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F A L C O N R Y. 
Tj)S 
king’s requeft to the king of Norway, to let him have liis 
brother’s chattels; and Ralf Havoc fined to king Stephen 
in two gerfalcons or Norway hawks, that he might have 
the fame acquittance that Ills father had. 
The following paffage from Chardin’s Travels, feems 
to refer to the gerfalcon: “We mull not omit to men¬ 
tion a bird of prey which comes from Mufcovy, whence 
it is tranfported into Perfia, and which is almolt as large 
as'an eagle. Thefe birds are rare, and only the king is 
permitted to keep them. As it is cuftomary in Perfia to 
eftirnate all the prefents without exception that are made 
to th.e king, thefe birds are rated at one hundred tomans 
a-piece, which anfvvers to one thoufand five hundred 
crowns ; and, if any of them die on the road, the ambaf- 
fador brings the head and the wings to his majefty.’’ 
The Perftans train falcons alfo for the chace of ante¬ 
lopes ; which is done in rite following manner: They 
make the falcons confhmtly eat off the nofe of fluffed 
antelopes, and ftiffer them to feed nowhere elfe. After 
the birds have been thus bred, they cany them into the 
fields, and when they discover an antelope, they let loofe 
two of them, one of which fattens on the face of the 
beat!, and (trikes it before with the feet. The antelope 
flops fliort, and endeavours to fnake off the falcon, which 
claps its wings to keep its hold, and thus retards the 
flight of the antelope. When, after much ftruggling, the 
falcon is difengaged, another Succeeds, and thus the an¬ 
telope is continually haraffed and detained until the dogs 
have time to overtake him. Thefe fports are the move 
pleafant, as the country is flat and open, and little inter¬ 
rupted by wood. Thevenot. The way in which the Per- 
fians breed the falcons to the chafe of wild deer is, to ikin 
one and fluff it with, flravv, and to fallen the flelh with 
which they feed falcons always on the head of the (luffed 
animal, which is moved along on a four-wheeled vehicle 
in order to accuftom the bird. If the bead is large, they 
fly leveral birds at it, which teaze it one after another. 
They alfo ufe thefe birds in rivers and marfhes, into 
which they enter like dogs to hunt for the game. As all 
the military people are fportfmen, they ufually carry at 
the pommel of the faddle a fmall tyinbal of eight or nine 
inches in diameter, and by Itriking it they recal the bird. 
Chardin. Perfla has falcons, fparrow-hawks, and lanners, 
with which the royal venerv is provided, amounting to 
more than eight hundred. Some are flown at the wild 
boar and the wild afs ; others are intended again!! cranes, 
herons, geefe, and partridges,. A great part of thele 
birds of fport are brought from P-uflia ; but the larged 
and belt come from the mountains which ftretch towards 
the fouth from Schyras unto the Gulf of Perfia. The 
Perfians, who have much perfeverance, alfo take pleafure 
in training a crow in the lame way as the fparrow-hawk. 
Dumpier. 
The fport of hawking was alfo at an early period the 
principal amufement of the Englifh : a perfon of rank 
fcarcely ftirred out without his falcon on his hand ; 
which, in old paintings, is the criterion of nobility. Ha¬ 
rold, afterwards king of England, when he went on his molt 
important embaffy into Normandy, is painted embarking 
with a falcon on his fill, and a dog under his arm. In 
the reign of James 1 . fir Thomas Monfon is faid to have 
given one thou laud pounds for a cad of hawks: we can¬ 
not then wonder at the rigour of the laws, which tended 
to preferve a pleafure that was carried to fuch an extra¬ 
vagant pitch, hr the 34th of Edward II I. it was made 
felony to fteal a hawk ; to take its eggs, even in a period’s 
own ground, was punifhable with imprifonment for a year 
and a day, befides a fine at the king’s pleafure : in queen 
Elizabeth’s reign, the imprifonment was reduced to three 
months ; but the offender was to find fecurity for his good 
behaviour for fevtn years, or lie in prifon till he did. 
Falcons were alfo made the conditions-of the tenures by 
which fome of the nobility held their eftates from the 
crown. Thus fir John Stanley had a grant of the Ills ot 
Man from Henry IV. to be held of the king, his heirs, 
and fucceffcrs, by homage and the fervice of two falcons, 
payable on the day of his or ilieir coronation. A,nd Philip 
de Haftang held liis manor of Combertou "t in Cambridge, 
(hire, by the fervice of keeping the king’.'.' falcons. 
In none of the fports of the field have the fair fex par. 
taken fo much as in falconry. The ladies formerly kept 
hawks, in which they greatly delighted, and which were 
as much fondled by thofe who wifned to gain their favour 
as lap-dogs have been fince. What tended principally, 
however, to bring it into dilufe, was the invention of gun¬ 
powder. After that, falcons were difearded, and the 
whole enjoyment of fowling was confined to (hooting. 
Lefs fir ill and labour were indeed required in this new ex. 
ercife ; but the ladies abandoned the pleafores of the 
field, beenufe they da (approved of the life of fire-arms, 
which were attended bothWith alarm and danger. 
In falconry, the parts of th.e hawk arc diflinguiflred by 
the following technical, names : The legs, from the thigh 
to the foot, are called arms ; the toes, the petty frig'es ; 
the claws, the pounces. The wings are called the fa Is ^ 
the long feathers thereof, the beams-, the two longelt, the 
principal feathers ; thofe next thereto, the fags. The tail 
is called the train-, the bread-feathers, the mails ; thofe 
behind the thigh, the pendant feathers. When the feathers 
are not yet full grown, ihe is laid to be unfumvied ; when 
they are complete, Ihe is fummed. The craw, or crop, is 
called the gorge. The pipe next the fundament, where 
the faeces are drawn down, is called the panne/. The 
flinty fubftance lying in the pannel, is called the glut. 
Tlie upper and crooked part of the bill is called the beak ; 
the nether-part, the clap ; the yellow part between the 
beak and the eyes, the fear or cere-, the two fmall holes 
therein, the narcs. 
As to the furniture :—The leathers with bells but¬ 
toned on the legs, are called bewits. The leathern thong, 
whereby the falconer holds the hawk, is called the leafe 
or lea pi \ the little flraps, by which the leafe is fattened 
to the jeffes-, and a line or pack-thread fattened to 
the leafe, in training her, a creance. A cover for her 
head, to keep her in the dark, is called a hood ; a large 
wide hood, open behind, to be worn at firll, is called a 
rufter hood-, to draw the firings, that the hood may be in 
readinefs to be pulled off, is called unfriking the hood. The 
blinding a hawk juft taken, by running a thread through 
her eye-lids, and thus drawing them over the eyes, to 
prepare her for being hooded, is called feeling. A figure 
or refemblance of a fowl, made of leather and feathers, 
is called a lure. Herrefting-place, when off the falconer’s 
hand, is called the peafeh. The place where her meat is 
laid, is called the hack-, and that wherein fhe is fet while 
her feathers fall and come again, the mew. Alteratives 
given a hawk to cleanfe and purge her gorge, is called 
cafing. Small feathers given her to make her caft, are 
called plumage. Gravel given her to help to bring down 
her ftomach, is called rangle. Her throwing up filth 
from the gorge after calling, is called gleaming. The 
purging of her greafe, See. enfaming. Her being high 
fed, is called gurgiting. The inferting a feather in her 
wing, in lieu of a broken one, is called imping. The 
giving her a leg, wing, or pinion of a fowl to pull at, 
is called tiring. The neck of a bird the hawk preys on, 
is called the inhe. What the falcon leaves of her prey, 
is called the pill or pelf. 
There are alfo technical terms for Her feveral aflions.—• 
When fhe flutters with her wings, as if ftriving to get 
away, either from perch orfift, fhe is faid to bate. When 
(landing too near they fight with each other, it is called 
crabbing. When the young ones quiver, and (hake their 
wings in obedience to the elder, it is called cow ring. When 
flie wipes her beak after feeding, flie is faid to Jeah. 
When flie fteeps, (lie is faid to jouk. The time of her 
moulting is called her inlerttiewing. Treading is called 
cawkihg. When (he ftrefehes one of her wings after her 
legs, and then the orher, it is called mantling. Her dung 
is called muting ; when flie mutes a good way from her, 
