THE PEREGRINE FALCON. 23 



confined to nobles and men of high station. 

 "The peregrine falcon," says Cuvier, "is the 

 celebrated species which has given its name to 

 falconry. It inhabits all the north of the globe, 

 and builds in the steepest rocks. Its flight is 

 so rapid, that there is scarcely any part of the 

 world it does not visit. It pounces on its prey 

 vertically, as if it fell from the clouds. 1 ' The 

 male is used against magpies, and other small 

 birds; the female against pheasants, and even 

 hares. The female is usually one third larger 

 than the male, which is therefore, in the language 

 of falconry, called a tercel. This beautiful bird 

 is rendered familiar to our thoughts, by the fre- 

 quent references to it in those chronicles and 

 tales of other times, which bring before us the 

 picturesque sport of falconry, now an amusement 

 rarely heard of. Time was, when princes and 

 chieftains looked on it as the noblest of their 

 recreations in the "piping time of peace. 1 ' Gay 

 and gallant was the train that issued forth from 

 palace, and castle, and ancient hall the dwell- 

 ings of our fore-fathers in pursuit of this anima- 

 ting amusement. Much of evil was there min- 

 gled in those festive scenes ; and we do not wish 

 to recall them to a new existence, but rather to 

 look back on them as picturesque memorials of 

 the past, as we dwell on other traces of the feudal 



