THE FALCON. 27 



the pleasing expectation of plunder. They patiently wait (ill 

 she has laid the whole number of her eggs, and, after having 

 covered them with sand, is retired to a convenient distance. 

 Then, encouraging one another with ferocious cries, they pour 

 down altogether, hook up the ground in a moment, lay the eggs 

 bare, and devour the whole breed. 



To the eye of superficial observation, the vulture would ap- 

 pear one of the most noxious and disgusting animals in nature ; 

 but a close inspection will discover its great utility, and add to 

 the number of proofs that creative wisdom has made nothing 

 without an appropriate design. 



This bird, although totally unknown in England, abounds in 

 many countries of Asia and Africa, especially in Arabia and 

 Egypt. In these countries, particularly the last, they are of great 

 public benefit ; and numerous flocks of them are always hovering 

 in the neighbourhood of Grand Cairo, where it is not permitted 

 to destroy them. The service which they render to the inhab- 

 itants,\consists in devouring all the carrion and filth of that great 

 city, which in that sultry climate, would otherwise soon putrefy 

 and corrupt the air. In all countries, indeed, which they fre- 

 quent, they are of singular service, not only in devouring all the 

 carrion, but also in destroying an incalculable number of croco- 

 diles, serpents, and other noxious reptiles, that in hot climates 

 are extremely prolific. The inside down of the vulture's wing 

 is also exceedingly fine, and is converted into a warm and com- 

 fortable kind of fur, which is often soM in the Asiatic markets. 

 Thus we may observe that this bird, which is so rapacious and 

 indelicate fills a station of great utility in the created system. 



THE FALCON, 



So little noticed at the present day, was, among our ancestors, 

 held in so high estimation, that in old paintings it is the criterion 

 of nobility, and a person of rank seldom stirred out without his 

 hawk in his hand. So lately as the reign of James I. Sir Thomas 

 Allenson is said to have given a thousand pounds for a cast of 

 hawks ; and such was in general their value, that in the reign of 

 Edward III. it was felony to steal a hawk. To take its eggs 

 even in a person's own ground, was imprisonment for a year and 

 a day, together with a fine at the king's pleasure. The expense 

 which attended the sport of hawking was very great, and every 

 thing relating to it was considered of great importance. Among 

 the old Welch princes, the king's falconer was the fourth great 

 officer in the state ; but, notwithstanding his honours and emol- 

 uments, he was forbidden to take more than three draughts of 

 beer from his horn, lest intoxication should cause a neglect of 

 hk duty. 



