204 CLASS AVES. 



first, as probably this bird, a native of Northern Enrope, was 

 not known in Egypt. 



It remains, perhaps, yet to be verified whether the white 

 gerfalcon and the gerfalcons of Iceland and Norway be parti- 

 cular races, simple varieties, or mere individual differences of 

 age and sex. It is, however, safer to stick to the sj)ecific cha- 

 racters of the gerfalcon, as given in the text, and applied to all 

 of these, than run the risk of adding to errors and confusion 

 already far too great. 



The gerfalcon is one of the most esteemed of rapacious birds 

 for the purposes of falconry. When at liberty, it preys on 

 nothing but birds, and it will attack very large ones, as, for 

 instance, the heron and stork. It kills hares by dropping 

 perpendicularly on them, and is so ardent in pursuit of its prey, 

 that, after having torn one in pieces, it often abandons it to give 

 chase to another. Pallas relates, that in the north of Russia 

 they take the gerfalcons with nets, above which they suspend 

 waving feathers to packthreads extended from one tree to 

 another, at the same time fastening pigeons on the ground to 

 serve as a bait. 



Though, perhaps, strictly speaking, it is not a subject of 

 natural history, we cannot help subjoining a few observations 

 on the ancient and celebrated art of Falconry. 



This term is given to the methods of instructing and training 

 birds of prey to the chase, and is extended to the amusement 

 itself The great trouble and expense attendant on this exer- 

 cise has caused it to be relinquished since the invention of 

 gunpowder, which has rendered it superfluous ; and few oc- 

 cupy themselves with it at present, except as an historical 

 monument of the extent of human industry. It does not 

 appear that the earlier hunting nations knew any thing of this 

 art. The most ancient authors who have mentioned it are 

 Aristotle and Pliny ; Ehan, who reduced it (o principles ; and 

 Firmius, who developed more at large its practical details. 

 After these came a crowd of authors on the subject, with an 



