Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/76

 68 FALCON of deeper hue on the other parts; the color below is more yellowish, and the vent feathers are reddish. This falcon, which is also called the great-footed and the duck hawk, according to Audubon, was formerly rare in the United States, which it now can hardly be said to be. It flies with astonishing rapidity, turning in its course in the most surprising manner. A fa- vorite prey is the duck, which it seizes on the wing, on the surface of the water, or on land ; when within a few feet of its victim, it stretches out the legs and claws and drops upon the trembling bird almost perpendicularly ; if the victim is light, it flies off with it immediately to some quiet place ; if too heavy, it kills and devours it in the nearest convenient place. It has been known to attack a mallarc 1 on the wing, and even to pounce upon a wound- ed teal within a few yards of the sportsman. Pigeons, blackbirds, water fowl, and beach birds, and even dead fish, are eaten by this falcon. Turning the bird it has caught belly upward, it clears off the feathers from the breast and tears the flesh to pieces with great avidity. This species is solitary, except during the pairing of the breeding season, which is in very early spring ; it is found in all parts of the United States and in Cuba, coming to the south in the winter months. The nest is made of coarse sticks, generally on the shelf of some precipitous rock ; Audubon is of opinion that they breed in the United States ; they are common on the shores of Hudson bay and arctic America in summer, according to Rich- ardson ; the eggs are rounded, reddish brown, with irregular markings of a darker tint. The peregrine falcon is distributed over temperate Europe, where the country is mountainous and the seacoast precipitous. When in full plu- mage and good condition, for its compact mus- cular form, great strength, boldness, and fero- city, it may be taken as the very type of a bird of prey ; it is among birds what the lion and tiger are among mammals ; fearless in attack, swift in pursuit, strong and fierce, it justly claims the first rank among the noble birds of prey. Before the invention of gunpowder, fal- cons were very frequently trained to pursue herons and various kinds of game, and falconry was a favorite sport of kings and nobles ; even now falcons are occasionally used for this purpose in Great Britain. Birds of prey have been trained to the chase from remote antiquity ; the custom is mentioned by early writers, but it was not till the time of Huber, in 1784, that the distinction between birds of high and low flight, which had long been understood in prac- tice, was shown to exist in the anatomical structure of the wings and talons. The fal- cons belong to the former division ; from their long and slender and entire wings, when they wish to rise in the air vertically they are obliged to fly against the wind, though ob- liquely they easily mount to great elevations, where they sport rapidly in all directions ; they carry the head straight ; their claws are long, supple, and sharp, and their grasp is firm ; they seize their prey at once if small and slow, but strike repeatedly with their talons to weaken and arrest the flight of heavier and swifter birds, and with great precision attack the vital part at the hollow of the back of the head or between the shoulders and ribs. These birds have been called rowers from their mode of flight. The ignoble birds of prey, as the gos- hawk and other hawks, are called sailers ; their wings are shorter and thicker, with their sur- face interrupted by the unequal lengths of the quills, and they fly to best advantage with the wind, sailing with the wings extended and motionless, allowing themselves to be carried along by the wind ; their talons being shorter, less powerful, and straighter than in the falcon, - they strike with less force and precision, and when they have seized a bird or a quadruped compress it to death or strangle it with their claws ; their beaks are not toothed, and they can seldom penetrate the skulls of the larger birds ; they prefer to hunt in thick woods, while the falcons pursue their prey high in the air. Falcons and hawks are best trained from the nest ; they have bells attached to their feet, jesses of soft leather to the tarsi, and hoods on the head which prevent them from seeing while they allow them to eat ; birds taken after they have left the nest, or which have been caught in snares, are the most difficult to train, and confinement hunger, fatigue, and purga- tives are employed to subdue them to a point necessary for lessons ; they are taught to leap upon the hand of their master to receive food, which is placed on a rude representation, of the bird or animal which they are to be taught to pursue ; from an effigy they are advanced to living animals, with more or less length of tether, until left at perfect liberty. The larger and older the bird, the more- difficult the train- ing, and the most ignoble are generally the most rebellious ; in the order of docility these birds are the merlin, the hobby, the common falcon, and the gerfalcon (all noble birds) ; and the ignoble hawks are the least docile, though the goshawk is said to be very easily trained. They are fed with beef and mutton, deprived of all fat and tendon, and scrupulously cleaned of all dirt ; they are taught to pursue other birds of prey, the heron, the crow, the pie, larks, quails, partridges, the hare, and other game. Descriptions of the lordly sport of fal- conry can be found in the romances of Walter Scott and other delineators of the days of chiv- alry. (See FALCONET.) The falcon is a very long-lived bird ; there is a tale that one which belonged to James I. in 1610, with a gold collar bearing that date, was found at the Cape of Good Hope in 1793, and, though more than 180 years old, was said to be possessed of con- siderable vigor ; but the natural term of life of this species must be much less. The falcon of Henry IV. of France flew from Fontainebleau to Malta, 1,000 miles, in a day ; and many sim- ilar instances of their speed are on record.