falconry. 249

bring them, by giving them some small portion of it fortheir share.

Writers subsequent to Aristotle , as Antigonm , 9 JElian, mPliny , * I 11 and Phile , 11 have also contributed an account ofthis method of fowling. ASlian, who has been observednot to render correct verbal transcripts, says to the precedingeffect, with this distinction, that in Thrace nets were used.In this Phile has imitated him in his stanzas. ALIian, also 'has in another place described the manner of hawking inIndia : travellers since his time say it is still practised inPersia , being there well understood, as well as among otheroriental nations.

From these sources we collect that the Indians hunt haresand foxes in the following manner: having previously trainedup their birds as follows, they use for this employ, eagles,”kites, and crows ; but the kite, it seems, is a favourite bird ;they catch them whilst young, and thus domesticate them.They let a hare or fox loose, with a piece of flesh fastenedon its back, which those birds pursue for the sake of theflesh; on their return, they receive it as the reward of their

9 Antigoni Carvstii Historiae mirabiles, cap. 34.

13 Hawks, which are no less fit for fowling than eagles, are not inferior tothem in size, are of all birds reckoned to be the most docile and fondest of man.

I have heard, that in Thrace , they accompany people when they go in quest ofbirds in the fens. The fowlers, having spread their nets, remain quiet, while thehawks flying about terrify the birds, and drive them into them. When theThracians catch any birds, they divide them witu the hawks, by which means theyrender them faithful partners in fowling: if they did not give them a share of thebooty, they would be deprived of their assistance. Histor. Anim. lib. ii. cap. 42.

11 In a part of Thrace above Amphipolis , men and hawks go out a fowling, asit were, in company. The former drive the birds from the bushes and reeds,whilst the latter fly after them and strike them down. The fowlers divide withthem their prey, &c. Lib. x. cap. 8.

** Phile de Animal. Proprietate , according to Bersmann’s translation, p. 36.Post multinodas quam plagas venatibusThraccs tetenderunt, latent absconditi;

Quos advolantes cominus circi juvant,

Metuque territant volucrcs belluas,

Laxata condant subter ut se retia.

Qua* Thraces arctis implicatas catsibnsCohorte densa, comprehendunt acriter,

Circisque mercedem rependunt debitam,

His portioncm largientes album.

Quod ni fit, ope post destitutos viderisPonunt volantum cum laqucos rursus gregi.

*3 «« There are three sorts of eagles in Siberia ; the first and largest sort exceedsa turkey-cock in size, this the Tartars call burskut; they are coal black, and so istheir very beak : the skin about the nostrils and legs is of a lemon colour. Theylive chiefly on high mountains and in thick woods. The second, is called in theTartarian tongue kutscugan ; and the third and least sort kurakvsch, in LatinaquiLt iruzvia. The Tartars make use of this sort of eagles, as they do of falcons forhunting** Von StrahUnberg’s liistorio-Geog. Description of the Noiih and North-East cfEurope , $c.