GLOSSARY 



EXPLAINING THE TECHNICAL TERMS EMPLOYED 

 BY ENGLISH FALCONERS. 



Arms, the legs of a hawk from the thigh to the foot. 



Ayre, and Eyrie, s., Fr. at're, the aiery, eyrie, or nesting-place. 

 " Our aiery buildeth in the cedar's top." — Shakespeare. 

 The form eyre occurs in Reed's "Governance of Hawkes," 1557 

 (MS. Bibl. Harl. 676). 



Bate, Bating, fluttering or flying off the fist, which an untrained hawk 

 commonly does at the sight of the approaching hood. Literally, to 

 beat the air with the wings, from the French battre. " It is calde 

 batyng for she batith with hirselfe, most oftyn causeles." — " Boke of 

 St. Albans," i486. 



Beam-feathers, j., the primaries or phalangeal feathers of the wing. 

 See Flags. 



Bechins, s., morsels, mouthfuls. Fr. becquie^ and bechde^ i6th cent. 

 " Prend le faulcon et luy donne une beschie de char, et luy mets le 

 chaperon." — " Livre du Roy Modus," i486. " She bekyth when she 

 sewith ; that is to say she wypith herbeke." — " Boke of St. Albans," 

 i486. The modern French equivalent of bechins is beccades. Thus 

 Baron Dunoyer de Noirmont, explaining the meaning of the expres- 

 sion "to give tiring" (^.r/.), writes '•'■ donner a iirer, permettre au 

 faucon de prendre quelques beccades au tiroir, aileron de volaille pr^- 

 . pare," &c.— " Hist, de la Chasse en France," 1868, iii. p. 85, note. 



Bewits, s.^ short thin strips of leather by which the bells are fastened to 

 the legs. 



Bind, z/., to fasten on the quarry in the air. 



Block, j., a truncated cone or cylindrical piece of wood having a ring in 



it for the attachment of the leash, and placed out of doors, whereon 



the hawk is set to " weather " {g.v.). 



