Clafs II.] 
BIRDS. 65 
The F A L C O N. 
ALCONRY was the principal amufe- 
H ent of our anceRors : a perfon of pro¬ 
perty fcarce Birred out without his hawk 
on his hand, and all the inlignia of his diverfion 
about him : it was a (port appropriated to men of 
eRate; and moft fevere laws were ena&ed againft 
any that infringed their privileges; or Bole or 
deBroyed birds of chafe, or their eggs. In the 34 th 
of Edward III d , it was made felony to Beal a 
hawk : to take its eggs, even in a perfon’s own 
ground, was punifliable with imprifonment for a 
year and a day ; befides a fine at the king’s plea* 
lure : in queen Elizabeth's reign the imprifonment 
was reduced to three months $ but the offender 
was to find fecurity for his good behaviour for 
* 
feven years, or lie in prifon till he did. Such 
was the enviable Bate of the times In old England: 
during the whole day our gentry were given to 
the fowls of the air, and the beaBs of the field : 
in the evening they celebrated their exploits with 
the moR abandoned and brutal fottifhnefs : at the 
Our anceRors made ufe of feveral kinds of na¬ 
tive hawks j but we are very doubtful whether 
their fpecies Bill exiR in thefe iflands. That pe¬ 
netrating and faithful naturaliR Mr. Ray, has left 
us only the bare name of a falcon in his lift of the 
Englijh birds, without mentioning the fpecies: 
our own enquiries have not been attended with 
any great fuccefs ; our difcoveries only amount¬ 
ing to one kind, to be defcribed hereafter; but 
even that does not feem to have been noted among 
the Britiflo birds by any of our countrymen. The 
Falcon, Gofhawk, Lanner, Sacre, Falcon gentle, 
and the Gyrfalcon J are mentioned as natives, 
both in our old game laws, and by feveral of our 
naturaliRs. Camden * alfo conjectures the fpe¬ 
cies of which Henry the II d was fo fondf; and 
which was found in Penbrokejloire to have been 
the peregrine Falcon ; but as we do not find their 
names in Mr. Ray's lift, which is our authority 
for things not feen by ourfelves, we fhall forbear 
troubling the reader with uncertain accounts. 
fame time the inferior rank of people, by the moB 
unjuR and arbitrary laws, were liable to capital 
punifhments, to fines, and lofs of liberty, for de- 
Broying the moB noxious of the feathered tribe. 
t Bum’s JuJlice. Carew's hiji. Cornwall , 25. Sib. hijl. Scot. 14. 
Me r refs pinax 170. T 
* P- 7 id -—f Ciraid. Cambrenjis 156.— Scotland, the Weflern IJles, the 
Orkneys , and the IJle of Man , have been much celebrated for their fine 
breed of Hawks; and that Llandudno in Caernarvonflrire, was famous for 
its Falcons, is evident from a Letter extant in Gloddaitb Library, from 
the Lord Treafurer Burleigh, to an anceftor of Sir Roger Mojlyn ; in 
which his Lordfhip thanks him for his Prefent of a fine caft of Hawks 
taken on thofe Rocks, which belong to that Family. 
SPECIES V. The Grey Falcon. 
An Falco. Lin. Faun, fuec. Sp. 60 ? 
T H I S kind was Biot near Halifax 1762, 
and the following account tranfmitted 
to the fociety by Mr. Bolton of IVorly 
dough. This bird was about the fize of a raven : 
the bill was Brong, Riort, much hooked, and of a 
bluifh color : the cere, and edges of the eye-lids 
yellow : the irides red : the head was fmall, flatted 
at the top - 7 the fore part of a deep brown 5 the 
hind part white : the fides of the head and throat 
were cream colored : the belly white, marked with 
oblong black fpots : the hind part of the neck, 
and the back, were of a deep grey : the wings 
were very long, and when clofe reached beyond 
the train : the firR of the quil feathers were black, 
v ith a white tip } the others were of a bluifh grey, 
and their inner webs irregularly fpotted with 
white : the tail was long, and wedge fliaped 5 the 
two middle feathers being the longeR, and were 
plain, (the color not mentioned) the reR fpotted : 
TThe le & s were long, naked and yellow. 
SPECIES 
