inaccessible rocks, and lay four or five eggs each brood. They keep in small flocks, and feed on dead carcases, like the vulture tribe, which they resemble in general appearance; but they have their head and necks covered with feathers, and prey on living animals, as chamois, goats, and lambs.

22. F. gypætus harpyja, the harpy, the vulture harpyja of Linnæus, the yzquachtli, or crested eagle of Willoughby, has a crest of long feathers on the hind head: the back, neck, and crest are black; the under parts variegated with black, white, and tawny; under the maw the feathers are long and white, and, when irritated, hang down almost to the ground; the eyes have a nictitating membrane. This species inhabit the warm parts of America; are almost as large as a sheep, and are said to be able to cleave a man's skull with one stroke.

23. F. gypætus serpentarius, the secretary, or vultur serpentarius of Latham, is of a dark leaden color; has a crest on the hind head, which he can erect or depress at pleasure; the legs are remarkably long; the claws short, black, and hooked; the wing quills, vent feathers, and thighs are black; and the two mid tail quills much longer than the rest. It is about three feet high when erect; the space round the eyes is orange colored; the irides pale ash; the bill is black with a white cere, but wants the bristly beard, which is a characteristic of the subgenus of gypæti;-a circumstance, which, with the great length of its legs, induced Gmelin to rank this species as a distinct subgenus. These birds inhabit Africa, Asia, and the Philippines. They prey on quadrupeds of the order of glires, and on amphibious animals, but are easily tamed.

24. F. gyrfalco, the Iceland falcon, or brown gyrfalcon, has a strong bill, much hooked, the upper mandible sharply angulated on the lower edges, with a bluish cere: the head is of a very pale rust color, streaked downwards with dusky lines; the neck, breast, and belly, are white, marked with cordated spots; the thighs white, crossed with short bars of deep brown: the back and coverts of the wings are dusky, spotted, and edged with white: the exterior webs of the primaries dusky mottled with reddish white, the inner barred with white; the feathers of the tail are crossed with fourteen or more narrow bars of dusky and white; the dusky bars regularly opposing those of white: the wings, when closed, reach almost to the end of the train: the legs are strong and yellow. The length of the wing, from the pinion to the tip, is sixteen inches. This species is an inhabitant of Iceland, and is the most esteemed of any for the sport of falconry. They will last ten or twelve years; whereas those of Norway, and other countries, seldom are fit for sport after two or three years' use.

25. F. lanarius, the common lanner, has the cere yellow, sometimes bluish; the legs and bill blue; the breast white, tinged yellow, with brown spots; the wing quills and tail dusky, with oval rusty spots and has a white line over each eye. This species is about the size of the buzzard; inhabits Europe, the Uralian, Baraba, and Tartarian deserts; but is rarely found in Britain. It builds on low trees, and is migratory.

26. F. nisus, the sparrow-hawk, with green cere, yellow legs, a white belly undulated with gray, and the tail marked with blackish belts. This is the most pernicious hawk we have; and makes great havoc among pigeons and partridges. It builds in hollow trees, in old nests of crows, large ruins, and high rocks: it lays four white eggs, encircled near the blunt end with red specks.

It

27. F. palumbarius, the goshawk of Ray, with black cere edged with yellow; yellow legs, a brown body, the prime feathers of the tail marked with pale streaks, and the eyebrows white. was once in high esteem among falconers, being flown at cranes, geese, pheasants, and partridges. It breeds in Scotland, and builds its nest in trees. It is very destructive to game, and dashes through the woods with vast impetuosity; but if it cannot catch the object of its pursuit almost immediately, desists, and perches on a bough till some new game appears. This species is common in Muscovy and Siberia. They extend to the river Amur; and are used by the emperor of China in his sporting progresses, attended by his grand falconer, and 1000 of the subordinates. Every bird has a silver plate fastened to its foot, with the name of the falconer who has the charge of it; that in case it should be lost it might be brought to the proper person.

28. F. subbuteo, the hobby, was used like the kestrel in the humbler kind of falconry; particularly in what was called daring of larks: the hawk was cast off; the larks, aware of their most inveterate enemy, were fixed to the ground for fear; by which means they became a ready prey to the fowler, by drawing a net over them. The back of this bird is brown; the nape of the neck white; and the belly pale, with oblong brown spots. It is a bird of passage; but breeds in Britain, and migrates in October.

29. F. sufflator, the Surinam falcon, has yellowish cere and legs; the body is of a brownish white color: and the coverts of the eyes are bony. He has a fleshy lobe between the nostrils; which Rolander says, when angry or terrified, he inflates till his head becomes as big as his whole body.

30. F. tinnunculus, the kestrel, breeds in the hollows of trees, in the holes of high rocks, towers, and ruined buildings. It feeds on field mice, small birds, and insects; which it discovers at a great distance. This is the hawk that we so often see in the air fixed in one place; and, as it were, fanning it with its wings; at which time it is watching for its prey. When falconry was in use in Great Britain, this species was trained for catching small birds and young partridges. It is easily distinguished from all other hawks, by its colors. The crown of the head and the greater part of the tail are of a fine light gray; the back and coverts of the wing of a purplish ed, elegantly spotted with black: the whole under side of the bird of a pale rust-color spotted with black. The male weighs six ounces; the female eleven.

31. F. versicolor, the variegated falcon, or spotted falcon of Pennant, inhabits England; is about the size of the common buzzard; and has the bill black; the cere and legs yellow; the

bead and upper parts white, with light reddish brown spots; the wings dusky and barred with ash; the rump and under parts white; the breast being marked with a few rusty spots; and the tail quills barred with light and dark brown. FALCON, n. s. Fr. faucon; Lat. fulco; FALCONER, n. s. Ital. falconne; à rostro FALCONET. falcato sive adunco,' from the falcated or crooked bill, says Dr. Johnson. A hawk trained for sport; a kind of cannon: a falconer is one who breeds and trains hawks; one who follows the sport of fowling with hawks.

Mahomet sent janizaries and nimble footmen, with certain falconets and other small pieces, to take the streights.

Knolles.

Pope.

A falconer Henry is, when Emma hawks : With her of tarsels, and of lures he talks. Prior. [A falcon is] a sort of cannon, whose diameter at the bore is five inches and a quarter, weight seven hundred and fifty pounds; length seven feet; load two pounds and a quarter; shot two inches and a half diameter, and two pounds and a half weight. Harris.

Falconet is a sort of ordnance, whose diameter at the bore is four inches and a quarter, weight four hundred pounds, length six feet, load one pound and a quarter, shot something more than two inches diameter, and one pound and a quarter weight. Id. FALCON, in heraldry, is usually represented with bells tied on his legs: when decorated with hood, bells, virols (or rings), and leishes, then in blazon he is said to be hooded, belled, jessed and leished, and the colors. thereof must be named.

FALCONER. See FALCONRY. The French kings had a grand falconer, an office dismembered from that of grand veneur, as early as the year 1250. A falconer should be well acquainted with the quality and mettle of his hawks, that he may know which of them to fly early, and which late. Every night after flying he should give them casting; one while plumage, sometimes pellets of cotton, and at another time physic, as he finds necessary. He ought also every evening to make the place clean under the perch, that by her casting he may know whether she wants scouring upwards or downwards. He must water his hawk every evening, except on such days as she has bathed; after which, at night, she should be put into a warm room, having a candle burning by her, where she is to sit unhooded, if she be not ramage, that she may prick VOL. IX.

and prune herself. He should always cany proper medicines into the field, as hawks frequently meet with accidents there. He must take with him all his hawking implements; and should be skilful in making lures, hoods of all sorts, jesses, bewets, and other furniture. He ought to have his coping irons, to cope his hawk's beak when overgrown, and to cut her pounces and talons as there shall be occasion: nor should his cauterising irons be wanting

FALCONER (William), an ingenious Scotch sailor and poet, born in the county of Fife, of humble parentage. He was bred to the sea; and, though he possessed few of the advantages which result from education, he had good natural talents, which he cultivated with assiduity. In 1751 he published a poem on the death of the prince of Wales, which possesses considerable merit; but his reputation rests on The Shipwreck, a poem in three cantos, in which he beautifully describes the scenes he himself witnessed, being shipwrecked in a voyage from Alexandria to Venice, when only three of the crew were saved. The motto is taken from the second book of the Eneid:

Quæque ipse miserrima vidi,

Et quorum pars magna fui. The publication of the Shipwreck recommended him to the then duke of York; to whom he afterwards wrote an Ode, which obtained him the post of purser to the Royal George. He also published a very useful and laborious work, entitled The Marine Dictionary, in one vol. 4to., besides a poem against Wilkes and Churchill, under the title of The Demagogue. In 1770 he went out a volunteer in the Aurora frigate, sent to carry Messrs. Vansittart, Scraston, and Ford, the supervisors appointed to regulate our East India settlements; which vessel, after it had touched at the Cape of Good Hope, was never more heard of. Falconer is said to have been the author of the popular song-The Storm.

FALCONER (William), M. D., was born at Chester in 1743; and his father was for some time recorder of that city. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, and took his doctor's degree there in 1766; after which he established himself at Bath. He became physician of the general hospital of that city, and was elected a member of the Royal Society, to whose Transactions, as well as to those of the Manchester Philosophical Society, he was a frequent and valuable contributor. Dr. Falconer, after a long and useful life, died at Bath, August 30th 1824. His principal works are, 1. Dissertatio de Nephritide vera. 2. Essay on Bath Waters, 2. vols, 8vo. 3. Observations on Dr. Cadogan's Dissertation on the Gout, 8vo. 4. Observations and Experiments on the Poison of Copper, 8vo. 5. Essay on the Water commonly used at Bath, 8vo. Experiments and Observations, 3 parts, 8vo. 7. Observations on Diet and Regimen for Valetudinarians, 8vo. 8. Remarks on the Influence of Climate, 4to. 9. Account of the Epidemic Catarrhal Fever, called the Influenza, 8vo. 10. On the Influence of the Passions upon the Disorders of the Body, 8vo. 11. Essay on the Preservation of the Health of Persons employed in

D

6.

Agriculture, 8vo. 12. Practica. Dissertation on the Effects of Bath Waters, 8vo. 13. Tracts and Collections relating to Natural History, 4to. 14. Observations respecting the Pulse, 8vo. 15. Examination of Dr. Heberden's Observations on the Plague, 8vo. 16. Account of an Epidemical Catarrhal Fever at Bath in 1803, 8vo. 17. Dissertation on Ischias, or the Disease of the Hipjoint. 18. Arrian's Voyage round the Euxine Sea translated, with a Geographical Dissertation, and Three Discourses, 4to.

FALCONETTO (John Maria), a celebrated architect of Verona, was born in 1458, and died in 1534. He erected the church della Madonna delle Grazie, at Padua; and a music-hall, praised by Serlio, who called it La Rotonda di Padova. This building is said to have suggested to Palladio the idea of the villa Capra, which served as the model of the duke of Devonshire's house, at Chiswick. Falconetto built several other palaces and churches in Italy, where his works are highly esteemed.

FALCONIA (Proba), an Etrurian Christian poetess who flourished in the reign of the emperor Honorius, towards the end of the fourth century. She composed a celebrated cento from the works of Virgil, comprising the history of the Old Testament, and that of Jesus Christ, from the Gospels. The best edition is that of Wolfius, 1734, 4to.

FALCONNET (Stephen Maurice), a French sculptor of the eighteenth century, of low extraction but who happily obtained the assistance of Lemoine in his studies. Catharine II. of Russia ultimately patronised him, and he was employed by her to execute the colossal statue of Peter the Great at Petersburgh. He wrote notes on the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth books of Pliny's Natural History; Observations on the Statue of Marcus Aurelius; and other works relating to the arts, printed together in 6 vols. 8vo., Paris, 1781: and died at Paris in 1791.

FALCONRY, the art of training different kinds of hawks, but more especially the larger ones, called falcons, to the art of taking wild fowl, &c. Falconry was anciently a favorite amusement in Britain, and to carry a hawk was esteemed a distinction of a man of rank. The Welsh had a saying, that you may know a gentleman by his hawk, horse, and greyhound. In those days a person of rank seldom went without one on his hand. Even the ladies were not without them; and in an ancient sculpture in the church of Milton Abbas, in Dorsetshire, appears the consort of king Athelstan, with a falcon on her hand, tearing a bird.

Though generally disused, this amusement is partially reviving in some places, and has never been wholly discontinued in certain favorable districts.

In our own country, however,' says Mr. Pennant, I cannot trace the certainty of falconry till the reign of king Ethelbert, the Saxon monarch, in the year 760, when he wrote to Germany for a brace of falcons, which would fly at cranes and bring them to the ground, as there were very few such in Kent.'

Of the Anglo-Saxons, Mr. Turner says, 'Hawks and falcons were also favorite subjects of amuse

ment, and valuable presents in those days, when the country being much over-run with wood, all species of the feathered race must have abounded. A king of Kent begged of a friend abroad, two falcons of such skill and courage as to attack cranes willingly, and, seizing them, to throw them to the ground. We may infer the common use of the diversion from his forbidding his monks to hunt in the woods with dogs, and from having hawks and falcons. An AngloSaxon, by his will, gives two hawks (hafocas), and all his stag-hounds (header hundas), to his natural lord. The sportsmen in the train of the great were so onerous on lands, as to make the exemption of their visit a privilege. Hence a king liberates some lands from those who carry with them hawks or falcons, horses or dogs. The Saxon calendar, in its drawings, represents hawking in the month of October.'

The Saxon Dialogues in the Cotton library speak thus of the fowler :- How do you deceive fowls? Many ways; sometimes with nets, sometimes with gins, sometimes with lime, sometimes whistling, sometimes with hawks, sometimes with traps.' 'Have you a hawk? Í have!' 'Can you tame them?' 'I can; what use would they be to me if I could not tame them? Give me a hawk.' 'I will give it willingly if you will give me a swift hound; which hawk will you have, the greater or the less?" The greater; how do you feed them? feed themselves and me in winter, and in spring I let them fly to the woods. I take for myself young ones in harvest, and tame them.' And why do you let them fly from you when tamed?' 'Because I will not keep them in summer as they eat too much.' 'But many feed and keep them tame through the summer that they may again have them ready.' So they do, but I will not have that trouble about them as I can take many others.'

They

'It seems highly probable,' continues Mr. Pennant, that falconry had its rise in Scythia, and passed thence to the northern parts of Europe. Tartary is even at present celebrated for its fine breed of falcons; and the sport is in such general esteem, that, according to Olearius, there was no hut but what had its eagle or falcon. The boundless plains of that country are as finely adapted to the diversion, as the wooded or mountainous nature of most parts of Europe is ill calculated for that rapid amusement.'

To the Romans this diversion was scarcely known in the days of Vespasian; yet it was introduced soon after. Probably they adopted it from the Britons; but they greatly improved it by the introduction of spaniels into the island. In this state it appears among the Britons in the sixth century. Gildas, in his first epistle, speaking of Maglocunus, on his relinquishing ambition, and taking refuge in a monastery, compares him to a dove, that with various turns and windings takes her flight from the talons of the hawk. In after times hawking was the principal amusement of the English: a person of rank scarce stirred out without his hawk on his hand: which in old paintings is the criterion of nobility Harold, afterwards king of England, when he went on an embassy into Normandy, is painted

:

embarking with a bird on his hand, and a dog under his arm and in an ancient picture of the nuptials of Henry VI. a nobleman is represented in the same manner; for in those days 'it was thought sufficient for noblemen to winde their horn, and to carry their hawk fair, and leave study and learning to the children of mean people!' In short, this diversion was, among the ancient English, the pride of the rich, and the privilege of the poor; no rank of men seems to have been excluded from it: we learn from the book of St. Alban's, that every degree had its peculiar hawk, from the emperor down to the holy-water clerk. Vast was the expense that sometimes attended this sport. In the reign of James I. Sir Thomas Monson is said to have given £1000 for a cast of hawks: we are not then to wonder at the rigour of the laws made to preserve a sport that was carried to such an extravagant pitch. In the 34th of Edward III. it was made felony to steal a hawk: to take its eggs even in a person's own ground, was punishable with imprisonment for a year and a day, besides a fine at the king's pleasure: in queen Elizabeth's reign, the imprisonment was reduced to three months; but the offender was to find security for seven years, or lie in prison till he did.

The Norwegian breed was, in old times, in high esteem in England: they were thought bribes worthy a king. Geoffrey Fitzpierre gave two good Norway hawks to king John, to obtain for his friend Walter Le Madena, the liberty of exporting 100 weight of cheese; and Nicholas, the Dane, was to give the king a hawk every time he came to England, that he might have free liberty to traffic throughout the king's dominions. They were also made the tenures by which some nobles held their estates from the crown. Thus Sir John Stanley had a grant of the Isle of Man from Henry IV. to be held of the king, his heirs, and successors, by homage and the service of two falcons, on the day of his or their coronation. And Philip de Hasting held his manor of Combertoun, in Cambridgeshire, by the service of keeping the king's falcons.

In order to instruct them, the following method is generally pursued :-When a hawk or falcon is taken, she must be seeled in such a manner, that, as the seeling slackens, she may see what provision lies before her; but care ought to be taken, not to seel her too hard. A falcon or hawk newly taken should have all new furniture, as new jesses of good leather, mailled leashes with buttons at the end, and new bewits. There should also be provided a small round stick, to stroke the hawk; because, the oftener this is done, the sooner and better will she be manned. She must also have two large bells, that she may be found when she scattereth.' Her hood should be well fashioned, raised, and embossed against her eyes, deep, and yet strait enough beneath, that it may fasten about her head without hurting her; and her beak and talons must be a little coped, but not so near as to make them bleed. A soar falcon, which has passed the seas, will be harder to reclaim, but will prove the best of falcors. Her food must

be good and warm, and given twice or thrice a day, till she be full gorged: the best for this purpose is pigeons, larks, or other live birds · because she must be broken off by degrees from her accustomed feeding. When she is fed, you must whoop and lure, that she may know when you intend to give her meat. On this occasion she must be unhooded gently; and, after giving her two or three bits, her hood must be put on again, when she is to get two or three bits more. Care must be taken that she be close seeled; and after three or four days her diet may be lessened; the falconer setting her every night to perch by him, that he may awaken her often in the night. In this manner he must proceed, till he find her grow tame and gentle; and, when she begins to feed eagerly, he may give her a sheep's heart. He may now begin to unhood her in the day time, but it must be far from company, first giving her a bit or two, then hooding her gently, and giving her as much more. When she is sharp set, he may now unhood her, and give her scme meat just against his face and eyes, which will make her less afraid of the countenances of others. She must be borne continually on the hand, till she is properly manned, causing her to feed in company, giving her in the morning, about sun-rise, the wing of a pullet; and in the evening, the foot of a hare or coney, cut off the joint, flead and laid in water, which being squeezed is to be given her with the pinion of a hen's wing. For two or three days give her washed meat, and then plumage in more or less quantity as she is thought to be more or less foul within. After this, being hooded again, she is to get nothing till she has gleamed and cast, when a little hot meat may be given her in company; and, towards evening, she may be allowed to plume a hen's wing in company also. Cleanse the feathers of her casting, if foul and slimy; if she be clean within, give her gentle castings; and when she is reclaimed, manned, and made eager and sharp set, feed her on the lure.

The lure is a piece of red stuff or wool, on which are fixed a bill, talons, and wings. To this is likewise fastened a piece of that flesh on which the bird feeds, and the lure is thrown out to him. When they intend to reclaim or recall him, the sight of food brings him back; and in time the voice will be sufficient. The various plumage with which the lure is set off is called a 'drawer.' When they accustom the hawk to fly at a kite, a heron, or a partridge, they change the drawer according to the kind of game to which he is to be devoted. When this is a kite, they fix the bill and feathers of that bird to the lure; and so of the rest and in order to entice the bird to his object, they fasten beneath the drawer or plumage, the flesh of a chicken, or other fowl, occasionally seasoned with sugar and spices, together with marrow and other delicacies. Three things are to be considered before the lure be showed her: 1. That she be bold and familiar in company, and not afraid of dogs and horses. 2. Sharp set and hungry, having regard to the hour of morning and evening, when you would lure her. 3. Clean within, and lure well garnished with meat on both sides; and when you

intend to give her the length of a leash, you must abscond. She must also be unhooded, and have a bit or two given her on the lure as she sits on your fist; afterwards take the lure from her, and hide it that she may not see it; and, when she is unseeled, cast the lure so near her, that she may catch it within the length of her leash, and as soon as she has seized it, use your voice, feeding her upon the lure, on the ground, with the heart and warm thigh of a pullet. Having so lured your falcon, give her but little meat in the evering; and let this luring be so timely, that you may give her plumage next morning on your fist. When she has cast and gleamed, give her a little warm meat. About noon, tie a creance to her leash; and going into the field, there give her a bit or two upon her lure; then unwind the creance, and draw it after you a good way; and let him who has the bird hold his right hand on the tassel of her hood, ready to unhood her as soon as you begin to lure; to which if she come well, stoop roundly upon it, and hastily seize it, let her cast two or three bits thereon. Then, unseizing and taking her off the lure, hood her and give her to the man again; and going farther off, till she is accustomed to come freely and eagerly to the lure; after which she may be lured in company taking care that nothing affright her. When she is used to the lure on foot, she is to be lured on horseback; which may be effected the sooner, by causing horsemen to be about her when lured on foot. When she has grown familiar to this way, let somebody on foot hold the hawk, and the person on horseback must call and cast the lure about his head, the holder taking off the hood by the tassel; and if she seize eagerly on the lure without fear of man or horse, then take off the creance, and lure her at a greater distance. If you would have her love dogs as well as the lure, call dogs when you give her her living or plumage. After this, she may be allowed to fly, in a large field, unencumbered with trees. To excite her to fly, whistle softly; unhood her, and let her fly with her head to the wind; as she will thus the more readily get upon the wing, and fly upwards. The hawk sometimes flies from the falconer's fist, and takes stand on the ground: this is a fault very common with soar falcons. To remedy this, fright her up with your wand; and, when you have forced her to take a turn or two, take her down to the lure, and feed her. But if this does not do, then you must have in readiness a duck seeled, so that they may see no way but backwards, and that will make her mount the higher. Hold this duck in your hand, by one of the wings near the body; then lure with the voice, to make the falcon turn her head; and when she is at a reasonable pitch, cast your duck up just under her; when, if she strike, stoop, or truss the duck, permit her to kill it, and reward her by giving her a reasonable gorge. After you have practised this two or three times, your hawk will leave the stand, and, delighted to be on the wing, will be very obedient. It is not convenient, for the first or second time, to show your hawk a large fowl; for such often escape from the hawk, and she rakes after them: this gives the falconer trouble,

If

and frequently occasions the loss of the hawk. But if she happens to pursue a fowl, and being unable to recover it gives it over, and comes in again directly, then cast out a seeled duck; and if she stoop and truss it across the wings, permit her to take her pleasure, rewarding her also with the heart, brains, tongue, and liver. you have not a quick duck, take her down with a dry lure, and let her plume a pullet and feed upon it. A hawk will thus learn to give over a fowl that rakes out, and on hearing the falconer's lure, will make back again, and know the better how to hold in the head. Some hawks have a disdainful coyness, proceeding from their being high fed: such a hawk must not be rewarded though she should kill, but may be allowed to plume a little: then taking a sheep's heart cold, or the leg of a pullet, when the hawk is busy in pluming, let either of them be conveyed into the body of the fowl, that it may savour of it; and when the hawk has eaten the heart, brains, and tongue of the fowl, take out what is enclosed, call her to your fist, and feed her with it; afterwards give her some of the feathers of the fowl's neck, to scour her, and make her cast.

When falcons are taught to fly at rabbits, hares, &c., it is called 'flying at the fur;' and some are instructed to fly at the fur and the plume, or to the pursuit of hares and rabbits, as well as of pheasants and partridges, &c. For this purpose, when the falcon is very tame, they take a hare's skin stuffed with straw; and having fixed to it a piece of chicken's flesh, or such food as the falcon is most fond of, they tie this skin, with a long cord, to the girth of a horse, and, as the skin is thus dragged along, the bird imagines it to be a hare in flight, and is allowed to dart upon it; and is thus taught to distinguish the animal. Falcons of the larger kind have been taught to fly at the roebuck, and even at the wild boar, and the wolf. With this view they should be accustomed to feed, when young, from out of the sockets of the eyes of a wolf's or boar's head; the whole skin of the animal being stuffed. so as to make it appear alive. While the bird is feeding, the falconer begins to move the figure gradually; in consequence of which the bird learns to fasten itself so as to stand firm, notwithstanding the precipitate motions with are gradually given to the stuffed animal. He would lose his meal if he quitted his hold, and therefore he takes care to secure himself. When these first exercises are finished, the skin is placed on a cart, drawn by a horse at full speed; the bird follows it, and is particularly feeding; and then, when they come to fly him in the field, he never fails to dart on the head of the first beast of the kind he discovers, and begins to scoop out the eyes. This puts the animal into such distress, that the hunters have time to approach, and despatch it with their spears.

FA'LDAGE, n. s. Barbarous Lat. faldaFALDFEE. gilbar privilege which anciently several lords reserved to themselves of setting up folds of sheep, in any fields within their manors, the better to manure them; and this not only with their own, but their tenants' sheep: faldfee is a composition paid anciently by tenants for the privilege of faldage.