JAPANESE. 215 



hawks, and purple for those that have distinguished themselves 

 by killing cranes {tsuru), el cetera. 



Though there are many kinds of hawks, says this author, those 

 used for Falconry are mainly these three : — 0-taka, or great 

 hawk, i.e., the Goshawk ; Hayabusa, literally " swift tuft-hawk," 

 the Peregrine; and Haitaka, or creeping hawk, in reference, 

 perhaps, to its crafty habits, the Sparrow-hawk. Three other 

 kinds, much inferior, are scarcely ever used for hawking. To 

 catch hawks nets are employed. A large net is spread, and in 

 the middle a smaller net of the kind known as chochin (lantern- 

 shaped, i.e., nearly barrel-shaped) is fixed, in which are placed 

 five or six sparrows at liberty to fly about in the interior. This 

 contrivance acts as a decoy, and the hawks are thus trapped. 

 The best time for catching them is between the great heats 

 of summer and the full spring of the succeeding year. When 

 caught, the birds receive each a generic name : thus, a bird of 

 any year taken in the autumn would be called akage, red-plumed 

 [but the point lies in the resemblance in sound of aka to aki, 

 autumn] ; taken from the nest {sti), sutaka ; taken during the 

 lesser summer heats, after having left the nest, su-mawari, nest- 

 hover er or brancher ; and so forth. 



Taka and Hayahtsa are flown at cranes, wild geese, wild 

 duck, and white herons; Haitaka, at teal, water-hens, and 

 larks. These three hawks receive each a different training. 



A complete translation of this " broadside," by Mr. F. V. 

 Dickins, will be found in The Zoologist for May 1891. 



It would seem that at the present day Falconry is but little 

 practised in Japan. The latest traveller who has furnished 

 any account of the sport in that country from personal obser- 

 vation is Dr. A. von Roretz, who, in the German periodical 

 Der Zoologische Garten for September 1879, published an 

 article on hawking in Japan, of which a translation by the 

 present writer appeared in The Field of October 18, 1879. 



Dr. Roretz states that formerly, wherever large uncultivated 

 tracts of scrub, and marsh, and grass land were to be found, 

 amongst other sports hawking flourished. In more populous 

 districts, too, powerful princes and wealthy proprietors indulged 

 in this pastime, at which their dependents dared not murmur, 



