140 PEREGRINE FALCON. 



or a strong iron wire bent into a ring^ through 

 which he passes a string of thirty or forty fathoms 

 length, and at the extremity ties by its legs a 

 live pigeon, which he carries with him into his hut 

 or cover; and as the Falcon sometimes flies so high 

 as not to be seen, the Falconer is informed of his 

 motions by means of a Batcher-Bird, which is 

 fastened by a string tied to a stick fixed near the 

 net. This bird by its movements indicates the 

 kind of Hawk which is hovering above. If it be 

 a Buzzard or any kind of sluggish Hawk, the 

 Butcher-Bird*s motions are but slight ; but if it 

 suddenly flies down and hides itself!, it is a sign that 

 some large kind of Falcon is above. In con- 

 sequence of this, the Falconer lets out the pigeon, 

 whose apparent state of liberty attracts the sight 

 of the Falcon. If it approach readily, the man 

 withdraws the pigeon, and, a moment or two 

 afterwards, lets it out again. This second ap- 

 pearance of the pigeon never fails to incite the 

 Falcon, which darts upon it as his prey, and is in 

 consequence caught in the net, which the man 

 instantly draws over it. 



The above method of taking Falcons, and indeed 

 the art of Falconry in general, seems to have been 

 held in no very high estimation by Linnaeus, since, 

 by way of note to his specific Character of Falco 

 Gentilis, he adds " Ars' capiendi Falcones Columba 

 et Lamo, instituendi, mnandi GazellaSj Ardeas^ 

 Aviculas, ^c. propriis artrficibus commissa, in lux^ 

 tiriam magna turn, ridenda etiam a stulto.'^ 

 . A singularly elegant species of Falconry is said 



