The Maltese falcon.

Whereupon the yeoman opened the door of a long covered shed commonly called the "mews," and shortly appeared again with four hooded hawkstwo falcons, and two males or tiercel-gentlesplaced on a wooden frame or cadge.

The hawks which have been trained for the field, are the slight falcon and the goshawk, which are the species generally used in falconry.

"Gentle tame falcon of mine, Rise in thy flight, spread out thy wings, If thou art my friend do me this service; To-morrow, ere ever the rise of the sun, Fly toward her house; there alight On the window of my gracious beauty.

CHAPTER XIII A BATTLE IN MID AIR A day or two after the supper of the wren pie, Max bought from a pedler a gray falcon most beautifully marked, with a scarlet head and neck, and we sent our squires to Hymbercourt, asking him to solicit from the duke's seneschal, my Lord de Vergy, permission to strike a heron on the marshes.

Just then with steady poise on outstretched wing A hungry falcon hovered over her, Resolved with one fell swoop to seize his prey, His talons bury in her tender flesh, Lift her away to some sequestered spot, There drink her blood in leisure undisturbed, And break her bones and her torn flesh devour.

A girl might be portrayed desperately fondling a plantain tree, gripping a pet falcon, the symbol of her lover, or hurrying through the rainy darkness intent only on reaching a longed-for tryst.

But she heldand meant always to holdthe restless falcons of her spirit in leash.

This writer also asserts, that a falcon or a vulture, either roasted or boiled, is excellent eating; and that if one of these birds happened to kill itself in flying after game, the falconer instantly cooked it.

On the pretext of requiring assistance in training the royal falcons, De Luynes had presented to Louis two young nobles, MM.

It was only a two hours' march across to the Papagaio at the Falls of Utiarity, so named by their discoverer, Colonel Rondon, after the sacred falcon of the Parecis.

"Seeing his embarrassment, the old man spoke to him in these words: "'What benefit is it for a youth of your abilities to be seeking a stray falcon?

Geryon pushed back with them from the edge of the precipice, like a ship leaving harbour; and then, turning about, wheeled, like a sullen successless falcon, slowly down through the air in many a circuit.

I leaned slightly forward; I struck out powerfully, swiftly, and steadily; I gained upon the Scorcher; I sent into his emerald legs a thrill of startled fear, as if he had been a terrified hare bounding madly away from a pursuing foe, and I passed him as if I had been a swift falcon swooping by a quarry unworthy of his talons.

"Gentle tame falcon of mine, Rise in thy flight, spread out thy wings, If thou art my friend do me this service; To-morrow, ere ever the rise of the sun, Fly toward her house; there alight On the window of my gracious beauty.

Water and forage were not to be had; the men suffered intolerably from thirst; horses died by hundreds; at the head of their troops marched knights mounted on asses or oxen; their favorite amusement, the chase, became impossible for them; for their hawking-birds toothe falcons and gerfalcons they had brought with themlanguished and died beneath the excessive heat.

How beautiful! Her hunting-robe is bluer than the sky, Matching one phase of her great, changeful eyes, Clasped with twin falcons of unburnished gold, The colour of her brown hair in the sun.

His gaze bold and keen as an unhooded falcon's, had frankly proclaimed his dislike and mistrust, making it only too plain that he asked no favor by pretending ignorance or on the score of any friendliness that he did not feel.

He reminded one of a falcon, untamed, untamable.

When they had mastered this, a real kite was used, which was tied to a string and his claws and beak were filed so as to prevent him from wounding the young untrained falcons.

"A dream was dreamt by Kriemhild, the virtuous and the gay, How a wild young falcon she train'd for many a day, Till two fierce eagles tore it.

And now, while the trumpets blared, the two knights took their ground, Sir Gilles resplendent in lofty crest and emblazoned surcoat, the three stooping falcons conspicuous on his shield, his mighty roan charger pawing the ling with impatient hoof; his opponent, a gleaming figure astride a tall black horse, his round-topped casque unadorned by plume or crest.

Last night the Canary wine flashed in the red Venice glasses on the oaken tables of the hall; loud voices shouted and laughed till the clustered hawk-bells jingled from the rafters, and the chaplain's fiddle throbbed responsive from the wall; while the coupled stag-hounds fawned unnoticed, and the watchful falcon whistled to himself unheard.

Beside him, on the arm of his great chair, roosted his favorite falcon, for the Prior was fond of the gentle craft of hawking.

Never prowls A noble bird about the Zeriba; The generous falcon turns not near the nests, O madman!