138 PEREGRINE FALCON. 



animate the bird to the performance of his duty; 

 keep him in regularity, and a proper fierceness of 

 temper, and particularly, prevent him from bear- 

 ing away his bells; that is, from flying off, and 

 not returning; an accident which sometimes 

 happens. 



When Falcons are taught to fly at Rabbets, 

 Hares, <kc>. it is culled flying at the fur; and some 

 are instructed to fly both at the fur and the plume, 

 or to the pursuit of hares and rabbets, as well as 

 of pheasants and partridges, &c. In order to this, 

 when the Falcon is very tame, they either take a 

 live hare, and break one of its legs, or else a hare's 

 skin stuffed with straw; and having fixed to it a 

 piece of chicken's flesh, or whatever food the Falcon 

 loves best, they tie this skin, with a cord of great 

 length, to the girth of a horse, and as the skin is 

 thus dragged along, the bird imagines it to be a 

 hare in flight, and is allured to dart upon it; and 

 is thus taught to distinguish the animal. But 

 Falcons of the larger kind have been occasionally 

 taught to fly at the Roebuck, and even at the 

 Wild Boar, and the Wolf. The method of in- 

 structing them in this species of adventure is by 

 accustoming them to feed, when young, from out 

 of the sockets of the eyes of a wolf's or boar's head; 

 the whole skin of the animal being stuffed, in such 

 a manner as to appear alive. While the bird is 

 feeding, the Falconer begins to move the figure 

 gradually ; in consequence of which the bird learns 

 to fasten itself as to stand firm, notwithstanding 

 the precipitate motions which are gradually given 



