Publications of the Clan Lindsay Society - Electric Scotland

THE UOYAL FALCON IlRS OF SCOTLAND. 130
Huntly. Those of the royal establi.shinent at the same
period were certainly not fewer than this, and there
is good reason to believe that they numbered about
twice as many, not counting the nunieiuu.s grooms who
were in attendance upon the skilled jiractitioncra of
the art. Among the outdoor servants of the royal
household were also one or more fowlers who, if they
did not belong to the staff of the Master Falconer,
at least acted along with it. Moreover, the live birds
which were collected for the training of the hawks
had to be cared for, and the work was such as to
engage the time of those s[)ecially appointed to it.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, as we
learn, the keeping of the birds was the duty of one
James Jaclen, his son, and two daughters. Among
the departments of the household .service, then, the
falconers' establishment was one of considerable extent
if not of vital importance.
The post of Master Falconer to the King was an
honourable one, and was generally held by a gentleman
of birth. In the early years of the reign of James IV.,
who was ardently devoted to this sport, and who
seems to have enjoyed a European reputation as a
master of hawks, John Lindsay, a younger son of the
laird of Fairgirth, appears to have been the chief of
the royal falconers. It is not until later in the same
reign, however, that we meet with the title of Master
Falconer, and then it is the designation of Sir Alexander
M'Culloch of Myreton. M'CuUoch held the office
until about the year 1529, when James Lindsay of
Auchenskeoch, son of the above mentioned John, took
his place, and continued to hold it until well on in the
reign of Queen Mary.