146 
THE HAWK TRIBE. 
racing, or any of the field-sports of modern times. 
Of the value and importance attached to birds of the 
light breed, (for all Hawks were far from being 
equally good,) we may form some idea from the 
attention paid by the king of Denmark, in procuring 
and preserving certain Falcons which were in the 
highest estimation, from his island of Iceland, and 
were then, and still are known by the name of the 
Iceland Falcon ( Falco Icelandicus , Falco Gyrfalco .) 
Next to the Eagle, it was reputed the most formi- 
dable and active, as well as most prompt and intrepid 
of our birds of prey. 
In the winter, whole flights of these birds come 
over from Greenland and the Arctic regions, where 
they probably breed and pass the summer, as Cap- 
tain Sir Edward Parry saw them frequently in his 
last voyage. These Icelandic Falcons were always 
considered the best for sport, lasting ten or twelve 
years; whereas, those from Norway not above two 
or three years : they are also superior in size, and 
gifted with extraordinary qualities. So much were 
they, indeed, prized, that an ancient Danish law in- 
flicted the punishment of death on any person found 
guilty of destroying them; and those engaged in 
taking them were hound under heavy penalties to 
deliver them to no other person whatever hut the 
king’s own falconer; and even so late as 1758, the 
spirit of the law was not much changed, judging 
from the following account of a writer on Icelandic 
history. He tells us that the king of Denmark 
sends every year a falconer with two attendants. 
On landing, they repair to a house called the king’s 
falcon-house, for the purpose of receiving the birds 
