g:l^ FALCONRY. Class IL 



, did. Such was the enviable state of the times 



of old Erighmd : during the whole da}^ our gentry 

 w ere given to the fowls of the air, and the beasts 

 of the field ; in the evening they celebrated their 

 exploits with the most abandoned and brutish 

 sottishness ; at the same time the inferior rank 

 of people, by the most unjust and arbitrary laws, 

 was liable to capital punishment, to fines, and 

 loss of liberty, for destroying the most noxious 

 of the feathered tribe. 



According to Olcarms, the diversion of fal- 

 conry is more followed by the Tartars and Per- 

 sians, than ever it was in any part of Europe. 

 Jl iiy avo'it point de hutte qui neust son aigle ou 

 sonfaucon.^' 



Our ancestors made use of several kinds of 

 native hawks ; though that penetrating and faith- 

 ful naturalist I\Ir. Hay, has left us only the bare 

 name of a falcon in his list of the English birds, 

 without mentioning the species. The falcons 

 or hawks that were in use in these kingdoms, 

 are now found to breed in IFales, and in North 

 Britain, and its isles. The peregrine falcon 

 inhabits the rocks of Caernartw?ishire, Holy- 

 head mountain, and Priestholme island in Jit- 

 glesey. The same species, with the gyrfalcon, 



* Tom. i. 217- 328. ■ 



