io6 BOOKS ON FALCONRY. 



a neat summary of nearly all that is necessary to be known in 

 order to tame, train, and fly a hawk successfully, whether " long 

 winged " or " short winged," a '* bird of the lure" or a " bird of 

 the fist." The distinguishing characters are pointed out of the 

 Peregrine, Merlin, Hobby, Kestrel, Goshawk, and Sparrow-hawk, 

 and the authors indicate the different kinds of " quarry " at which 

 each may be flown with success. The Lanner and Saker (so 

 well known in the East) are passed over as being seldom procur- 

 able in France, and requiring treatment not very dissimilar to 

 that of other long-winged hawks. The eagle, notwithstanding 

 its present employment in Russia and Tartary for taking hares and 

 foxes, is condemned as being too heavy to carry with comfort, 

 and difficult to manage on account of its great power of fasting. 

 The instructions given for bringing up young hawks from the 

 nest are clear and to the point ; but the advice given as regards the 

 management of " passage hawks " is at variance with the practice 

 adopted by English falconers, and by the Dutch hawk -catchers 

 by whom they are procured. The chapter on " Hygiene and 

 General Management " contains some useful hints founded 

 evidently upon experience, and the advice given in regard to the 

 treatment of hawks while moulting is good and to the point. In 

 most of the old works on falconry page after page is occupied 

 with recipes for the cure of diseases, real or imaginary, most of 

 them very quaint, and many of them, probably, highly dan- 

 gerous. These fanciful directions are never followed by modern 

 falconers, who do not recognise a tithe of the maladies enumer- 

 ated by ancient authors, and who know, moreover, how to cure 

 the few ailments to which hawks are undoubtedly liable in a 

 much more simple and efficacious manner. It is to these only 

 that allusion is made in the present volume. One more feature 

 in the book ought not to pass unnoticed — namely, the extracts 

 which are given from letters addressed to the authors by several 

 English and French falconers, and which contain some useful 

 advice and information. 



2 1 8. rOYE (G.). Manuel Pratique du Faucon- 

 NiER DU XIX^ SiECLE. Contenant tout ce qu'il faut 

 savoir pour dresser les Faucons et Autours a la chasse 

 au vol des Perdreaux, Faisans, Canards, Lievres, 



