288 



SHOOTING. 



The hawk was originally fastened to a twig or 

 stake, as a decoy to entice birds under the net or 

 to the limed twigs, which, says Pennant, " is a 

 method still in use in Italy. The Italians call it 

 Uccelare con la civetta ,- for instead of a hawk, they 

 place a small species of owl on a pole, in the middle 

 of a field, and surround it, at various distances, 

 with lime twigs. The small birds, from their 

 strange propensity to approach rapacious fowls, fly 

 around, perch on the rods, and are taken in great 

 numbers. A hawk would serve the purpose full as 

 well." 



There is no record of trained hawks previous to 

 the time of Ethelred. Under the Welsh laws of 

 Hoel Dha, (A.D. 940), " the falconer has a privi- 

 lege the day that the hawk shall kill a bittern, or 

 a heron, or a curlew. Three services shall the 

 king perform for the falconer on such a day ; hold 

 his stirrup whilst he dismounts ; hold the horse 

 whilst he goes after the birds ; and hold his stirrup 

 whilst he mounts again. Three times shall the 

 king that night compliment him at table." 



Shakspeare often uses the language of falconry. 

 It is chiefly employed in a scene in the second part 

 of Henry VI., wherein the king, queen, lord pro- 

 tector, and cardinal, are the chief speakers ; which 

 goes to prove, that the falconer's terms were, at one 

 time, household words at the English court. 



Isaac Walton, the father of anglers, has told the 

 praises of hawking in a conversation between an 

 angler, a hunter, and a fowler, wherein each de- 

 scribes his own craft. Thus the fowler mounts 



