used for 

 this purpose, we at this time know only the 

 names, as the exact species are so ill described, 

 that one may be very easily mistaken for ano- 

 ther. Of those in use, at present, both here 

 and in other countries, are the gyr-falcon, the 

 falcon, the lanner, the sacre, the hobby, the 

 kestrel, and the merlin. These are called 

 the long-winged hawks, to distinguish them 

 from the goshawk, the sparrow-hawk, the 

 kite, and the buzzard, that are of shorter 

 wing, and either too slow, too cowardly, too 

 indolent, or too obstinate, to be serviceable in 

 contributing to the pleasures of the field. 1 



'The Jer Falcon (see Plate XV. fig. 3.) is of very 

 rare occurrence in England. It is known in the northern 

 parts of Scotland, particularly in the Orkney and Shet- 

 land Isles. Iceland is the native country of this species, 

 from whence arises its name of Islandicus. It was from 

 this island that the royal falconries of Denmark and 

 other northern kingdoms were supplied with their choic- 

 est casts of hawks. It breeds in the highest and most 

 inaccessible rocks ; but the number and colour of the eggs 

 remain as yet undescribed. It preys upon the larger 

 species of game and wild-fowl, also on hares and other 

 quadrupeds, upon which it precipitates itself with amaz- 

 ing rapidity and force. Its usual mode of hawking is, 

 if possible, to out-soar its prey, and thence to d?.rt per- 

 pendicularly upon it. 



The uncertainty in which the history of the Peregrine 

 Falcon was long involved, appears to have arisen from 

 the error of earlier writers, in considering the Falco 

 Peregrinus and Falco Communis, with its enumerated 

 varieties, as two distinct species. Deficiency of obser- 

 vation, and consequent want of an accurate knowledge 

 of the various changes of plumage the bird undergoes in 

 its progress to maturity, naturally led to this effect; arid 

 we accordingly find, that the bird hitherto described as 

 the Falco Communis, the type of the supposed species 

 and its varieties, must have been originally figured from 

 an immature specimen of the Falco Peregrinus. In 

 England and Wales the peregrine falcon is rare, and is 

 only found indigenous in rocky or mountainous districts. 

 The Highlands and northern isles of Scotland appear to 

 be the situations most favourable to it, and in that part 

 of the kingdom it is numerous and widely diffused. 

 The most inaccessible situations are always selected for 

 its eyry, and its nest is placed upon the shelf of a rock. 

 It lays four or five eggs, in colour very similar to those 

 of the kestrel, but considerably larger. The flight of 



The generous tribe of hawks, as was said, 

 are distinguished from the rest by the peculiar 

 length of their wings, which reach nearly as 

 low as the tail. In these, the first quill of 

 the wing is nearly as long as the second ; it 



this species, when pursuing its quarry, is astonishingly 

 rapid, almost beyond credibility. By Montagu it has 

 been reckoned at 150 miles in an hour. Colonel Thorn- 

 ton, an expert falconer, estimated the flight of a falcon, 

 in pursuit of a snipe, to have been nine miles in eleven 

 minutes, without including the frequent turns. This 

 sort was formerly much used in falconry, and was flown 

 at the larger kinds of game, wild ducks and herons. In 

 its unreclaimed state it preys upon the different sorts oi 

 game, wild geese, wild ducks and pigeons. 



In England, the Hobby is among the number of those 

 birds that are named polar migrants or summer periodi- 

 cal visitants. It arrives in April, and after performing 

 the office of incubation, and of rearing its young, leaves 

 us, for warmer latitudes, in October. Wooded and in- 

 closed districts appear to be its usual haunts. It builds 

 in lofty trees, but will sometimes save itself the task of 

 constructing a nest, by taking possession of the deserted 

 one of a magpie or crow. The number of its eggs is 

 commonly four, of a bluish-white, with olive-green or 

 yellowish-brown blotches. Its favourite game is the 

 lark, but it preys upon all small birds. Partridges and 

 quails also become frequent victims to its courage and 

 rapacity, in which qualities, diminutive as it is, it yields 

 to none of its tribe. Possessing a great length and 

 power of wing, the flight of the hobby is wonderfully 

 rapid, and can be supported with undiminished vigour 

 for a considerable time. When hawking was keenly 

 followed, the hobby was trained to the pursuit of young 

 partridges, snipes, and larks. It is of elegant form, and 

 resembles, in miniature, the peregrine falcon. The 

 wings, when closed, generally reach beyond the end of 

 the tail. According to Temminck, it is common 

 throughout Europe, during the summer months; but 

 retires to warmer regions at the approach of winter. 



Kestrel. This well known species is distinguished, 

 not only by the symmetry of its form and its elegant 



plumage, but by the peculiar gracefulness of its flight, 

 and the manner in which it frequently remains suspen- 

 ded in the air, fixed, as it were, to one spot by a quiver- 

 ing play of the wings, scarcely perceptible. It is one of 

 our commonest indigenous species, and is widely spread 

 through the kingdom. Upon the approach of spring (or 

 the period of incubation), it resorts to rocks and high 

 cliffs. The nest consists of a few sticks loosely put 

 together, and sometimes lined with a little hay or wool, 

 and is placed in some crevice, or on a projecting shelf. 

 The eggs are from four to six in number, of a reddish- 

 brown colour, with darker blotches and variegations. It 

 preys upon the different species of mice, which it hunts 

 for from the elevated station at which it usually soars, 

 and upon which it pounces with the rapidity of an arrow. 

 The kestrel is easily reclaimed, and was formerly 

 trained to the pursuit of larks, snipes, and young par- 

 tridges. It is a species, in point of geographical distri 





