:12 FALCONRY. Class II. 



did. Such was the enviable state of the times 

 of old England : during the whole day our gentry 

 were given to the fowls of the air, and the beasts 

 of the field; in the evening they celebrated their 

 exploits with the most abandoned and brutish 

 sottishness ; at the same time the inferior rank 

 of people, by the most unjust and arbitrary laws, 

 was liable to capital punishment, to fines, and 

 loss of liberty, for destroying the most noxious 

 of the feathered tribe. 



According to Olcarius, the diversion of fal- 

 conry is more followed by the Tartars and Per- 

 sians^ than ever it was in any part of Europe. 

 II riy avoit point de hutte qui iteust son aigle ou 

 sonjaucon* 



Our ancestors made use of several kinds of 

 native hawks ; though that penetrating and faith- 

 ful naturalist Mr. Ray, has left us only the bare 

 name of a falcon in his list of the English birds, 

 without mentioning the species. The falcons 

 or hawks that were in use in these kingdoms, 

 are now found to breed in JVales, and in North 

 Britain, and its isles. The peregrine falcon 

 inhabits the rocks of Caernarvonshire, Holy- 

 head mountain, and Pri&stholme island in An- 

 glesey. The same species, with the gyrfalcon, 



* Tom. i. 217- 328. 



