BlliDS. 337 



until tlie time for ' ' casting off' ' the bird. When the ' ' quarry' ' * 

 was seen, the hood was pulled off, the jesses drawn from their 

 rings, and the Falcon at the same time launched into the 

 air. It tried in all cases to soar ahove and pounce upon the 

 prey, which it transfixed with its powerful talons. 



Old records show the great value which was placed in 

 former times upon these birds, and the high prices at which 

 they were occasionally sold. In several places in the " Domes- 

 day Book," ten pounds is made the optional payment instead 

 of finding a Hawk. It is said that in one instance, about 

 two hundred years ago, so much as a thousand pounds were 

 paid for a pair. By the 34th Edward III. it was made felony 

 to steal a Hawk; and to take its eggs, even on a person's 

 own grounds, was punishable with imprisonment for a year 

 and a day, besides a fine at the king's pleasure. Thus prized 

 and protected, and used only by the wealthy and the noble, 

 these birds became the appendage of their state as well as of 

 their pastime. 



References to Hawking and its details are of constant 

 occurrence in our old ballads, t Shakspeare, who so invariably 

 " holds the mirror up to nature," hesitates not to introduce 

 the language of Falconry, in giving utterance to the perturbed 

 and distracting meditations of Othello: 



' If I do prove her haggard, 



Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings, 

 I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind 

 To prey at fortune." 



The rapid flight of the Falcon is very remarkable. An 

 instance is recorded of one belonging to Henry IV. King of 

 France, which traversed the distance between Fontainebleau 

 and Malta, not less than 1,350 miles, in twenty-four hours. 

 In this case, supposing it to have been on the wing the whole 

 time, its rate of flight must have been nearly sixty miles an 

 hour; but, as Falcons do not fly by night, it was probably not 

 more than sixteen or eighteen hours on the wing, and its rate 

 must, therefore, have been seventy or eighty miles an hour. 



* The bird flown at by a Hawk was so named. 



f Vide The Gay Goshawk, and The Broomfieldhill, in Minstrelsy of 

 the Scottish Border. Sometimes the epithet, "gay Goshawk," is ap- 

 plied figuratively; thus, in the ballad of Pause Foodrage, in the same 

 collection : 



" And ye maun learn, my gay Goshawk, 

 Bight weel to breast a steed." 



