202 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE 



hawks, and this as a rule meant the Peregrine and the 

 Sparrovvhawk, may be judged from a Statute passed in 

 1621 which raised the "unlaw" or fine for stealing a hawk 

 from 10 to ^100, and another which, in 1685, condemned 

 the stealer of a hawk from nest or eyrie or of a Vervel (the 

 equivalent of a modern marking ring) from a hawk, to a fine 

 of 500 merks. 



Yet even with all the protection afforded them, it is doubt- 

 ful if hawks did much more than remain stationary in numbers 

 in these favoured times, for it is well known that each pair 

 reserves for its hunting a patrol area, within which no other 

 pair can breed, and suitable breeding places, especially 

 for Peregrines, are limited in number. So long ago as the 

 twelfth century, Giraldus Cambrensis observed that, in spite 

 of the care taken of the breeding places of Falcons and 

 Sparrowhawks in Ireland, their nests did not become more 

 numerous and their numbers did not increase. Doubtless 

 the same was also true of Scotland. 



The decay of the noble sport of hawking and the rise of 

 modern game-preserving have reversed the judgments of old, 

 and the birds which were once preserved to supply man's 

 sport, are now destroyed lest his sport should be interfered 

 with. 



HAWKING AND THE QUARRY 



The institution of hawking entailed the protection of the 

 wild birds that formed the objects of the chase. This protec- 

 tion was, as a rule, an absolute protection, unlike most of the 

 regulations that refer to game valued mainly as food, in which 

 case protection during part of the year was thought suf- 

 ficient. There is further evidence of the stringency of the 

 protection in the severity of the penalties imposed, as befitted 

 measures providing for the amusement of the highest in the 

 land. 



As early as 1493 the Heron, "royal game," was placed 

 under the law for three years, and persons protecting it 

 for the King's pleasure were to be rewarded. In 1551 in 

 order to preserve the sport of hawking, killing game with 

 guns was prohibited under pain of death, and no one was 

 allowed to kill game for three years, except gentlemen with 

 hawks. In later years the extreme penalty was modified, 



