Falconry

(fau'kn-re,) or HAWKING. [Fr. fauconnerie.] The art of training all kinds of hawks, but more especially the Falcoperegrinus, called the gentle falcon, for the sport of hawking. This was much practised in Europe and Asia in the chivalric ages, and continued a favorable amusement till the 17th cent.; but the invention of firearms gradually superseded it. " In the language of Falconry," says Yarrell, " the female peregrine is exclusively called the Falcon, and on account of her greater size, power, and courage, is usually flown at herons and ducks. The male peregrine being sometimes one-third le than the female, is called the tier cel or tiercelet, and is more frequently flown at partridges and sometimes at magpies." [s. 354]