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FALCONET 91 barred with black. Technically in fal- conry the female alone is termed a fal- con, the male, which is smaller and less courageous, being known as a terse! or tiercel. FALCONET, a little falcon; a name applied to a genus of tiny falcons, be- longing to the sub-family Falconinse, peculiar to the East Indies. One, Micro- Merax cserulescens, is found in the Him- alayas and Burmese countries. Not one tf these little hawks is seven inches in length; they are said to be used by na- tive chiefs for hawking insects and but- ton quails, being thrown from the hand like a ball. They sit solitary on high trees, and, according to native accounts, feed on small birds and insects. The word was also formerly applied to a small piece of ordnance, having an out- side diameter at the bore of 4% inches, length 6 feet, weight 400 pounds, and carrying a shot of about 2 inches dia- meter, and 1^/4 to 2 pounds in weight. FALIERO, or FALIERI, MARINO (fal-e-air'o, or e), a Venetian noble; born about 1274, who succeeded Andrew Dandolo as Doge of Venice, in 1354. He had previously commanded the troops of the republic at the siege of Zara, in Dal- matia, where he gained a brilliant victory over the King of Hungary; and was aft- erward ambassador to Genoa and Rome. When he succeeded to the office of doge, he was 76 years of age, and had a young and beautiful wife. Jealous of Michael Steno, he quarreled with and was in- sulted by him at a masquerade; but Steno being sentenced to no more than a month's imprisonment for his offense, Faliero, burning with revenge, entered into a conspiracy with the plebeians to overturn the government and massacre the patricians. On the night before it was to be carried into effect, the plot was discovered, and Faliero was beheaded April 17, 1355. FALISCI, a people of Etruria, said to have been originally a Macedonian colony. When they were besieged by the Roman general Camillus, a schoolmaster went out at the gates of the city with his pupils, and offered to betray them into the hands of the enemy, that, by such a possession, he might easily oblige the place to surrender. Camillus heard the proposal with indignation, and ordered the man to be stripped naked, and whipped back to the town by the very pupils whom his perfidy would have be- trayed. This instance of magnanimity operated upon the people so powerfully, that they surrendered to the Romans. FALK, PAUL LUDWIG ADALBERT, a noted German statesman; born in FALSIR Metschkau, Germany, Aug. 10, 1827; was graduated at the Medical Department of the University of Breslau; elected as a Liberal to the Prussian Diet in 1858. When the states of the German Empire were consolidated he was appointed to codify the laws of the confederation. In February, 1871, he became Prussian Minister to the Federal Council. Later he was appointed Minister of Education and Worship. In January, 1873, he pre- sented to the Prussian Chamber the scheme of ecclesiastical legislation known as the "May Laws." These laws v/ere administered with such severity and particularly where they affected the various religious bodies, that a bitter re- ligious conflict ensued. He resigned from the ministry July 14, 1879; and was president of the Provincial Court of Westphalia from 1882 till his death, in Hamm, Germany, July 7, 1900. FALKENHAYN, ERICH G. A. S. VON, a German general, born in 1861. He graduated from the war academy in 1880 and was for three years military instructor in China. He was major of the German brigade of occupation in eastern Asia and was on the staff of Count von Waldersee during the opera- tions of the German contingent at the time of the Boxer uprisings, in 1900. In 1912 he was Prussian Minister of War, and as such was a strong supporter of Lieutenant Forstner, against whom pub- lic opinion had been deeply aroused on account of his attack on a lame civilian in Zabern, the notorious "Zabem affair." In October, 1914, he replaced Von Moltke as Chief of the German General Staff, the latter having been relieved of his duties because of a disagreement over the tactics of the armies in France with the Emperor. General Falkenhayn was in command of the German-Austrian forces which invaded Rumania in 1916 by way of the passes in the Carpathians, effecting a junction with Von Mackensen in the south, on the banks of the Danube. FALKIRK, a parliamentary and mu- nicipal burgh and market-town of Stir- lingshire in Scotland. It is on the North British railway and is connected with the east and west coasts by the Forth and Clyde canal. Its seaport is Grangemouth, on the Firth of Forth, about three miles distant. The city has several notable buildings, including a town hall, free library, and a hospital. It is the center of the Scotch iron foundry trade. In the neighborhood are important coal mines and large distilleries. The town was founded in the 11th century, and in 1298 it was the scene of an important battle between the English under Edward I. and the Scotch under William Wallace,