PEREGRINE FALCON. 13? 



change the drawer according to the kind of game 

 to which he is to be devoted. When he is to spring 

 at a Kite, they fix the bill and feathers of that 

 bird to the lure; and the same care is taken with 

 respect to the rest; and in order to entice the bird 

 to his object, they fasten beneath the drawer or 

 plumage the flesh of a chicken or some other fowl, 

 and sometimes season it with sugar and spices, 

 adding marrow and other delicacies. By these 

 means, when he is afterwards to spring at real 

 game, he flies at it with surprising precipitation. 

 After three weeks or amonth's exercise in a chamber 

 or garden, they begin to make the experiment 

 with the bird in the open fields, and fasten little 

 bells to his feet, in order to be readily informed of 

 his motions. He is always capped or hooded, to 

 prevent him from seeing any object but his game ; 

 and as soon as the dogs either stop or spring it, 

 the Falconer unhoods the bird, and tosses him 

 into the air after his prey. It is then extremely 

 diverting to see him wing the air in all the varieties 

 of his flight, and behold him soaring by degrees, 

 and repeated springs, till the eye loses him in the 

 middle region. He then commands the plain, 

 contemplates the motions of his prey, whom the 

 distance of the enemy deludes into an imaginary 

 security, till at last he launches upon it with the 

 rapidity of an arrow, and bears it to his master, 

 who recalls him. They never fail, in these his 

 first essays, to present him with the neck and 

 entrails of the prey he has brought. These gra- 

 tuities, and the other caresses of the Falconer, 



