xviii INTRODUCTION. 



itself should be included, to enable a proper understanding of 

 the critical notes which follow. It is difficult to attempt this 

 without incurring the risk of writing too much, and going too 

 minutely into a branch of the subject which the present volume 

 is not primarily intended to deal with. A bibliography is one 

 thing, a treatise on Falconry is quite another, and would, if fully 

 considered, extend far beyond the limits of an Introduction. 

 Nevertheless, as the two are so connected that an explanation 

 of the one will lead to a better appreciation of the other, a 

 brief outline may here be given of what may be termed the 

 principia artis accipitrarice* 



The birds employed by falconers belong to two classes — 

 the long-winged, dark-eyed falcons, and the short-winged, 

 yellow-eyed hawks. To the former class belong the Jerfalcon, 

 Peregrine, Lanner, Saker, Barbary Falcon, the Indian Shahin, 

 the Hobby, and the Merlin ; to the latter the Goshawk and 

 Sparrow-hawk. The former take their prey by rising above 

 it in the air, and stooping at it from a considerable height, and 

 striking it to the ground ; the latter pursue in a straight line, 

 and, overtaking the quarry by superior speed, clutch it, and 

 come down with it. The larger falcons are flown at winged 

 game of all kinds — crows, magpies, rooks, herons, and wild- 

 fowl ; the smaller falcons, such as the merlin and hobby, are 

 used for taking larks ; while of the short -winged hawks, the 

 sparrow-hawk is flown at blackbirds and thrushes, partridges 

 early in the season, and quails ; the goshawk taking pheasants, 

 partridges, and wild-fowl, rabbits and hares. With all birds 

 of prey the females are invariably larger and more powerful than 

 the males, and the sexes are consequently selected according to 

 the quarry they have to pursue. Jerfalcons are now rarely 

 employed, partly owing to the difficulty of procuring them, 

 partly because the peregrine falcon is preferred, and experience 

 has shown that, except in a woody or inclosed country, where 

 the goshawk and sparrow-hawk are preferable, the peregrine 

 is the most useful of all the birds of prey. 



* The details which follow are taken from the article " Falconry " (No. 82) 

 contributed by the present writer to the last edition of Chambers's Encycl opcedia, 

 1880. 



