GERFALCONS 311 



form. Whether at the lure or at wild quarry their style is per- 

 fection. But yet, in spite of this, they cannot altogether be 

 termed a success in falconry. Their tempers are generally 

 very violent and stubborn, making them difficult to train in the 

 early stages ; they are always troublesome to break to the hood, 

 and it requires an infinity of pains to get them to stand to it at 

 all. From their great size and wild disposition they are very 

 prone to carry, and altogether it requires a very experienced 

 hand to do any good with them. 



Worst of all, it is extremely difficult to keep them in health 

 until they become thoroughly acclimatised. The Iceland variety 

 especially is afflicted with a form of asthma that is almost 

 universal among those hawks which are caught wild in the 

 island, and which are in other respects the most likely to 

 succeed. Few of those which are seized with this disease ever 

 recover ; it is closely allied to that lung disease which in ancient 

 books is described as the '. pantas.' In the Norwegian falcons, 

 within our experience, this disease has not been so prevalent, 

 but they have been very liable to a virulent, and generally fatal, 

 form of frounce, resulting in a tumour in the throat, which 

 generally kills them. Both varieties, when flying well, have 

 been apt to lose all form and to become useless when a change 

 has occurred from cold to warm weather, and they seem espe- 

 cially sensitive to a damp, muggy climate. Of the constitution 

 of the Greenland Falcon we cannot speak from actual experience, 

 but from its wider distribution it may possibly be more hardy. 

 One in the possession of Lord Lilford was a fine-tempered 

 hawk and a good flier, keen at rooks. 



When once, however, the first moult is past, these birds 

 seem to thrive well in England. The Maharajah Dhuleep 

 Singh possessed a beautiful Icelander which was moulted for 

 many years, and there have been many instances of these hawks 

 living to a considerable age. Symon Latham, writing in 1615, 

 says : * I have known a gerfalcon an excellent hearenor, and to 

 continue her goodnesse very neare twenty years, or full out the 

 time.' In 1845, John Pells, the falconer, brought over several 



