115 
in the year 760, when he wrote to Germany 
for a brace of Falcons, which would fly at 
Cranes and bring them to the ground, as there 
were very few such in Kent It seems high- 
ly probable that Falconry had its rise in Scy- 
thia, and passed from thence to the Northern 
parts of Europe. Tartary is even at present 
celebrated for its fine breed of Falcons, and 
the sport is in such general esteem, that, ac- 
cording to Olearius, there is no hut but what 
has its Ea<rie or Falcon. The boundless 
plains of that country are as finely adapted to 
the diversion, as the wooded or mountainous 
nature of most parts of Europe is ill-adapted 
for that rapid amusement." 
Falconry seems to have continued in high 
repute in this country till about the time of 
Oliver Cromwell, after which, it appears to 
have gradually declined. Though this di- 
version was pursued with such ardour by some, 
even so late as the reign of James the First, 
that Sir James Monson is said to have given 
a thousand pounds for a cast of Hawks, and 
the laws of that period were very rigorous 
that tended to preserve this pleasure. In the 
34th of Edward the Third it was made felony 
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