The Art and Practice of HawkingMichell, E. B. (Edward Blair)
History
The Art and Practice of Hawking
Michell, E. B. (Edward Blair)
Falconry
No ordinary bad weather should deter a falconer from taking his
long-winged hawks out to exercise. Rain, unless it is very heavy, will
do a hawk no harm during the short time she is flying to the lure or
being called off. Even if the rain is heavy, an umbrella can be held
over the hawk as she is carried to the exercise-ground and back. Wind
must be very high indeed before the trainer should hesitate to fly
his hawks at exercise. When they are to be merely called off, they
will, when sharp-set, if in good condition, face half a gale of wind.
But the two men should, in this case, post themselves rather across
wind, and not one exactly down-wind of the other; otherwise the hawk
of the up-wind man will have her head always turned directly away from
the other, and moreover, if she comes fast towards the latter, may be
carried so far past him that she will not take the trouble to fetch
up again, and struggle up-wind to a lure of which she has once been
disappointed. A game-hawk, especially if it is a passager, should not
be kept waiting on very long on a boisterous day. Should she, while in
the air, catch sight of a wood-pigeon or house-pigeon down-wind, and
give chase, she may be out of sight in a moment, and, if the quarry
takes the air, may go miles before you can run or ride five hundred
yards. The best hawks rather enjoy flying in a very high wind, and
seem to take an obvious pride in exerting their mastery over it. Their
stoops at the lure in such weather are often exceptionally fine; and
the tremendous pace at which the wind enables them to come down,
evidently affords them much inward satisfaction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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