22
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
hawk mentioned on at least 131 occasions, and the goshawk
on nine occasions, as in the above example. Nearly all these
references are worded in the same manner, but occasionally the
word "soar," or "sore," as it was spelt without exception from
the year 1231-2 onwards, was omitted. We also read of
"1 mewed (i.e. moulted) goshawk," and on another occasion of
"1 falcon gentle," which probably refers to the goshawk.
A soar or sore hawk is any hawk of the first year.
To some extent we can trace the rise of this interesting old
usage. During the reigns of Richard I. and John, from 1182
to 1215, a period of 33 years and over one-third of the total,
there is to be found only one such reference and that to a sparrow-
hawk, in 333 fines. In the next 17 years, bringing us to the fif-
tieth year, there are six in 309 fines. Considering the remaining
40 years in four periods of ten years each, we find in the first,
28 in 460 fines; in the second, 37 in 345; in the third, 44 in 438;
and in the fourth and last, 24 in 130 fines. The relation of the
number of references to the number of fines, expressed on a
percentage basis, shows the rise of the custom more clearly:
Periods, 1, 0.3%; 2, 1.9%; 3, 6.0%; 4, 10.7%; 5, 10.0%;
6, 18.4%.
In these figures it may be safe to say that we may see a reflec-
tion of the progress of falconry in the County.
If and when further fines are abstracted, it will be of decided
interest to follow the progress of the custom, to see if it increases
its vogue and when it wanes.
Although any estimate of the position of the sparrow-hawk
and goshawk in the County must be based on assumption, be-
cause we do not know that the birds referred to were taken in
Essex, yet it is highly probable that they were, and therefore
such an estimate is not without value.
In considering this side of the subject it must be borne in
mind that when a hawk was exacted as a payment, it was nominal,
instead of a sparrow-hawk it might have been a rose or a gilly-
flower. This suggests that the sparrow-hawk must have been
very easily obtained and accordingly a common breeder. Remark-
able as it may seem, it is not easy to say definitely what is the
position of this hawk in the County to-day, but effecting a com-
parison with my own experiences, which are confined mostly
to the south and east, I should say that it must have been much