THE FOWL ENMEWED. 67 



downe course recovered it beyond expectation, to the 

 admiration of the beholder at a long flight." 



Another method of spelling the same word may be 

 instanced by the following quotation from Turbervile's 

 "Book of Falconrie," 1575 : — 



" And if shee misse, to mark her how shee then gets up 

 amaine, 

 For best advantage, to eneaw the springing fowle 

 againe." 



In the days of falconry* a peculiar method of repairing 

 a broken wing-feather was known to falconers by the 

 term " imping." The verb " to imp," appears to be derived 

 from the Anglo-Saxon "impan," signifying to graft, or 

 inoculate ; and the mode of operation is thus described in 

 a scarce pamphlet by Sir John Sebright, entitled " Obser- 

 vations on Hawking " : — 



" When any of the flight or tail-feathers of a hawk are 

 accidentally broken, the speed of the bird is so injured, 

 that the falconer finds it necessary to repair them by an 

 expedient called ' imping' 



" This curious process consists in attaching to the part 

 that remains an exact substitute for the piece lost. For 

 this purpose the falconer is always provided with pinions 

 (right and left) and with tail-feathers of hawks, or with 



* It will be observed that, in these pages, falconry is treated as a thing of the 

 past, as indeed it is a sport now almost obsolete, and but few comparatively are 

 acquainted with its technicalities. 



