Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/112

92 hawk. The birds were chosen, bred, and trained with the greatest care and skill; they had perches in the bedroom and hall of their owners, whom they accompanied everywhere—even to church. They were attached to the wrist by a leather or silk strap, called a jesse, which passed between the fingers of the owner's left hand.

Perhaps this account of an old Royal hawking expedition will serve to explain the sport: "The King rode in front, attended by his seneschal, marshal, constables, chamberlains, falconers and other household officers, to a neighbouring wood, where there was a noted eyrie of herons, and there in a marshy meadow by the woodside they could see in the distance several of the great birds of which they were in quest. The King was desirous of proving a magnificent Norway hawk of a snowy whiteness. As soon as the falconers with their dogs arrived, the noble falcon, already unhooded, was thrown off upon the track. Then, although the heron flew as stoutly as could have been wished, the falcon, cutting the air with her strong pinions, closed in upon him and overtopped him in ever narrowing circles, when, having gained her distance, she swooped upon him like a thunderbolt, and down