Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 8, ELE-FOR

F A jL [ 40c ] F A L
Falconry, chafing game with birds trained for that purpofe ; but
-Y——' he contends that they employed fome fpecies of the
moft rapacious of the winged tribe in hunting and fowl¬
ing. In the days of Ctefias, the Indians hunted hares
and foxes by means of rapacious birds j and Ariftotle
fays exprefsly, “ In Thrace, the men go out to catch
birds with hawks. They beat the reeds and bulhes
which grow in marfliy places, in order to raife the fmall
birds, which the hawks purfue and drive to the ground,
where the fowlers kill them with poles.” /
Refpefting Thrace, which is fituated above Amphi-
polis, a wonderful circumftance is related, which to
many may appear almoft incredible. We are informed
that boys went into the fields, and purfued birds by the
afiiftance of hawks. When they found a convenient
place for their purpofe, they called their hawks by their
particular names, which came immediately on hearing
their voices, and purfued the birds into the bufhes, where
the boys killed them with flicks, and thus made them
their prey. When the hawks themfelves laid hold of
any birds, they threw them to the fowlers, and recei¬
ved, for their fidelity, a {hare of the game. If we add
the fpaniel, now employed to find out the game, the
hood placed upon the head of the hawk, and the thong
for holding it, we may clearly perceive in thefe ancient
accounts the pra&ice of modern times. Falconers ftill
give a portion of the game to the hawk, as was the
ufual practice of the boys at Thrace.
According to the teftimony of Philo, Pliny, /Elian,
and others, the birds were fometimes driven into nets
by the hawks employed in thefe fports. From India
and Thrace, therefore, it feems manifefl, that the
Greeks obtained their firft information as to the method
of fowling with birds of prey ; but they themfelves do
not appear to have adopted the pra&ice at a very early
period. In Italy, however, it muft have been extremely
well underftoad, fince it is mentioned by Martial and
Apuleius as a thing everywhere known. After be¬
ing once known, it was never totally foH>otten ; but it
(hared the fate of other inventions in this rcfpeft, that
it was originally admired, and afterwards much neglect¬
ed, by which means it received no material improve¬
ments for a confiderable time •, yet it was at length
brought to the utmoft perfection. We find mention
made of this fport in the Roman laws, and in many
authors of the fourth and fubfequent century. In the
time of Conftantine the Great, Julius Firmicus Mater-
nus aflures us, according to the fuperftitious notions of
that period, that fuch as are born under certain figns,
will become great fportfmen, and keep hounds and fal¬
cons. Sidonius, who flouriflied about the end of the
fifth century, praifes Herdicius, the brother of his wife,
becaufe he was the firft in his territories who praCtifed
hunting and fowling with dogs and hawks.
Falconry appears to have been carried to the greateft
perfedion, and to have been much efteemed at the chief
courts of Europe, fo early as the I2th century, for
which reafon fome have afcribed the invention to the
emperor Frederic I. whereas he appears to have been
only the firft who introduced the pra&ice into Italy,
according to the teftimony of Rodericus and Collenuc-
oio ; and Frederic II. wrote a book entitled, De arte
venandi cum avibus, to which the praClice has been
much indebted. Falconry has had a number of admi¬
rers among the fair fex, perhaps in a fuperior degree to
any other fport or amufement whatever of a fimilar na- Falconry,
ture ; but their attachment was deftroyed by the inven- ^——7-—*
tion of gunpowder, which was accompanied both with
alarm and danger. We conclude our remarks on the
hiftory of falconry with an obfervation of Demetrius,
who flourifhed in the 13th century, and who exprefsly
wrote at large on this fubjeft. He defires fportfmen
to fay their prayers (Tev S-sev swoca/ss-avrsj) before they
go out to the field, which appears wholly incompatible
with the pradlice of modern times, and feems as impi¬
ous as to crave afliftance of God when preparing for a
piratical expedition.
Falconry, the art of training all manner of hawks,
but more efpecially the larger ones called falcons, to the
exercife of hawking. See Hawking.
When a falcon is taken, (he muft be feeled in fuch
a manner, that, as the feeling flackens, (he may fee what
provifion lies before her j but care ought to be taken,
not to feel her too hard. A falcon or hawk newly ta¬
ken ftiould have all new furniture, as new jefles of good
leather, mailled leafties with buttons at the end, and
new bewets. There ftiould alfo be provided a fmall
round flick, to ftroke the hawk 5 becaufe, the oftener
this is done, the fooner and better will (he be manned.
She muft alfo have two good bells, that (he may be
found when (he fcattereth. Her hood ftiould be well
fathioned, raifed, and embofled againft her eyes, deep,
and yet ftrait enough beneath, that it may fallen about
her head without hurting her; and her beak and talons
muft be a little coped, but not fo near as to make them
bleed.
If it be a foar-falcon, which had already paffed the
feas, (he will indeed be harder to reclaim, but will prove
the beft of falcons. Her food muft be good and warm,
and given her twice or thrice a-day till fhe be full gor¬
ged : the bed for this purpofe is pigeons, larks, or other
live birds 5 becaufe flie muft be broken off by degrees
from her accuftomed feeding. When fhe is fed, you
muft hoop and lure, as you do when you call a hawk,
that (lie may know when you intend to give her meat.
On this occafion fhe muft be unhooded gently 5 and
after giving her two or three bits, her hood muft be
put on again, when (he is to get two or three bits more.
Care muft be taken that fhe be clofe feeled j and after
three or four days, her diet may be lefftned : the falco¬
ner fetting her every night to perch by him, that he
may awaken her often in the night. In this manner
he muft proceed, till he find her to grow tame and
gentle j and when fhe begins to feed eagerly, he may
give her a fheep’s heart. Fie may now begin to unhood
her in the day time ; but it muft be far from company,
firft giving her a bit or turn, then hooding her gently,
and giving her as much more. When (lie is (harp fet,
he may now unhood her, and give her fome meat juft
againft his face and eyes, which will make her lefs a-
fraid of the countenance of others. She muft be borne
continually on the fift, till fhe is properly-manned, cau-
fing her to feed in company, giving her in the morning,
about funrife, the wing of a pullet 5 and in the evening,
the foot of a hare or coney, cut off above the joint,
flayed and laid in water, which being fqueezed, is to
be given her with the pinion of a hen’s wing. For two
or three days give her rvafhed meat, and then plumage in
more or lefs quantity as flic is thought to be more or
lefs foul within. After this, being hooded again, fhe