-17- 



before passage or wild-caught falcons can be kept out of 

 doors; they must be fastened to a perch In a darkened room, 

 hooded, but by degrees as they get thoroughly tame they 

 may be brought to sit on the lawn. In England (especially 

 in the south) peregrines, the great northern falcons, and 

 goshawks may be kept out of doors all day and night in a 

 sheltered situation. In very wild, boisterous weather, or 

 in snow or in sharp frost, it will be advisable to move 

 them tp the shelter of a shed, the floor of which should 

 be laid with sand to a depth of three or four inches. 

 Merlins and hobbies are too tender to be kept much out of 

 doors. An eastern aspect is to be preferred, — all birds 

 enjoy the morning sun, and it is very beneficial to them. 

 The more hawks confined to blocks out of doors see of 

 persons, dogs, horses, etc., moving about the better, but 

 of course only when there is no danger of their being 

 frightened or molested, or of food being given them by 

 strangers i 



***** 



The larger hawks may be kept in health and working 

 order for several years — 15 or 20 — barring accidents. The 

 writer has known peregrines, shaheens, and goshawks to 

 i*each ages between 15 and 20 years. Goshawks, however, 

 never fly well after 4 or 5 seasons, when they will no 

 longer take difficult quarry; they may be used at rabbits 

 as long as they live. Shaheens may be seen in the East 

 at an advanced age, killing wild-fowl beautifully. The 

 shaheen is a falcon of the peregrine type, which does not 

 travel, like the peregrine, all over the world. It appears 

 that jerfalcons also may be worked to a good age. Old 

 Simon Lathan tells us of these birds, — "I myself have 

 known one of them an excellent hearnor, and to continue hfer 

 goodnepse very near twentie yeeres, or full out that time," 



***** 



The work jlist quoted is " Falconry in the British Isles " 

 by Salvin and Brodrick, A work to which we are very largely 

 indebted for information regarding the past history of 

 falconry and it's practice in foreign countries is SchlegeJ^' s 

 " TraitS de Fauconnerie ". This magnificent book, in the 

 words of a very able writer of the "Quarterly Review" for 

 July 1875, "is a worthy monument of the noble art it describes; 

 the exJ:ent and minuteness of the learned author? s antiquarian 

 resources are only equalled by his practical knowledge of 

 the detaiis of modern usage, and the result is such as may 

 be expected from such a combination." It contains. a very 

 large list of works on falconry in languages of all the 

 principal countries of the Old World. Other modern books 

 g^j.Q " Practip p, "! Ff^lconrv " by the Rev. G. Freeman; an excellent 

 little book, " Falconry f Its Claims, History, and Practice ", 

 by Freeman and Salvin; " Observations on Hawking " by Sir V. 



