PEREGRINE FALCON". 133 



themselves to the science of Falconry. The tech- 

 nical terms, in English Falconry are evidently of 

 French extraction. 



"In our own country, says Mr. Pennant, I 

 cannot trace the certainty of Falconry till the reign 

 of King Ethelbert the Saxon monarch, in the year 

 760, when he wroie to Germany for a brace of 

 Falcons which would fly at cranes and bring them 

 to the ground, as there were very few such in Kent. 

 It seems highly probable that Falconry had its 

 rise in Scythia, and passed from thence to the 

 northern parts of Europe. Tartary is even at 

 present celebrated for its fine breed of Falcons ; 

 and the sport is in such general esteem that, ac- 

 cording to Olearius, there was no hut but what had 

 its Eagle or Falcon. The boundless plains of that 

 country are as finely adapted to the diversion as 

 the wooded or mountainous nature of most part 

 of Europe is ill calculated for that rapid amuse- 

 ment." 



In England Falconry seems to have continued 

 in full glory till about the time of the Usurpation, 

 after which it appears gradually to have declined. 

 With what ardor it was pursued in the reign of 

 James the first maybe gathered from the anecdote 

 recorded by Mr. Pennant, who relates that Sir 

 James Monson gave no less a sum than a thousand 

 pounds for a cast of Hawks. 



It should be observed, that almost every kind 

 of Falco, from the largest to the smallest, may be 

 trained to Falconry ; even Eagles themselves have 

 been used for the chace of the Roebuck, the 



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