HAWK. 397 
without throwing it into violent agitations, and oc- 
casioning repeated screams. 
Mankind have discovered the secret of making 
even the voracious quality of birds advantageous, by 
employing them to hunt down those whose flesh 
affords the most exquisite relish. For this sport, 
the falcon, the gerfalcon, the lanner, the sacre, the 
merlin, the sparrow-hawk, and the goshawk were 
much esteemed. But the falcon and the hawk 
were more frequently used than any of the rest. 
The falcon was in such high repute, that the species 
which inhabits Iceland was reserved exclusively for 
the king of Denmark, who sent his falconer with 
two attendants annually, to purchase them of the 
inhabitants ; a certain number of whom were li- 
censed to catch them. These people came every 
year about midsummer, to a place appointed to 
meet the royal falconer, and each brought ten or 
twelve, capped, and perched on a cross pole, which 
they carried on horseback, resting the end on the 
stirrup. The falconer examined each bird, and for 
those which he approved he gave the seller a writ- 
ten certificate, which entitled him to receive from 
the king’s receiver-general seventeen rix dollars for 
the purest white falcon, ten for the least white, and 
seven for the brown species. It is said that this 
traffic alone brought to the island between two and 
three thousand rix dollars annually. 
Mr. Pennant has collected from Horrebow the 
manner in which they are taken. Two posts are 
fastened in the ground, not remote from their haunts. 
