[544] This author, Blondus or Biondo, describing an Italian village,
says, “I shall embrace this opportunity of mentioning a new
circumstance, which is, that fowling with that rapacious bird the
falcon, a diversion much followed at Arno, by the celebrated Alphonsus
king of Arragon, was entirely unknown about two hundred years ago; for
though Servius, the grammarian, says that Capua received that name from
the augury of a falcon, because the Hetruscans, when founding it, saw
one of these birds, which in their language was called _capis_; yet he
does not tell us of what use they were to mankind. Besides, Pliny, who
gives the names of many rapacious birds of the hawk kind (‘accipitres
scilicet majores et minores achilvones, quos aliqui falcones fuisse
volunt’), says nothing of their being employed to catch game; and,
without doubt, had fowling in this manner been practised in the time of
Virgil, he would have made Æneas and Dido carry such birds along with
them when they went out a hunting, whereas he says only,
‘Massylique ruunt equites et odora canum vis.’
I will venture therefore to affirm, that two hundred years ago, as I
have already said, no nation or people were accustomed to catch either
land- or water-fowls with any rapacious bird tamed for that purpose.” I
shall here observe, that Biondo must have had a faulty copy of Pliny;
for the word _achilvones_ is not to be found in that author, who,
nevertheless, mentions the practice of fowling with birds of prey.
[545] Valla, the most learned man of the century in which he lived,
contradicts Antonius Renaudensis, who says, _Nola_ is a hawk’s bell.
“If _Nola_,” says Valla, “be an old word, it cannot signify that bell
now worn by hawks, because the ancients never tamed these birds for
catching game, as we do, nor ornamented them with bells. If it be a new
word, let him produce the author from whom it is taken.”--Laurentii
Vallæ Opera. Basiliæ, 1543, fol. p. 433.
[546] In the preface to Scriptores Rei Accipitrariæ.
[547] Gyraldi Dialogismi, in Op. Lugd. 1696, fol. ii. p. 870.
[548] Those who are desirous of being acquainted with the art of
falconry, may consult Pluche, Spectacle de la Nature, vol. i., or the
article Fauconnerie, in the French Encyclopédie.
[549] See Herodotus.
[550] “In that part of Thrace, called formerly Cedropolis, the men go
out into the marshes in quest of birds, accompanied by falcons. The men
beat the trees and bushes with poles, and put the birds to flight; the
hawks fly after them, by which means they are so frightened that they
fall to the ground, where the men strike them with their poles and kill
them.”--Histor. Animal. lib. ix. c. 6.
[551] The Grecian authors above-quoted call the rapacious birds used
for pursuing game ἱέρακες; and Pliny calls them _accipitres_. It
would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to distinguish with sufficient
accuracy all the species of these birds to which the ancients gave
different names. This genus is numerous, and the species often differ
so little from each other, that it is not easy to establish their
characterizing marks. Besides, they for the most part change their
colour, and often their whole appearance, according to their age or the
season of the year; so that these characters become very uncertain. It
appears that on this account the ancients often divided one species
into two or more, and imagined that many species passed one into the
other, or that new species were produced by the mixture of different
breeds. It seems however certain that the ancients divided those
birds of prey which fly abroad in the day-time, into three species:
ἀετὸς aquila; γὺπς vultur; and ἱέραξ accipiter. The first and last
belong to that genus which Linnæus calls _falco_, and are the large
species of it. The vultures are the Ger-falcons, which are sufficiently
distinguished by their bald head and neck.
[552] “Respecting Thrace which is situated above Amphipolis, a
wonderful thing is related, which might appear incredible to those who
had never heard it before. It is said that boys go out into the fields,
and pursue birds by the assistance of hawks. When they have found a
place convenient for their purpose, they call the hawks by their names,
which immediately appear as soon as they hear their voices, and chase
the birds into the bushes, where the boys knock them down with sticks
and seize them. What is still more wonderful, when these hawks lay hold
of any birds, they throw them to the fowlers; but the boys, in return,
give them some share of the prey.”--De Mirabilibus Auscultat. cap. 128.
[553] Antigoni Carystii Historiæ Mirabiles, cap. 34.
[554] “Hawks, which are no less fit for fowling than eagles, and
which are not inferior to them in size, are of all birds reckoned to
be the tamest and the fondest of man. I have heard that in Thrace
they accompany people when they go out in quest of birds in the fens.
The fowlers, having spread their nets, remain quiet, while the hawks
flying about terrify the birds, and drive them into them. When the
Thracians catch any birds, they divide them with the hawks, by which
means they render them faithful partners in fowling; if they did
not give them a share of the booty, they would be deprived of their
assistance.”--Histor. Anim. lib. ii. cap. 42.
[555] Lib. x. c. 8. In a part of Thrace above Amphipolis, men and hawks
go out a-fowling, as it were in company. The former drive the birds
from among the bushes and reeds, and the latter flying after them
strike them down. The fowlers divide with them their prey.
[556] Phile De Animal. Proprietate, p. 36. Gesner, in his Hist. Anim.
lib. iii., has collected all the information to be found respecting
that species of hawk or falcon called κίρκος, circus.
[557] “The Indians hunt hares and foxes in the following manner. They
do not employ dogs, but eagles, crows, and, above all, kites, which
they catch when young, and train for that purpose. They let loose a
tame hare or fox, with a piece of flesh fastened to it, and suffer
these birds to fly after it, in order to seize the flesh, which they
are fond of, and which, on their return, they receive as the reward of
their labour. When thus instructed to pursue their prey, they are sent
after wild foxes and hares in the mountains; these they follow in hopes
of obtaining their usual food, and soon catch them and bring them back
to their masters, as we are informed by Ctesias. Instead of the flesh,
however, which was fastened to the tame animals, they receive as food
the entrails of the wild ones which they have caught.”--Æliani Hist.
Animal. lib. iv. c. 26. Compare with this what Pluche says in Nature
Displayed, and the accounts given by Chardin and Gemelli Carreri.
[558] Martial. Epigr. lib. xiv. 216.
[559] Digest. lib. xliii. tit. 24, 22.
[560] “Those born when the planet Venus is in Aquarius will be much
given to hunting and fowling; in other things they will be slow,
indolent, inactive, and melancholy, and will apply to no laudable
pursuit. They will, however, be fond of breeding hawks, falcons,
eagles, and other birds of the like kind, and horses for hunting. They
will be also very ingenious in such exercises, and acquire by them
a comfortable subsistence.”--Lib. v. c. 7. This nativity displays a
knowledge of mankind; for one may without much difficulty find princes
and great men with whose lives it exactly corresponds, and who, to the
great misfortune of their subjects and tenants, have undoubtedly been
born under the sign Aquarius.
[561] Plin. lib. ix. Ælian. Hist. Anim. 1. ii. Oppiani Halieut. 1. v.
[562] Plin. lib. x. cap. 8. Aristot. Hist. an. 1. ix. c. 36. Ælian.
Hist. An. 1. vi. c. 65. Antigonus Caryst. cap. 33.
[563] Histoire Nat. de Languedoc, p. 568.
[564] In Obs. on Pomp. Mela. ii. 5.
[565] Istoria di Napoli, Ven. 1613, 4to, i. p. 88.
[566] Radevicus de Gestis Frid. I. lib. ii. cap. ultimo.
[567] See Grævii Thesaurus Antiq. et Hist. vol. vii. p. 12.
[568] As this work is extremely scarce, I shall here quote the
following passage from it:--“The hood had its origin among the Oriental
nations; for the eastern Arabs used it more than any other people
with whom we are acquainted, in taming falcons and birds of the same
species. When I crossed the sea, I had an opportunity of observing that
the Arabs used hoods in this art. Some of the kings of Arabia sent to
me the most expert falconers, with various kinds of falcons; and I
did not fail, after I had resolved to collect into a book every thing
respecting falconry, to invite from Arabia and every other country
such as were most skilful in it; and I received from them the best
information they were able to give. Because the use of the hood was one
of the most effectual methods they knew for taming hawks, and as I saw
the great benefit of it, I employed a hood in training these birds; and
it has been so much approved in Europe, that it is proper it should be
handed down to posterity.”
[569] Sainte-Palaye, Mémoires sur l’Ancienne Chevalerie, tom. iii. p.
183. In this work may be found many anecdotes respecting the taste of
the French ladies for the sports of the field in the ages of chivalry.
[570] Rei Accipitrariæ Scriptores. Lutet. 1612, 4to.
[571] Among the works of Sir Thomas Brown, there is one on Hawks and
Falconry, Ancient and Modern, which, however, consists chiefly of old
medical prescriptions.
[572] Remarques d’un Voyageur Moderne au Lévant. Amst. 1773, 8vo.