FALCONRY. 
FAL'CONRY, f. \_favconnerie , Fr.] The art of train¬ 
ing and u(ing eagles, hawks, falcons, &c. to the chace or 
purfuit of game, both running and flying; a very ancient 
fport, known alfo by the fynonymous term of hawking. 
So early as the time of Ctefias, hares and foxes appear to 
have been hunted in India, by means of rapacious birds. 
In Thrace, alfo, according to Ariftotle, this diverflon 
was praftifed. “ The men go out (fays he) into marfhy 
places, to fpring the game ; the falcons come when called 
by their names; they are let fly, and bring to the fowlers, 
of their own accord, whatever they take in the purfuit.” 
Nothing feems wanting here but the fpaniel employed to 
find the game, the hood which is put upon the head of 
the falcon while it (lands on the hand, and the thong tifed 
for holding it, to form the art of falconry as now prac- 
tifed. Our falconers, when they have taken the bird 
from the hawk, give him, in return, a fmall fhare of it; 
and in like manner the Thracian hawks received fome 
part of their booty. ALlian, alfo, defcribes a manner of 
hunting with hawks in India, which, as we are told by 
feveral travellers, is (till praftifed in Perfia, and by other 
eaftern nations. “ The Indians (fays he) do not employ 
dogs, but eagles, crows, and above all, kites, which they 
catch when young, and train for that purpofe. In order 
to this, tiiey let loofe a tame hare or fox, with a piece of 
flefh faftened to it, and fuffer thefe birds to fly after it, in 
order to feize the flefli, which they are fond of, and which, 
on their return, they receive as the reward of their la¬ 
bour. When thus inftrudted to purfue their prey, they 
are fent after wild foxes and hares in the mountains ; 
thefe they follow in hopes of obtaining their ufual food, 
and foon catch them and bring them back to their matters. 
Inftead of the flefli, however, which was fattened to the 
tame animals, they receive as food the entrails of the 
wild ones which they have caught.” /Eliani Hifl. Animal. 
lib. iv. c. 26. 
It feems, therefore, that the Greeks received from In¬ 
dia and Thrace the firft information refpedting the method 
of fowling with birds of prey : but it does not appear 
that this practice was introduced among them at a very 
early period. In Italy, however, it mutt have been very 
common, for Martial and Apuleius (peak of it as a thing 
every where known. It cannot, indeed, be faid, that this 
art was ever forgotten ; but, like other inventions, it was 
at firtt much admired, and afterwards neglected, fo that 
it remained a long time without improvement ; but it is 
certain that it was at length brought to the utmoft degree 
of perfection. It was protected by the Roman laws, and 
is recorded by writers of the fourth and fifth centuries. 
That this diverfion, however, fell afterwards into difre- 
pute, is not much to be wondered at ; for hunting, and 
all the concomitant-arts, were at firft employed for ufe, 
and eafy means only of catching game were fought for. 
But when luxury was introduced into dates; and the 
number of thofe who lived by other people’s labour be¬ 
came increafed, thefe idlers began to employ that time 
which they had not learned to make a better ufe of, or 
which they were not compelled to apply to more valuable 
purpofes, in catching wild animals by every method that 
ingenuity could fugged, or in tormenting them by lin¬ 
gering deaths. Hunting and fowling, therefore, received 
many improvements by the afllftance of art ; and the 
clergy even indulged in thefe cruel fports, though for¬ 
bidden by the church. Such prohibitions were iOued by 
the council of Agda in the year 506; by that of Epaon 
in 517 ; by tiiat of Macon in 585, and perhaps oftener, 
but never with effect. 
The art of falconry feems to have been carried to the 
greateft perfeflion, and to have been much in vogue at 
the principal courts of Europe, iff the twelfth century. 
Some, on that account, have aferibed the invention of 
it to the emperor Frederic I. called Barbaroffa, who firtt 
brought falcons to Italy ; but Rainaldo, marquis of Efte, 
was the firft among the Italian princes who ufed this me¬ 
thod of. fowling ; and that the eameror Henry followed 
Vol. VII. Mol 419. 
197 
the example of his father, feems proved by the words of 
Collenuccio. The fervice rendered by Frederic II. to 
this art, is (hewn by the book which he wrote in Latin on 
it, intitled De Arte venandi cum Avibus, and which was 
printed for the firft time, at Augfburg, in 1596, from a 
manufeript belonging to Joachim Camerarius, a phyfician 
of Nuremberg. It gives an account of the ufe and man¬ 
ner of making hoods, called capellte , which we are told 
were invented by the Arabs. As this work is extremely 
fcarce, we (hall quote the following paflltge from it : 
“ The hood had its origin among the oriental nations ; 
for the eaftern Arabs ufed it more than any other people 
with whom we are acquainted, in taming falcons and 
birds of the fame fpecies. Some of the kings of Arabia 
fent to me the moft expert falconers, with various kinds 
of falcons ; and I did not fail, after I had refolved to 
collect into a book every thing refpedting falconry, to 
invite from Arabia and every other country, fuch as were 
moft (kilful in it; and I received from them the beft in¬ 
formation they were able to give. Becanfe the ufe of 
the hood was one of the moft effectual methods they 
knew for taming hawks, and as I faw the great benefit of 
it, I employed a hood in training thefe birds ; and it has 
been fo much approved in Europe, that it is proper it 
(hould be handed down to pofterity.” 
The gerfalcon is highly efteemed, and has been long 
preferred, by the kings of Denmark, who fend their fal¬ 
coner, with two attendants, annually into Iceland to pur- 
chafe them. They are caught by the natives ; a certain 
number of whom in every diftrifl are licenfed for that 
purpofe. They bring all they take, about midfummer, 
to Beflefted, to meet the royal falconer ; and each brings 
ten or twelve, capped, and perched on a crofs pole, which 
they carry on horfeback, retting on the ftirrup. The fal¬ 
coner examines the birds, rejects thofe which are not for 
his purpofe, and gives the feller a written certificate of 
the qualities of each, which intitles him to receive fe- 
venteen rix-dollars for the pureft white falcon, ten for 
thofe which are lead white, and feven for the interme¬ 
diate colour. They are taken in the following manner : 
Two pods are faftened in the ground, not remote from 
their haunts. To one is tied a ptarmigan, a pigeon, a 
ccck, or hen, faftened to a cord, that it may have means 
of fluttering, and fo attract the attention of the falcon. 
On the other pod is placed a net, diftended on a hoop, 
about (ix feet in diameter. Through this poll is intro¬ 
duced a firing, above one hundred yards long, which is 
faftened to the net, in order to pull it down ; and another 
is faftened to the upper part of the hoop, and goes 
through the poft to which the bait is tied. As foon as 
the falcon fees the fowl flutter on the ground, he takes a 
few circles in the air to fee if there is any danger, then 
darts on its prey with fuch violence as to ftrike off' the 
head as nicely as if it were done with a razor. He then 
ufually rifes again, and takes another circle to explore 
the place a lecond time; after which, it makes another 
(loop, when, at the inftant of its delcending, the man 
pulls the dead bird under the net, and, by means of the 
other cord, covers the falcon with the net at the moment 
it has feized the prey ; the perfon lying concealed behind 
fome ftones, or elfe flat on his belly, to elude the fight 
of the falcon. As foon as one is caught, it is taken gently 
out of the net, for fear of breaking any of the feathers 
of the wings or tail; and a cap is placed over its eyes. 
If any of the tail-feathers are injured, the falconers have 
the art of grafting others. The Iceland gerfalcons are 
in the higheft elteem. They will laft ten or twelve 
years ; whereas thofe of Norway, and other countries, 
feldoin are fit for fport after two or three years’, ufe. 
Yet the Norwegian hawks were in old times in great re¬ 
pute in this kingdom, and even thought bribes worthy of 
a king. Geoffry le Pierre, chief judiciary, gave two 
good Norway hawks to king John, that Walter le Madina 
might have leave to export one hundred weight of cheefe, 
John the fon of Qrdgar gave a Norway hawk to have the 
3 & king’s 
