TWELFTH CENTURY 45 
enough for all, and if the young (or most of them) did not dis- 
appear the balance of nature would soon be upset somewhere. 
Giraldus winds up with some pertinent remarks on fal- 
conry, which he cannot but have witnessed himself, in which 
he describes the hawk soaring high in wide circles, and then 
the velocity of its stoop, and the endeavours of the hard- 
pressed quarry to escape, as it “ flits from side to side, new high, 
now low, while ail the spectators are filled with delight.” 
One might imagine oneself in the company of an 
enthusiastic modern falconer. Falcons he considers more 
pertinacious than Sparrow-hawks, and at the same time he 
knows them to be “more ready to return to their keeper 
when he raises his hand, or even at his call.” 
CRANES IN IRELAND. 
In chapter XIII. Giraldus alludes to the exportation of 
Gyrfaleons and Goshawks from Iceland, but the latter species 
is not known to inhabit Iceland. Harting, however, states 
the Gyrfaleon was sometimes called Gos-falcon,* which is a 
sufficient explanation of what would otherwise be an error. 
In his Welsh Itinerary (ch. XII.) Giraldus favours us with 
a singular story of a Kite which seized a weasel, and, flying 
into the air with it, was presently bitten by the little animal, 
and so fell dead. This is quite credible, for similar instances 
have been recorded of other rapacious birds in modern 
times. In 1188 Giraldus travelled with Archbishop Baldwin 
through Wales, which was his native country. In the itinerary 
of this journey mention is made of Deer, Wild Boars and 
Beavers, of Falcons of a generous kind, and of a bird called 
the Aureolus, possibly the Green Woodpecker which, seen from 
* «¢ Essays on Sport,’ p 80. 
