254 



AOOIPITRES. BIRDS. FAT-CONIC.*. 



FALCONS. 



WE now come to the consideration of the True or nolle 

 Falcons, as they were formerly called, from the circum- 

 stance that nearly all the species of birds employed in 

 the favourite ancient diversion of hawking belonged to 

 this group. These Falcons are distinguished from all 

 the other birds of prey, by having the margins of the 

 upper mandible not merely sinuated, but armed with 

 an acute tooth on each side not far from the apex. 

 The other species of the family Falconidse were denomi- 

 nated ignoble birds of prey, partly from their deficiency 

 of courage, as compared with the True Falcons, and 

 partly from the intractability displayed by most of 

 them, which rendered them unfit for the purposes of 

 the falconer. Arbitrary as this distinction seems, there 

 is no doubt that the True Falcons, to a great extent, 

 deserve the epithet noble thus applied to them ; there 

 is an elegance in their port and a boldness in their 

 aspect which distinguishes them at a glance from most 

 other birds of prey, whilst their astonishing power of 

 flight and great muscular strength render them the 

 types of predaceous birds. 



Before proceeding to describe any of these birds, it 

 may not be amiss to furnish the reader with a brief 

 sketch of the mode in which the hawks are trained and 

 used in falconry. When they can be taken from the 

 nest, their training is comparatively easy; they are 

 kept in sheltered habitations in the open air, and fed 

 every morning and evening with beef or mutton cut 

 into shreds, until they are about six weeks old, when 

 their predatory instincts begin to show themselves, in 

 the capture of any weak animals that come within their 

 reach. They are then captured, their feet are confined 

 with leathern manacles, called jesses, by which they can 

 be fastened down in the dark prison to which they are 

 transferred, and their heads are covered up in hoods, 

 which effectually prevent their seeing what is taking 

 place around them. The nestling birds are denomi- 

 nated niais in the language of falconers ; older hawks 

 which are able to leave the nest, but can only hop 

 about, are called branchers; they qpe simply manacled 

 and placed in a dark prison, in the same hooded con- 

 dition as the niais, and their training presents little 

 more difficulty. 



But when an adult falcon has been caught, the affair 

 assumes a very different complexion, for he does not 

 resign his desires of freedom without a long struggle. 

 The falconer, having first of all secured his prisoner's 

 feet by means of the leathern jesses above mentioned, 

 to which little bells are usually attached, takes the 

 hawk upon his gloved fist, and keeps him awake and 

 without food in a dark place until exhaustion begins to 

 break his spirit. When the falcon is very obstreperous 

 and attempts to use his beak, he is treated with a bath 

 of cold water ; but, notwithstanding these rigorous mea- 

 sures, it usually requires three days and nights to bring 

 him into a state of proper submission. His head is then 

 covered with a hood, and he is by degrees brought to 

 feed freely, his strength being at the same time kept 



down by the administration of little pellets of hemp, 

 which have a purgative effect. When the bird takes 

 his food without difficulty, he is induced to leap upon 

 the hand by holding up his meat, with which he is then 

 fed, and afterwards his food is given to him .upon a rude 

 representation of a bird, called the lure, to which he is 

 thus attracted from gradually increasing distances, being 

 held all the time by a cord or string. When he 

 becomes familiar with the lure, by associating it with 

 his meals, he will pounce down upon it from almost 

 any elevation. He is then taught to know his game, 

 still kept from making his escape by means of a cord, 

 and at last, when sufficiently trained, is allowed to fly 

 freely in pursuit of birds and other animals. The train- 

 ing of the Gyrfalcon is the most arduous of all, the pre- 

 liminary exercises occupying a great deal of time ; the 

 Peregrine Falcon is more docile, but even its training 

 will require a month. 



The sport of falconry, which was so great a favourite 

 with our ancestors, has now fallen into almost 'total 

 desuetude in European countries; but in the East, 

 especially in Persia and India, it is still followed with 

 great zeal. There, as in Europe in former days, it is 

 one of the favourite diversions of the princes and great 

 men, and numerous species of hawks and falcons are 

 trained for it with great care. 



THE GYRFALCON (Falco Gyrfalco), also called the 

 Jerfalcon and the Iceland Falcon, is found in the nor- 

 thern parts of both hemispheres, but is most abundant 

 in North America. It is a native of this country, but 

 has become exceedingly rare here of late years ; in fact, 

 most of the British specimens must be looked upon as 

 stragglers from the more northern countries of Iceland 

 and Norway, where these birds occur in greater abun- 

 dance. If we may judge from the high value placed 

 upon the Gyrfalcon in the days when hawking was 

 a fashionable amusement, and the sums expended in 

 importing them from Iceland and Norway, we may 

 justly come to the conclusion that this bird was 

 never common in Britain. The Iceland falcons were 

 greatly preferred to the Norwegian specimens, their 

 strength and courage being described as greater, and 

 their flight more rapid and bold. Hence the falconers 

 generally considered that the two birds belonged to 

 distinct species, but this view is not adopted by 

 naturalists. 



The Gyrfalcon measures from twenty to twenty- 

 three inches in length; its plumage is of a white colour, 

 while the whole of the back is marked with greyish- 

 brown spots ; the bill is bluish, the cere and feet yel- 

 low, and the claws black, exceedingly sharp, and much 

 curved. The young birds are brown, and the white 

 colour gradually encroaches upon this at each moult, 

 until in the adults the whole brown surface becomes 

 pure white, whilst the feathers of the back and wings 

 retain the spots above mentioned. In very old birds 

 even these disappear, when the plumage becomes nearly 

 pure white. In a wild state, as observed by Sir John 



