The Art and Practice of HawkingMichell, E. B. (Edward Blair)
History
The Art and Practice of Hawking
Michell, E. B. (Edward Blair)
Falconry
In theory, after every unsuccessful flight the hawk ought to observe
certain fixed rules of conduct. Peregrines and almost all other
long-winged hawks ought first to throw up over the place where the
quarry has put in, and then wait on a while for the falconer to come
up. Short-winged hawks, and often lanners, should take perch as near as
they conveniently can to the quarry's place of refuge; and merlins will
get still nearer, very often waiting on the ground within a few feet
of the hidden lark. From these various situations they ought, if in
proper order, to be ready to come whenever the falconer wishes--to the
fist if they are short-winged, to the lure if long-winged. It is also,
alas! possible that they may have failed through being outflown--beaten
fairly in the air. Directly the falconer sees, by the spreading of the
hawk's wings, that this sad event has occurred, he will begin to swing
his lure, and in such case my lady ought--and generally will--at once
rally to headquarters. The young falconer should endeavour from the
first to keep his charges in such condition that they will always come
to the lure. If, at the same time, they are keen enough to do this
and high-fed enough to do themselves justice in a hard flight, they
may be called really well trained. Here lies the real difficulty of
hawking--to strike the balance justly between too servile obedience and
too disdainful independence. Every day, and with every hawk, whether
eyess or passager, the falconer is confronted with it, only in the case
of passagers it is naturally more obvious. Wild-caught hawks are only
brought by degrees, and with a good deal of trouble, to really like
the dead lure, whereas to most eyesses their first notion of working
for their living is connected with the slight trouble of flying either
to the lure or to the hack board. Yet of the two it is much more
essentially necessary that the passage hawk should come down quickly
after failing in a flight, for if she does not, she will hang about for
a more or less limited time near the spot where she lost her intended
prey. And every additional minute that she stays out alone, especially
if out of her master's sight, she is being reminded more and more
of her old life at large. Then, if even she does not go soaring or
prowling about in the deliberate search for quarry, she may espy some
passing wood-pigeon or other too tempting bird, and be off in pursuit
before any of the hawking party are near enough to keep her in sight.
And a passage hawk which has flown and fed herself on her own account
is, of course, much less likely to be recovered than an eyess, to
which real liberty is a blessing hitherto unknown. With the latter the
balance of danger lies often on the side of making them too fond of the
lure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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