Besides the peregrine falcon, the merlin is trained for F., and is extremely hold. This bird, however, is flown at small game, chiefly larks. The goshawk, though it does not soar and stoop, flies direct at its game: it is used chiefly for pheasants, rabbits, hares, etc., in an inclosed country. The sparrow•hawk, from its extreme bold. ness, is a great favorite, but is flown at smaller kinds of birds only, such as black birds and thrushes, etc. The hobby is seldom or never used.
The following are the principal terms used in falconry. A falcon's legs, from the thigh to the foot, are termed arms; toes, petty singles; claws, pounces; wings, sails; tail, train; crop, gorge; lower stomach, pannel; feathers, hair, etc., ejected at the mouth, the castings. A young hawk from the nest is an eyess or eyas; one that can hop, but not fly well, a brancher; a nestling hawk reared at liberty, is a a young hawk able to take game, a a mature wild hawk is a haggard or blue hawk; young hawks taken in their migrations, are or red term red being applied merely as a title of distinction between the young hawk and the eyess or nest ling, the colors of the two being in reality the same. The training of the passage-hawk and haggard is termed reclaiming; fluttering, is baiting; fighting with each other, crab• bing; sleeping, looking. The prey is termed the quarry. When the hawk strikes her quarry in the air and clings to it, she binds; when she flies off with it, she carries; when she plucks it, she deplumes. Dead game is the pelt. Stooping or swooping is the act of descending with closed wings from a height at prey. Direct flight, without soaring, is raking off; changing from one bird to another, checking. When games flies into a cover, it puts in. When the hawk is molting her feathers, she is mewing; after her first molt, she is intermewed; with complete plumage, summed; when in good condition, she is enseamed; when out of condition, .seamed. rillendinF the feathers, artificially (an opera tion frequently performed when one has been accidentally broken) is termed imping ; blunting bill and talons, coping. When the falcon is obediently flying round in the air,
she waits on her master; flying long-winged hawks from the wrist, is termed flying out of the hood; a couple of hawks is a cast. The cadge is a frame of wood, with four legs. It is carried by means of straps, which pass over the bearers' (the cadgers') should ers, and is used, when there are several casts of hawks, to be taken to the field. The Mock is a round piece of wood, such as would be made by sawing a foot of wood out of a felled larch-tree of some 20 years' growth; and upon this the hawk sits when out of doors. Through the bottom of the block runs an iron spike, which being driven into the ground, secures the block to its place, and so prevents the hawk from dragging it away. Falcons are very pugnacious, and if not carefully kept separate, would soon kill each other. The screen or perch is a perch guarded by a falling piece of canvas, to sup port the hawks in case of their leaping down; upon this, the hawks arc placed at night in an apartment called the mews.
The best works ou the subject are those of Turberville and Latham respectively, as old treatises; and that of sir John Sebright, as comparatively modern. Of the more recent treatises, Falconry in the British Isles, by Salvin and Broderick; and Falconry, its Claims and Practice, by Freeman and Salvin, are standard authorities. Sce also Stone hen•e's British Rural Sports (Loud., Warne & Co.) The village of Falconswaerd, near Bois-le-Duc, in Holland, has for many years furnished falconers to almost all Europe. Sir John Sebright says: "I have known many falconers in England, and in the service of different princes on the continent, but I never met with one of them who was not a native of Falconswaerd." FALEllt, one of the mast important tributaries of the Senegal (q.v.), into which it falls in lat. about 40' n., and long. 11° 48' west. Its course has not yet been fully explored.