HAWKING 



As I think it not altogether becoming in us moderns to 

 forget the days of yore, .allow me now a word or two about 

 the recreations of our fathers, when they sallied forth, 

 falcon on fist, with a gallant troop of retainers. 



The aristocratic sport of falconry, though now banished 

 by our deadly guns, has in it something so exhilarating and 

 so gay, that any one who has witnessed it on ever so small 

 a scale cannot wonder that it was once the pastime of the 

 high and mighty of the land. 



There are several kinds of falcons and hawks found in 

 Scotland, all of which are capable of being trained; but 

 the former are greatly superior, and always preferred. 

 The largest is the gos-hawk,* the young males of which 

 are called falcon-gentils, and were once thought a dis- 

 tinct species. Next in size is the jer-falcon, rather less 

 than the gentil. These are rare in Scotland, although 

 they occasionally build in some parts, particularly in the 

 Northern Islands. All of them can knock down a heron 



* The gos-hawk is short-winged, and not properly a falcon. 



