The Art and Practice of HawkingMichell, E. B. (Edward Blair)
History
The Art and Practice of Hawking
Michell, E. B. (Edward Blair)
Falconry
But, as a rule, the full-grown hawks which come into the market
are captives which have been taken on the autumnal passage by the
professional hawk-catchers of Valkenswaard, in North Brabant. The sons
of Adrian Möllen, formerly falconer to the famous Loo Club, still carry
on this business of snaring peregrines on the great open heath, which
for many centuries has been resorted to for a like purpose, and which,
of course, takes its name from its renown as a place over which the
migrants must often pass. Anyone who wants a wild-caught peregrine
should write beforehand to one of these gentlemen, who will probably
not fail to send him what he requires. They go out every year, in
the months of October and November, and lie in wait daily in their
cunningly-constructed huts until they have secured as many captives
as have been ordered in various places. A dozen or more are annually
required for England, and sometimes a few for France. The variety most
in demand is the red falcon, that is to say, the female peregrine
in the nestling plumage, not yet moulted. But blue falcons are also
sometimes wanted, and of late years there has been some considerable
demand for tiercels, both red and blue. Merlins, sparrow-hawks, and an
occasional goshawk may be taken, and, still more rarely, a ger. The
price for a falcon is four to five pounds, and of a tiercel from three
to four. But a special apparatus is required for catching the smaller
hawks, which will not usually come to the same lure as a peregrine. If
the captured hawk has to be kept for any length of time in the captor's
hands before being fetched or sent away, an extra charge is made for
her maintenance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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