400 The Zoologist — October, 1866. 



It woiild appear, therefore, from this, that the name tercel gentle 

 was applied to the male ^ere^n/ze, a long-winged hawk, to distinguish 

 it from the tercel or male goshatvk, a short- winged hawk. 



The following lines bearing upon this point are extracted from 

 Mudie's ' Feathered Tribes of the British Islands,' vol. i. p. 86. 



" The falcon always means the female, and the male is called the 

 tercel. 



" When one year old, and before the plumage acquires the grey that 

 characterizes the mature bird, the female is called a red falcon and 

 the male a red tiercel. 



"When fully fledged and trained (and she has not her full superiority 

 over the male till in her mature plumage), the female is the gentil or 

 gentil falcon, so called partly from her docility, and partly because 

 she never turns down the wind, or stoops to ignoble game, as some of 

 the other hawks, and even the tiercel peregrine, are apt to do. The 

 name gentil, which is the opposite of low or vulgar, was however 

 applied to all good hawks, even to some of the short-winged ones, such 

 as the goshawk." 



Belany in his ' Treatise upon Falconry,' says (p. 129), — " The 

 derivation oi falcon gentle, or slight falcon, as it is likewise called, does 

 not appear very clear or accountable, as the bird is not only the 

 strongest and largest, but the fiercest falcon that inhabits this 

 island. 



" It may not improbably have received the name of gentle from the 

 Latin gentiles, a term applied by the ancient Romans to all strangers, 

 or foreigners not subject to the Roman Empire, to distinguish them 

 from the provinciates, or inhabitants of the province. Under this 

 supposition then, the bird, being there considered a stranger or 

 foreigner, may have in like mauner received the name of gentile, 

 which has probably been corrupted into gentle. The word gentilis as 

 every linguist knows, is likewise used in an almost contrary sense, 

 importing peculiar or proper to a nation, but in this light it is quite 

 inadmissible, as the bird is not peculiar to this coimtry. 



" According to some authors the terra has been given because this 

 bird was the favourite hawk amongst the gentlemen of old. This opinion, 

 however, carries but little weight with it, for originally the hawk 

 was excluded from the use of those popularly styled gentlemen unless 

 ennobled. According to the restricted forms of hawking, the falcon 

 gentle and tercel gentle were the * hawks appointed for a prince,' and 

 tolerated only amongst those individuals distinguished by the epithet 



