Publications of the Clan Lindsay Society - Electric Scotland

TUK ROYAL FALCONEUS OK SCOTLAND. 1 43
Very large sums were paid tor birds that were
rare, as for instance one that was wholly black, or
which was distinguished for its high mettle or high
training. In 1488 King James IV. bought from the
Earl of Angus a hawk for which he paid lUO ru.su
nobles (.£180). The largeness of the price may be
realised when it is stated that a man who at that time
could spend £20 a year ranked a.s a gentleman, and as
such, had to be well mounted and well armed when
called upon for military service The money spent on
this bird is comparable indeed to what might be paid
for a racehorse of the first rank at the present day,
for it has to be I'emembered that the hawk was good
for only about twenty years' service at the best, and
that its capital value disappeared at its death, and
could not be continued in its progeny as may the
capital value of a racehorse.
The hawks in a establishment of any pretensions
were necessarly very numerous, for a bird could be
trained to pursue only one variety of game. It could
indeed be broken from one kind of iiight, as it was
called, and trained to another ; but it was an object
of ambition to have an equipment for the greatest
possible number of flights. As has been already
indicated, different species of hawks were used for
difierent purposes; while the males or tiercels, being
always smaller than the females, were used only for
the inferior flights. It is said that in the galleries
of the kings of France, when falconry was in high
repute, there were kept three hundred liawks. The
outfit of the Scottish kinnfs was on a more modest
scale. Still we hear of one falconer bringing in six