FALCONER. United States for three years (1867-09), con- nected with the Olympic Theatre in New York. Returning to England, he died September 29, 187U. He composed or adapted many plays, of which the must popular was Peep o' Day i L861), founded on one of Banim's stories of Irish life. , an actor he was admirable in Irisli roles. FALCONER, Hugh (1808-65). A Scottish botanist and paleontologist, horn at Forres (El- ginshire). He graduated at the University oi Aberdeen in 1S20, studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1828-29, was ap- pointed assistant surgeon in the service of the Ea-t India Company in 1829, and in 1832 became superintendent of the botanic garden at Saharan- pur (Northwestern Provinces), India. His in- vestigations led to the discovery in the Sivalik Hills of large numbers of important vertebrate fossils. For his work in connection with these remains he obtained the Wollaston medal of the Geological Society of London in 1837. It was on his recommendation, in a report to the Gov- ernment of Bengal, that the culture of the tea- plant was introduced into India. He also discov- ered the asafoetida plant, and was the first to give a description of it. During his residence in England on sick leave in 1843-47 he prepared the India fossils of the British Museum for exhibi- tion. In 1847 he received appointment as super- intendent of the Calcutta Botanic Garden, and professor of botany in the medical college there. Me was elected foreign secretary of the Geological Society, and a vice-president of the Royal So- ciety. He edited a large incomplete work en- titled Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis (1846-49; nine parts with illustrations of 1123 specimens, and one volume of text), and published a Descriptive Catalogue of the Fossil Remains from the Sewalik Hills (1859). Considerable unpublished material was edited by C. Murchison as Palceon- tological Memoirs and Sotes of the Late Hugh Falconer (London, 1868). Consult the biograph- ical notice in the first volume of that work, and the Royal Society's Catalogue of Scientific Papers, vol. ii. (London, 1868). FALCONER, William (1732-69). An Eng- lish poet, son of a poor barber. He was born in Edinburgh. He went early to sea, and before he was eighteen years of age he was "second mate in a vessel in the Levant trade, which was ship- wrecked off Cape Colonna in Greece. Of the crew only be and two others were saved. The story of this voyage he related in a poem called '"The Shipwreck" ( 1762). Entering the Royal Navy, he was appointed purser on the frigate Aurora, which was about to sail for India. The Aurora, after touching at the Cape of Good Hope. December, 1769. was lost. All the crew perished. "The Shipwreck" passed through three editions before this tragic event, and is still an interesting poem. Ealconer wrote a political satire entitled The Demagogue (1784), and compiled a nautical dic- tionary (1769). His Poetical Works were edited, with a Life, by Gilfillan (London, 1854). FALCONET, fal'kft'na', Etienne Mai-rice (1716-91). A French sculptor, born in Paris. He was the pupil of Lemoine. His first works include "Milo of Crotona," a vigorous study; "Pygmalion," "A Bather," and "Christ in Agony," and an "Annunciation." in the Church of Saint Roch. Paris. In 1766 Catharine II. of Russia sent for him to model an equestrian statue i.;: FALCONRY. of Peter the Great at Saint Petersburg. This is his chief work. It took him twelve years to com plete it, hut it has little originality. Alter his return to France he devoted himself principally to writing. Hi- literary work- are mostly con cerned with his own art, and were collected as (Euvrea littdraires (1781-82). The charm of Falconet as a sculptor is apparent in his gl ful, seductive "Winter," "Correction," I Three Graces," "Venus and Love," "Recompense," and "Music." His modeling is correct, and his work is full of sentiment. FALCONETTO, fal'ke net'to.GlOl ivm Mama (1458-1534). An Italian architect and painter, born in Verona. He studied under his father, Jacopo Falconetto, and probably under Velozzo da Forll, but was by preference an architect. His chief works in painting wire the frescoes in the Church of San Pietro Martire in Verona, a series of religious allegories somewhat in the manner of his master. More important are his architectural works at Padua, where he built a part of the Palazzo del Capitaneo, two pavilions of the Palazzo Giustiniani (1524), and several of the city gates. FALCONIFORMES, fal'kon-I -for'in.'z. An ordinal term, used by Evans and some recent ornithologists, for the raptorial birds, including (I) the Cathartidse and (2) the Accipitres, the latter embracing (a) the l'alcoiiiiue and (b) the Pandionin*. FALCONRY. The art of training falcons born in a state of freedom so that when they have flown and captured their quarry they will, instead of devouring it. give it up to their trainer. They will pursue and capture on the wing the heron, partridge, lark, rook, magpie, wild duck, pigeon, and rabbit, and in India game as large as the deer. In ancient times this sport was called hawking, a term still preserved in many places. Nowadays falconry is the term ap- plied to the sport and all that pertains to it ; hawking, to its actual practice out in the field. Falconry as a sport is of very ancient origin. It was practiced in Eastern countries and in central Europe long before it became established in Great Britain. In England, after the Norman Conquest, it was much indulged in by kings, nobles, and ladies; and in those days the rank of the individual could be indicated by the par- ticular species of hawk carried on his wrist. Thus an earl carried a peregrine falcon. The literature of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and six- teenth centuries teems with allusions to it. In the seventeenth century the sport declined; in the eighteenth century it partially revived, but again fell ofT about the year 1727. when the art of shooting birds on the wing became the fashion. In the present day its restoration in England, Holland, and France is attended with growing success, though no country in the world has such a variety of hawks, or such opportunities for fly intr them, as the United States, in which country and Canada several successful clubs have been organized for the encouragement of the sport. In Spanish America hawking was long esteemed as a favorite sport. In the East, from China to Morocco, falconry still maintains its old-time position as a field sport. In falconry two distinct kinds of hawks are used — the long-winged, or true falcons, and the short-winged. The first arc represented chiefly
