24 
POPULAU HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
the falconer and party^ and from this height^ when the game 
is started, it makes its swoop on the quarry with half closed 
wing. In its wild state^ it destroys partridges, quails, and 
paroquets^. Dr. Layard, in his second work on Assyria 
(c. 21), has given a highly interesting account of hawking, 
as pursued in the East. The Persians and Kurds are the 
great trainers of the Charh and Shahee}i falcons. 
One species of the diurnal birds of prey has been turned 
to account by man, to get rid of noxious reptiles. This is 
the Secretary-bird of South Africa {Gypogeranus serpenfa- 
rim), 2L long-legged bird, with feathers on its head, directed 
backwards, somewhat as pens behind clerks^ ears used to 
look, in days when quills were employed. This bird is said 
not to molest poultry. 
Among the European EalconidtE there is one genus pre- 
eminently qualified, by its long wings and tail, for rapid 
flight, sudden turning, or calm soaring. This genus {Mil- 
vus) contains the Kite [Milvus regalis), called in Scotland 
and the north of England the Glead, which was its Saxon 
name, derived from the verb glidan, to glide, in allusion 
to the sailing motion of the bird. 
The species of two other genera {Mams, Nauclerns) 
* Jer doD, Illustrations of Indian Ornithology, pi. xii. 
