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A FAIR HIT: GERFALCON SFRIKING HERON 

 When Knighthood was in Flower the favorite game of every overlord (who alone was entitled to use the 

 Gerfalcon) was the stately heron. Modern falconers seem unable to adapt these splendid northern hawks to 

 present conditions, depending almost wholly upon the native peregrine. But in the fourteenth century a 

 gerfalcon was indeed a kingly gift, and one often employed when the goodwill of a near or distant potentate 

 was particularly desirable. In attacking, the gerfalcon climbs above the heron then "stoops" with great 

 force at her quarry. There is no truth in the legend that the heron, as a means of defense, sometimes impales 

 the descending enemy upon its dagger-like beak. 



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