This was one of the several kinds of birds that were in great repute in _falconry_; a sport which, some centuries ago, was pursued in all the principal courts of Europe, and anterior to that by the ancient Greeks and Romans. The estimation in which this sport was held may well be supposed when it is stated that, at one period, scarcely any person of rank appeared abroad without a hawk on his hand; and that, in old paintings, this representation is considered even a criterion of nobility. The English laws enacted for the preservation of falcons were so rigorous, that in the reign of Edward the Third it was rendered felony to steal one of these birds; and for a person to take the eggs, even in his own grounds, he was liable to be imprisoned for a year and a day, besides a fine at the king's pleasure. The falcons or hawks chiefly used in the British dominions, were the present species, the _Peregrine falcon_ (_Falco peregrinus_), _Iceland falcon_ (_Falco islandus_), _Goshawk_ (_Falco palumbarius_), and _Gyrfalcon_ (_Falco candicans_). After the invention of gunpowder this sport fell gradually into disuse; until, at length, hawks were discarded, and the whole pleasure of killing feathered game was confined to shooting. 128. _OWLS are birds of prey, distinguishable by their round head, a circular arrangement of feathers round each eye, the bill being hooked, and the nostrils being covered with bristly feathers._ These birds are of great service to farmers by devouring mice and other small animals, the uninterrupted increase of which would be extremely injurious to the fruits of the harvest. The late Rev. Gilbert White, in his Natural History of Selborne, states that he had paid considerable attention to the manner of life of a pair of white owls, which constantly bred under the eaves of the church. He says that, generally, about an hour before sunset they sallied forth in quest of mice; that he has often minuted the birds with his watch for an hour together, and found that the one or the other of them returned to the nest about once in five minutes, with a mouse in its claws. Though serviceable in thus destroying mice, these birds also destroy young rabbits, hares, and partridges, for which they are execrated by sportsmen; and they sometimes enter pigeon-houses, where their ravenous propensities cause them to commit great devastations. 129. _The GREAT or CINEREOUS SHRIKE_ (Lanius excubitor) _is a small bird of prey, distinguished by having a straightish black bill with a notch in each mandible near the end: the back hoary, the wings black, with a white spot, and the tail white at the sides._ _There is likewise a black stripe on each side of the head, extending backward from the base of the bill. The length of this bird is about eight inches._ _It inhabits the woods of Europe and America._