The Art and Practice of HawkingMichell, E. B. (Edward Blair)
History
The Art and Practice of Hawking
Michell, E. B. (Edward Blair)
Falconry
When the loss of a hawk has occurred in consequence of her having
killed out of sight, and gorged herself before she could be discovered,
the chances are that she will remain for the night in the neighbourhood
of the place where she flew the quarry upon which she dined. A visit
will be paid, therefore, next morning at daybreak to this part of the
country; and the falconer must not assume that if he fails to find
quickly the object of his search she is to be looked for somewhere
else. For it is unlikely, wherever she is, that she will pay any
attention to him or his lure until she has cast. This she may not do,
especially if it was late in the previous day when she was lost, until
some hours after a spring or summer sunrise. Consequently, even if
the searcher gets away from this most likely spot, and explores the
plantations for considerable distances round about, he should return
to it from time to time, on the chance that she has been there all the
while, waiting till her appetite came before making her presence known.
As the day grows older, the radius within which the search is continued
may be indefinitely enlarged. Every labourer going to his work, every
farmer going his rounds, every shepherd walking towards his fold,
should be interrogated when met, and asked, if they see anything of the
lost hawk, to report it in some way. The neighbouring keepers may be
warned, although probably they will long before this have been informed
that trained hawks are in the neighbourhood. A man will hardly fly his
hawks in a part of the world where he does not know that the keepers
are to be relied upon.
When the hawk has been lost through raking away or checking at
chance quarry, the work of finding her necessitates often very great
exertions and fatigue. There is nothing particularly unusual in the
fact of a passage peregrine wandering off in an afternoon seven or
eight miles from the place where she was lost sight of. To explore at
all thoroughly an area eight miles long and ten broad at the far end
means, of course, a great many miles travelling, even if the country
is exceptionally open and clear of trees. Nevertheless, the dull and
dreary journey must be undertaken if there is a real desire to recover
the wanderer. The best hawk-finder is he who travels the farthest and
sees the greatest number of possible assistants in his search. If you
make an excuse for shirking a visit to a particular copse or valley,
it is as likely as not that you will hear afterwards, to your chagrin,
that the missing hawk was seen there, and might easily have been
caught. If you will not walk a quarter of a mile out of the way to hail
a passer-by who is going in what you think an unlikely direction, that
will perhaps be the very man who, ten minutes afterwards, comes across
the object of your pursuit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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