434  AVES—EAGLE. 
make hini acquainted with thelure. This lure is only a thing stuffed like thé 
bird the falcon is designed to pursue, such as a heron, a pigeon, or a quail, and 
on this lure they always take care to give him his food. It is quite neces- 
sary that the bird should not only be acquainted with this, but fond of it, 
and delicate in his food when shown it. The use of this lure is to flatter 
him back when he has flown in the air, which he sometimes fails to do; 
and it is always requisite to assist it by the voice and the signs of the mas- 
ter. When the familiarity and the decility of the bird are sufficiently con- 
firmed on the green, he is then carried into the open fields, but still kept fast 
by a string which is about twenty yards long. He is then uncovered as 
before ; and the falconer calling him, at some paces distance, till he comes at 
last to fly to it. The next day the lure is shown him ata greater distance, 
till he comes at last to fly to it at the utmost length of his string. He is 
then to be shown the game itself alive, but disabled or tame, which he ts 
designed to pursue. After having seized this several times with his string, 
he is then left entirely at liberty, and carried into the field for the purposes of 
pursuing that which is wild. At that he flies with avidity; and when he 
has seized it or killed it, he is brought back by the voice and the lure. 
By this method of instruction, a hawk may be taught to fly at any game 
whatsoever; but falconers have chiefly confined their pursuit only to such 
animals as yield them profit by the capture, or pleasure in the pursuit. The 
hare, the partridge, and the quail, repay the trouble of taking them; but the 
most delightful sport is the falcon’s pursuit of the heron, the kite, or the 
woodlark. Instead of flying directly forward, as‘some other birds do, these, 
when they see themselves threatened by the approach of the hawk, immedi- 
ately take to the skies. They fly almost perpendicularly upward, while 
their ardent pursuer keeps pace with their flight, and tries to rise above 
them. Thus both diminish by degrees from the gazing spectator below, 
till they are quite lost in the clouds; but they are soon seen descending, 
struggling together, and using every effort on both sides; the one of rapa- 
cious insult, the other of desperate defence. The unequal combat is soon at 
an end; the faleon comes off victorious, and the other, killed or disabled, is 
made a prey either to the bird or the sportsman. ; 
/ 
THE GOLDEN EAGLE! 
Is one of the largest and noblest of all those birds that have received tne 
name of eagle. The length of the female is three feet anda half; the extent 
of its wings, eight and a half; it weighs from sixteen to eighteen pounds 
but the male seldom weighs more than twelve pounds. Its bill is th 
1 Falco fulvus, Gur. 
