MARSH A^B FOREST PERIODS. 



ing of tlie estimation in which, this bird was held by 

 our ancestors, it being not uncommon to find per- 

 sons holding tenements or paying fines in lieu of 

 service to the lord of the fee by rendering a sore 

 sparrow-hawk — a hawk in its first year's plumage. 

 Stringent restrictions upon the liberty the old 

 Roman masters of the country allowed with respect 

 to wild fowl were im- 

 posed ; the act of steal- 

 ing a hawk, and that 

 of taking her eggs, be- 

 ing punishable by im- 

 prisonment for a year 

 and a day. The high- 

 born, with birds be- 

 decked with hoods of 

 silk, collars of gold, 

 and bells of even 

 weight, but of difier- 

 ent sound, appeared according to their rank — a 

 ger-falcon for a king, a falcon gentle for a prince, 

 a falcon of the rock for a duke, a janet for a 

 knight, a merlin for a lady, and a lamere for a 

 squire. From close-pent manor and high-walled 

 castle, to outspread plain and expansive lake or river 



