22 
VERTEBRATA. 
The expense of the hawking establishment was sometimes enormous. Under Francis I. of 
France, the " flower of chivahy" — whose ambition it was to be the arbiter of elegance, the mirror 
of his age, first in every manly sport, courtly pastime, or gay adventure — incredible suras were 
devoted to this one amusement. His training establishments were in charge of a Grand Falconer^ 
whose salary was four thousand livres, and who had subordinate to him fifteen noblemen and fifty 
falconers, with the care of three hundred falcons. The yearly cost of the whole was fifty thou- 
sand livres. 
Hawking was introduced into England as far back as the tenth century, and appears to have 
flourished from the time of the Heptarchy to that of Charles II. Soon after the Norman con- 
quest it seems to have been at its height. At that time there was a nice adaptation of the dif- 
ferent kinds of falcons to the different ranks. Thus, one species of hawks was for kings, and 
could not be used by any person of inferior dignity ; another was for princes of the blood, and 
others for the dukes and great lords, and so on down to the knave or servant. In all there were 
fifteen grades. 
The great conquerors of Asia were even more magnificent in the expenses of falconry. The 
Emperor of China is attended, in his sporting progresses into Tartary, by his Grand Falconer, with 
one thousand subordinates, and every bird has a silver plate fastened to its foot with the name 
of the falconer who has charge of it, so that if lost it may be returned to the proper person ; but 
if he cannot be found it must be handed to a special ofiicer, called the Guardian of Lost Birds, 
who keeps it till it is demanded by the falconer to whom it belonged. The Grand Falconer, the 
more easily to be found among the army of hunters, erects a conspicuous standard. 
The American Peregrine Falcon, F. anatum, so closely resembles the European Peregrine 
Falcon that it was long considered to be identical with that species. It is generally known by 
the various names of Hen-HawJc, ChicTcen-Hawlc, Big-footed HawJc, and Duck-HatuTc, in this coun- 
try. It is brown above, with transverse bands of deeper tint ; the throat is white ; the breast 
white, tinged with rose-color, and marked with narrow black longitudinal lines ; the lower parts 
