HAWKING-BIRDS. 
only been to be distanced by the hobby, who has made snre of 
its prize.” In olden times the hobby was trained for hawking ; 
not generally, however, after the usual mode, bnt for assisting 
the capture of larks and partridges by the net. The hobby 
was let loose among the birds, who were so amazed with 
fright, that the fowler with his net made them prisoners with 
the greatest ease. The sport was called daring. 
Mr. Hay kept several hobbies about his residence, giving 
them full liberty the whole summer, and allowing them to> 
range about the country as they pleased, but training them to- 
come to call every day at three o’clock to be fed. At this, 
time he would walk into an adjoining* field, and, by whistling,, 
or waving a glove in the air, although the birds were not 
visible before, they might be seen coming immediately towards 
him with great haste, alighting, one after another, upon his- 
arm, to take their meal; after which they would fly off. It 
was found necessary to confine them, however, when the- 
migratory season approached. 
THE MEELIH. 
This is the smallest of the British falcons,, measuring only 
about eleven or twelve inches in length. Like the hobby, it is. 
now rarely seen in this country, though, when “ bluff King 
Hal” ruled the land, it was as common as the goldfinch is 
now. Its neatness and courage recommended it to special 
notice, and it was voted the proper bird for a lady to hawk 
with. The insensibility of this tiny falcon to danger is curious. 
A gentleman, writing to Thompson, the naturalist, says, “ A 
merlin has taken up his residence in a small grove near my 
house during the past winter, and at any time after dusk I can 
be sure of finding him there, generally in or near the same tree. 
He is remarkably tame, and on being startled merely flies into 
a neighbouring tree ; even after firing two barrels at him he- 
pitched again in the same grove. I once took, as I believed, a 
most deadly aim at this bird in the dusk, and on going to the- 
base of the tree to pick him up, as a matter of certainty, was 
astonished to find that he had never left the spot at which he 
was fired at, but remained quietly perched there, about twelve- 
or fifteen feet above my head, apparently in the quiet enjoy- 
ment of his night’s repose. After some time he seemed to- 
awake from his slumbers, and, discovering my intrusion,, 
quickly decamped.” The same gentleman remarks, that a. 
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