THE FALCON KIND. 73 



nsed for smaller game, for daring larks, and stooping at quaus. The 

 kestril was trained for the same purposes ; and lastly the merlin , 

 which though the smallest of all the hawk or falcon kind, and not 

 much larger than a thrush, yet displays a degree of courage that ren 

 ders him formidable even to birds ten times the size. He has often 

 been known to kill a partridge or a quail at a single pounce from 

 above. 



Some of the other species of sluggish birds were now and then 

 trained to this sport, but it was when no better could be obtained ; 

 but these just described were only considered as birds of the nobler 

 races. Their courage in general was such, that no bird, not very 

 much above their own size could terrify them ; their swiftness so 

 great, that scarce any bird could escape them ; and their docility so 

 remarkable, that they obeyed not only the commands, but the signs 

 of their master. They remained quietly perched upon his hand till 

 their game was flushed, or else kept hovering round his head, without 

 ever leaving him but when he gave permission. The common falcon 

 is a bird of such spirit, that, like a conqueror in a country, he keeps 

 all birds in awe and in subjection to his prowess. When he is seen 

 flying wild, as I often had an opportunity of observing, the birds of 

 every kind, that seemed entirely to disregard the kite or the sparrow 

 hawk, fly with screams at his most distant appearance. Long before 

 I could see the falcon, I have seen them with the utmost signs of ter- 

 ror endeavouring to avoid him ; and, like the peasants of a country 

 before a victorious army, every one of them attempting to shift for 

 himself. Even the young falcons, though their spirits be depressed 

 by captivity, will, when brought out into the field, venture to fly at bar- 

 nacles and wild geese, till, being soundly brushed and beaten by those 

 strong birds, they learn their error, and desist from meddling with 

 such unwieldy game for the future. 



To train up the hawk to this kind of obedience, so as to hunt for 

 his master, and bring him the game he shall kill, requires no small 

 degree of skill and assiduity. Numberless treatises have been writ- 

 ten upon this subject, which are now, with the sport itself, almost ut- 

 terly forgotten : indeed, except to a few, they seem utterly unintelli- 

 gible ; for the falconers had a language peculiar to themselves, in 

 which they conversed and wrote, and took a kind of professional 

 pride in using no other. A modern reader, I suppose, would be lit- 

 tle edified by one of the instructions, for instance, which we find in 

 Willoughby, when he bids us draw our falcon out of the mew twenty 

 days before we enseam her. Tf she truss and carry, the remedy is, 

 cosse her talons, her powse, and petty single. 



But, as it certainly makes a part of natural history to show how 

 much the nature of birds can be wrought upon by harsh or kind treat- 

 ment, I will just take leave to give a short account of the manner of 

 training a hawk, divested of those cant words with which men of art 

 have thought proper to obscure their profession. 



In order to train up a falcon, the master begins by clapping on straps 

 upon his legs, which are called jesses, to which there is fastened a ring 

 with the owner's name, by which, in case he should be lost, the find 

 er may know where to bring him back. To these also are added lit 

 tie bells which serve to mark the place where he is, if lost in the* 



