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all falconers know how much Hawks suffer from a 

 lengthened period of inactivity. Our ancestors seem, 

 however, to have esteemed the " Icelanders " highly ; 

 there are traditions of their being trained to take the 

 Kite, and in more recent days a few of these Falcons 

 were flown at Herons with success in the Netherlands. 



The late Mr. E. Clough Newcome, certainly the first 

 amateur falconer of his day, owned several of these 

 Falcons, and spoke highly of the performance of one or 

 two of them, but on the whole did not care very much 

 about them, and infinitely preferred the "passage" 

 Peregrine for practical purposes. The late Maharajah 

 Duleep Singh flew " Icelanders " with some success at 

 Hares in Suffolk, but I could not get an " Icelander " 

 of mine to look at a live rabbit, and, indeed, I hold that 

 this sort of work is altogether beneath the hereditary 

 dignity of a true Falcon. In my experience I have 

 found the " Icelander " difficult to keep in health for 

 any length of time, even when the bird is constantly 

 exercised ; the feet especially generally go wrong sooner 

 or later, and are exceedingly difficult to treat success- 

 fully. In disposition this Falcon seems to be tameable 

 enough, but by no means remarkable for docility, of a 

 somewhat sluggish temperament, and it is by no means 

 so hardy as might be expected from the climatic con- 

 ditions of the country of its origin. 



