98 HISTORY OF 



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 another. 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 kestril, and the 

 merlin. These are called the long-winged hawks, 

 to distinguish them from the goss-hawk, the 

 sparrow-hawk, the kite, and the buzzard, that are 

 of shorter wing, and either too slow, too coward- 

 ly, too indolent, or too obstinate, to be service- 

 able in contributing to the pleasures of the field. 



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 terminates in a 

 point, which begins to diminish from about an 

 inch of its extremity. This sufficiently distin- 

 guishes the generous breed from that of the 

 baser race of kites, sparrow-hawks, and buzzards, 

 in whom the tail is longer than the wings, and 

 the first feather of the wing is rounded at the 

 extremity. They differ also in the latter having 

 the fourth feather of the wing the longest; in 

 the generous race it is always the second. 



The generous race, which have been taken 

 into the service of man, are endowed with na- 

 tural powers that the other kinds are not possess- 

 ed of. From the length of their wings, they 

 are swifter to pursue their game ; from a confi- 

 dence in this swiftness, they are bolder to attack 



