BIRDS. 169 
names, Its proper appellation among falconers is the 
Slight Falcon, the term Falcon Gentle being equally ap- 
plicable to all the species when rendered manageable. In 
the immature state, this Falcon is also called a Red Hawk, 
from the prevailing colour of its plumage. The male is 
called a Tiercel, to distinguish it from the female, which, 
in the Falcon tribe, is most commonly one-third larger 
than the male. 
In China there is said to be a variety, which is mottled 
with brown and yellow. These birds are said to be used 
by the emperor of China in his sporting excursions, when 
he is usually attended by his great falconer, and a thou- 
sand of inferior rank. Every bird has a silver plate 
fastened to its foot, with the name of the falconer who 
has the charge of it, that, in case it should be lost, it may 
be restored to the proper person ; but if it should not be 
found, the name is delivered to another officer, called the 
guardian of lost birds, who, to make his situation known, 
erects his standard in a conspicuous place among the 
army of hunters. 
In Syria, also, there is a variety of the Gentle Falcon, 
which the inhabitants call Shaheen, and which is of so 
fierce and courageous a disposition, that it will attack any 
bird, however large or powerful, which presents itself. 
" Were there not," says Dr. Russel, in his Account of 
Aleppo, "several gentlemen now in England to bear wit- 
ness to the fact, I should hardly venture to assert that, 
with this bird, which is about the size of a pigeon, the in- 
habitants sometimes take large eagles. This Hawk was 
in former times taught to seize the eagle under the pinion, 
and thus depriving him of the use of one wing, both 
birds fell to the ground together ; but the present mode is 
to teach the Hawk to fix on the back, between the wings, 
which has the same effect, only that the bird tumbling 
down more slowly, the falconer has more time to come to 
his Hawk's assistance ; but in either case, if he be not 
r 
