FALCONRY. 217 



xxvj s. viij d." This truly Royal lady, the daughter, sister, niece, wife, 

 mother, and progenitrix of kings of England, the legitimate heiress to the 

 throne, by "whose marriage with Henry VII. the Wars of the Roses were 

 ended, does not seem to have indulged greatly in falconry. Among the 

 presents made to her Ave find a Crane, Woodcocks, Quails, and other birds. 

 Of the low value of money at this period, many striking instances occur in 

 these accounts, Henry VIII., her son, paid £23 6s. 8d. to the bearer of a 

 cast of Falcons presented by the Duke of Ferrard. Francis I. sent the King 

 several Falcons while he was at Calais. 



The difference of taste produced by falconry may be estimated by the 

 fact that in the Earl of Northumberland's household book. Snipes were 

 ordered to be bought, " so they be good," at three a penny ; whereas Hearon- 

 sewys were valued at twelve pence a bird. Now Herons are not eaten ; but 

 full Snipes fetch in Brighton this 22nd day of November, 1875, two shillings 

 each. 



It is not necessary to repeat here all the terms used in falconry ; Mr. 

 Francis Henry Salvin and Mr. William Brodrick have rendered that useless ; 

 their work on the Falconry of the British Isles, profusely illustrated, 

 contains all these matters. There is a passage in ' Shakespere's England,' 

 by G. W. Thornbury, p. 376, which conveys a good idea of what w^ent on : — 



" The jargon of the hunting and hawking field was much of this 

 fashion : — ' Well cast off aloft, ah ! well flown,' says one, leaping into his 

 saddle, ' now she has taken her at the souse, and strikes her down like a 

 thunderbolt.' ' Now she hath seized the fowl,' says another, ' and 'gins to 

 plume her; rebeck her not, rather stand still and check her.' 'Aye, but 

 our merlin first plumed the fowl, and twice remewed her from the river ; 

 though her bells had not one weight, one was a semitone above the other ; 

 it sounded too full, and spoiled her mounting.' ' Mine too,' says a third, 

 ' seized a fowl within her talons : you saw her claws full of feathers, both 



