Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/78

70 FALCONE Oroenlandicus, Hanc.) as a distinct species, says it is never dark-colored like the young of the Iceland falcon, its plumage from the nest being whiter than the mature livery of the lat- ter, and not unfrequently as white as that of the adults of its own species. The mature Green- land bird is distinguished from the young by the cordate and arrow-head markings of the back and scapulars; the young have above large oblong spots, with long narrow dashes on the head and lower parts, the marking from dark gray becoming with age almost black ; the cere, feet, and toes also change from light livid blue to pale yellow. Like other falcons, it gets the mature plumage at the first moult. In fact, the Greenland falcon may be said to have a white plumage with dark markings, and the Iceland bird dark plumage with white mark- ings ; whether they are distinct species will be determined by the definition of what consti- tutes specific characters. Both species occur in America ; the Greenland bird probably does not breed in Iceland, and is only occasional- ly seen there, driven from its more northern haunts by severe weather ; the Iceland bird sometimes breeds in Greenland. The weight of evidence seems to be in favor of these birds being distinct species. Other falcons, which have been trained to pursue game, are the H. subbuteo, H. cesalon, and T. alaudarius, which will be described respectively under the popu- lar names of HOBBY, MEBLIN, and KESTEEL. FALCONE, Anicllo, an Italian painter, born in Naples in 1600, died in France in 1665. He was a pupil of Spagnoletto, and set up an acad- emy of his own. At the time of Masaniello's revolt he formed his pupils into a secret band for retaliation upon the Spaniards. When the insurrection was ended he fled to France, where he was employed by Colbert. He is especially famous for his battle pieces. They are not .numerous, and command great prices. Their excellence is in their extreme fidelity to nature, and their brilliant coloring. Salvator Rosa was one of his numerous pupils. FALCONER, Hngh, a British palaeontologist, born at Forres, Scotland, Feb. 29, 1808, died in England, Jan. 31, 1865. He studied at the universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh, re- ceived his diploma as physician in 1829, was employed as surgeon by the East India com- pany, and in 1832 as director of a botanical garden in one of the Anglo-Indian towns, whence he explored the Himalaya. He pub- lished " Selections from the Bostan of Saadi " (London, 1838), and (jointly with T. Proby Cautley) Fauna Antigua Swalensis (1846), a laborious work, with descriptions of numerous fossils in the Sivalik hills. The " Palseontolo- gical Memoirs of Hugh Falconer " (2 vols., 1868) include a sketch of his life. FALCONER, William, a British poet, born in Edinburgh about 1730, lost at sea in 1769. He was the son of a barber, whose other children were all deaf and dumb. At the age of 18 being second mate of the Britannia, he was FALCONRY shipwrecked off Cape Colonna, on the coast of Greece, and was one of the three who sur- vived the wreck, which afterward became the subject of his principal poem, "The Ship- wreck." This was published in 1762. He compiled a "Universal Marine Dictionary" (republished in 1815, enlarged and modernized by W. Burney, LL. D.), and wrote several poems, including a political satire directed against Lord Chatham, Wilkes, and Churchill. In 1769 he sailed for India in the frigate Au- rora, which, after touching at the Cape of Good Hope, was never heard from again. FALCONET, Etienne Maurice, a French sculptor, born in Paris in 1716, died in 1791. He was a pupil of Lemoine, and early gained distinction by a statue of Milo of Crotona. Many of his works were destroyed at the time of the revolu- tion. None of them were equal in merit to the immense bronze equestrian statue of Peter the Great, which he executed at St. Petersburg, by order of Catharine II., in l776-'8. FALCONRY, the art of training falcons or other birds of prey for the chase, the sport it- self being called in English hawking, in French le vol. A falconry is also the place where such birds are kept. The practice is very ancient in Europe, and yet more so in Asia. "We have no mention of it among the Romans till after the time of Vespasian. It was certainly in existence in the 4th and 5th centuries. In Britain it appears to have been a favorite rec- reation in the reign of Ethelbert II. of Kent, A. D. 760. King Alfred had his falconers, and a book on falconry is still extant attributed to Ed- ward the Confessor. Harold II. is represented in the Bayeux tapestry as visiting the court of Duke William of Normandy with a hawk on his fist. The Domesday book makes frequent mention of falconries and eyries for breeding. In the time of Henry II., William Knot, the king's tenant, paid his rent at the exchequer in three hawks and three gerfalcons. King John was devoted to the sport. Nicholas, a Dane, was to give the king a hawk every time he came trading to England. The sport died out in England in the time of the Stuarts. In France falconry was most practised in the time of Francis I. (1515-'47). His grand falconer had an annual re venue of 4,000 florins, and had under him 50 gentlemen and 50 falconers, the whole establishment costing annually 40,000 florins. Under Louis XIV. the institution was yet more expensive. Louis XVI. tried in vain to reduce the expense of the royal falconry ; but finally the revolution swept it away. In Germany the sport was honored in the reign of Frederick II., and in the 14th century fiefs called Habichtslehen, or hawk tenures, were granted on condition of payment in trained hawks. The sport retained its existence in Germany till toward the close of the 18th cen- tury. In Italy falconry was a favorite pastime. In the East, the Persians are skilful in training falcons to hunt all manner of birds, and even gazelles. The vocabulary of hawking in Eng-