De Arte Venandi com Avibus

The Art of Hunting with Birds or, The Art of Falconry

Observations and recordings of birds of prey by the Emperor Frederick II of Sicily, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Sicily and Jerusalem. The Art of Hunting with Birds is considered one of the earliest publications to use the scientific method.

Frederick's court carried within it the artistic and intellectual seeds of the Italian Renaissance. Frederick carried out his experiments and observations in the middle 1200s. The book was published in 1250 A.D.

It contains not just information on hunting with birds of prey but also anatomy, behavior and migratory patterns.