not being able to afford to keep
falcons, used the sparrow-hawk to capture partridges and quail.

[Illustration: Fig. 145.--Olifant, or Hunting-horn, in Ivory (Fourteenth
Century).--From an Original existing in England.]

It was customary for gentlemen of all classes, whether sportsmen or not,
to possess birds of some kind, "to keep up their rank," as the saying then
was. Only the richest nobles, however, were expected to keep a regular
falconry, that is, a collection of birds suited for taking all kinds of
game, such as the hare, the kite, the heron, &c., as each sport not only
required special birds, but a particular and distinctive retinue and
establishment.

[Illustration: Fig. 146.--Details Hunting-horn of the Fourteenth
Century.--From the Original in an English Collection.]

Besides the cost of falcons, which was often very great (for they were
brought from the most distant countries, such as Sweden, Iceland, Turkey,
and Morocco), their rearing and training involved considerable outlay, as
may be more readily understood from the illustrations (Figs. 148 to 155),
showing some of the principal details of the long and difficult education
which had to be given them.

To succeed in making the falcon obey the whistle, the voice, and the signs
of the falconer was the highest aim of the art, and it was only by the
exercise of much patience that the desired resuit was obtained. All birds
of prey, when used for sport, received the generic name of _falcon_; and
amongst them were to be found the gerfalcon, the saker-hawk, the lanner,
the merlin, and the sparrow-hawk. The male birds were smaller than the
females, and were called _tiercelet_--this name, however, more
particularly applied to the gosshawk or the largest kind of male hawk,
whereas the males of the above mentioned were called _laneret, sacret,
emouchet._ Generally the male birds were used for partridges and quail,
and the female birds for the hare, the heron, and crane. _Oiseaux de
poing_, or _hand-birds,_ was the name given to the gosshawk, common hawk,
the gerfalcon, and the merlin, because they returned to the hand of their
master after having pursued game. The lanner, sparrow-hawk, and saker-hawk
were called _oiseaux de leure_, from the fact that it was always necessary
to entice them back again.

[Illustration: Fig. 147.--A Noble of Provence (Fifteenth
Century).--Bonnart's "Costumes from the Tenth to the Sixteenth Century."]

The lure was an imitation