THE PEREGRINE FALCON. 25 



ants, hooded. When the prey was seen, the 

 falconer removed the hood, and at his cry of 

 leurre, the noble bird sprung into the air, and 

 discerning, amid the birds, the species he had 

 been trained to hunt, he selected his victim, pur- 

 sued with rapid wing, struck it to the ground, 

 and then returned at his master's call, to resume 

 his station on his hand. 



The falcon can be trained in fifteen days or 

 a month for the chase, when taken from the 

 nest. The merlins, however, are by far the 

 most familiar and docile of the race. They do 

 not require to be hooded, and are easily trained 

 to hunt larks, .blackbirds, quails, and partridges. 

 This bird was particularly appropriated to the 

 use of the ladies ; and when the fair huntress 

 rode forth on her palfrey, amid the gallant train 

 from her father's hall, the merlin sat on her wrist, 

 while the less gentle species obeyed the call, and 

 rested on the glove of the knight, who rode at 

 her side. This sport was the chosen amusement 

 of our kings and princes, from the time of Alfred, 

 to the reign of king John. But it especially pre- 

 vailed in this country, from the days of that 

 mighty hunter, William the Conqueror, down to 

 the time of the last-mentioned monarch. " The 

 figure of a hawk upon the left hand," says Henry, 

 the historian, " was the mark by which painters 



c 



