CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 1. RAPTORES. 



21 



FALCON ATTACKING A GAZELLE. 



falconry is compared with hunting, and the preference given to the former, because "queens, 

 duchesses, and countesses are allowed by their husbands to carry the falcon on their wrists with - 

 out offending propriety, and they can enjoy all the sport of this kind of hunting, while, in 

 hunting with hounds, they are only allowed to follow by the wide I'oads or over open fields, in 

 order to see the dogs pass. 



"The knight, on such occasions, was anxious to pay his court to the ladies by his attentions to 

 the falcons. He was obliged to be careful to fly the bird at the proper moment, to follow it im- 

 mediately, never to lose sight of it, to encourage it by calls, to take the prey from it, caress it, put 

 on the hood, and place the impetuous bird gracefully on the wrist of his mistress." 



The training of a bird for this sport was a very critical process ; there were persons very 

 learned in it, and who even wrote treatises on falconry, which were deemed a fit and necessary 

 study for an accomplished gentleman. The birds destined to this sort of training for the chase, 

 were taken from the nest when quite young, and for months were nourished with the flesh of 

 pigeons, and also of wild birds, given to them raw. Much time and pains were then spent in 

 teaching them to sit on the hand, by practicing them in perching upon posts, movable bare, &c. 

 To tame them ii.to obedience to the will of the master, the}' were deprived of sleep and food, were 

 beaten, and otherwise tyrannized over, till the creatures found that absolute submission to the 

 word of command was by far the least of two evils. The same persevering government inured 

 them to wear a leather hood over their heads. To practice them in their art, and without the 

 risk of their flying away, they were attached to a string some two hundred feet long till they 

 were so far disciplined as to be trusted with liberty, and yet relinquish it on the instant at a given 

 signal. 



When brought out for use into the open country their heads were hooded, and they were 

 allowed to see nothing but their game ; as soon as the game was put up by the dogs, or indi- 

 cated by them, the powerful bird was tossed from the wrist, and darted straight toward it ; if a 

 quadruped, it pounced upon its head, or seated itself there, and pecked the eyes of the victim, till, 

 bewildered and terrified, it fell an easy prey. If a bird were the quarry or object of chase, the 

 scene became very animated and exciting. Picturesquely scattered over the fields could be seen 

 stately dames, with their proud and beautiful faces eagerly upturned, beaming piquantly, perhaps 

 with a little of the ferocity of the age; gay squires on their daintily caparisoned steeds, cheering 

 the falcon to exert his utmost swiftness and prowess ; noble personages relaxing from their dig- 

 nity to watch maneuvers that must often remind them, in miniature, of their own pursuits — all 

 these on high-mettled but well-managed steeds, while around, the crowd of low degree filled 

 the welkin with their boisterous clamor. 



