The Peregrine Falcon is found among the cliffs of Normandy.
There are other species of Falcons smaller than the preceding. They are only distinguished from them by their size; their habits are identical, except that they prey on smaller birds, such as Quails, Larks, Swallows, and sometimes insects. These species are: the Hobby ([Fig. 287]), which is found all over Europe, and also in Africa—it is about a foot in height; the Merlin ([Fig. 288]), which is not much larger than a Thrush, and in summer inhabits the North, and in winter the South, of Europe; the Kestrel ([Fig. 289]), which owes its name to its sharp cry—it is thirteen inches in height, and is common in the centre of Europe; lastly, the Bengal Falcon (Terax cærulescens), which is a native of India and Java—this is the smallest of all birds of prey. Several other varieties of Falcon, which do not present any remarkable peculiarity, are met with both in Africa and America.
Fig. 289.—Kestrel (Tinnunculus alaudarius).
The name of Falcon is still associated with the sport of hawking or falconry, of which we are about to speak.
Falconry, the art of training or flying hawks to take other birds, was formerly held in high esteem in the various countries of Europe. In consequence of the invention of fire-arms, after having been for centuries the delight of kings and nobles, it fell into disuse. The Arabs and other Asiatic nations adhere to it to the present day. This sport may be traced back to a very remote period, for Aristotle, and subsequently Pliny, make mention of it. Falconry was introduced into Europe about the fourth century of our era, and was at its greatest repute in the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance. All the nobility, from the monarch to the lowest courtier, were passionately fond of hawking—the name specially applied to it. Sovereigns and noblemen expended princely sums upon it. The gift of a few fine Falcons was considered a magnificent present. The kings of France solemnly received twelve Falcons every year, which were given to them by the grand-master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. They were intrusted on their voyage to a French knight of the order, to whom the monarch accorded, under the name of a present, a sum of £3,000, and the expenses of his journey.
Gentlemen, and even ladies, of the Middle Ages, seldom appeared in public without a Falcon on their wrists; and this example was followed by bishops and abbots—they entered the churches supporting their favourite birds, depositing them on the steps of the altar during mass. Noblemen on public ceremonies proudly held their Falcons in one hand and the hilt of their sword in the other.
Louis XIII. was devoted to falconry. Daily he went hawking before going to church; and his favourite, Albert de Luynes, owed his fortune to his great skill in this science. Charles d'Arcussia of Capri, Lord of Esparron, published, in 1615, a "Treatise on Falconry," in which it is stated that the Baron de la Chastaigneraie, chief falconer of France under Louis XIII., purchased his office at a cost of fifty thousand crowns. He had the direction of one hundred and forty birds, which required the assistance of a staff of one hundred men for their care.
This kind of sport has almost totally disappeared; a revival of it in England and Germany has taken place, but only with moderate success. For this purpose a society, called the "Hawking Club," meets together every year in a dependency of the royal castle of Loo, under the presidency of the King of the Netherlands, to fly the Heron. They take from one to two hundred of these birds in the space of two months; but this is only a feeble resuscitation of an institution which has now practically passed away.
Falcons were formerly divided into birds of the noble and inferior grades. The former comprehended the Gyrfalcon, the Falcon, the Hobby, the Merlin, and the Kestrel; the latter, the Goshawk and Sparrow-hawk. The name of Goshawk training has been given to the art whose special end was the education of these last two birds. As the mode of education varies little for all these birds, which only differ in docility, we shall merely consider one species, that of the Falcon, which will serve as a type for all the others.