39 8 [Proc. B.N.F.C, 



Mr. F. J. Bigger, junior secretary, doubted the advisability 

 of Mr. Gray's opposing the unanimous action of the Committee. 

 He altogether differed from Mr. Gray in the idea that honorary 

 membership should only be conferred on big-wigs who had 

 done little for the Club, while hard-working members who had 

 conferred considerable benefit should go unhonoured. He 

 would wish to give credit where credit was due, and would vote 

 for the motion. 



On the resolution being put to the meeting by the President 

 it was carried nem. con. 



Mr. Arthur J. Collins then read a paper on " Falconry." 

 The reader, after introducing his subject, spoke of the origin of 

 this ancient sport, and stated that it was impossible to trace the 

 commencement of the pastime. From the earliest times that 

 history takes notice of, the peoples of most nations, but 

 especially those of Eastern origin, had practised the art of 

 falconry. Some idea of its antiquity may be formed from the 

 discovery of Sir A. H. Layard of a bas-relief among the ruins 

 of Korsabad, in which a falconer is depicted carrying a hawk on 

 his wrist. From this it may be inferred that hawking was 

 practised there some 1,700 years B.C. In China, falconry was 

 known at a still earlier date, for in an old Japanese work, a 

 French translation of which appeared at the beginning of the 

 present century, it is stated that hawks were among the presents 

 made to princes in the reign of the Hia dynasty, which com- 

 menced in the year 2205 B.C. The records of King Wen 

 Wang, who reigned over the province of Hunan between 689 

 and 675 B.C., show that in his day falconry was much in 

 vogue. In Japan it seems to have been known many centuries 

 before the Christian era, and probably at an equally early date in 

 India, Persia, Arabia, and Syria. The date of its introduction 

 from the East into Europe is not known, but from the brief 

 mention made of it by Aristotle, Pliny, Martial, and Oppian, it 

 may be inferred that it was known if not practised in Europe 

 at least three centuries before the Christian era. John of 

 Salisbury, who died in 1182 a.d., discussing the question of 



