HUNTING WITH BIRDS OF PREY. 



821 



directly from the falconer's hand to the game and seized it were 

 regarded as ignoble and of base flight. The Turcomans, Chinese, 

 and Kirghiz, being more practical in their views, especially es- 

 teem these birds of direct flight, and have carried their training 

 to a high degree of perfection. The Turcoman nomad, hunt- 

 ing his game as a matter of business, does not want his falcon 

 to attack it too savagely; that would be a waste. His bird 

 should strike the animal 

 as a bullet or an arrow 

 would, and, if he misses 

 it, should stay upon the 

 ground within reach of 

 his master. In the oases 

 like those of Samarcand 

 and Tashkend, wooded 

 with large trees and inter- 

 cepted by high walls and 

 wide and deep canals, a 

 bird making long and cir- 

 cuitous flights would be 

 often out of sight and 

 sometimes hard to find. 

 Hence birds that fly low 

 are preferred to those that 

 soar aloft. 



Under these conditions 

 the manner of dispatch- 

 ing the bird is of consider- 

 able importance. It is not 

 usual to dispatch it for 

 the game when it is still, 

 but it is unhooded when 

 the game is first seen and 

 while it is yet in motion, 

 and it should be started 



in such a way that the game shall be the first thing to attract its 

 attention. 



The only special articles in the costume of the falconers are 

 the glove and the bird's hood. The glove is of white goatskin, 

 and is armed with a gauntlet for the lower arm. The hood is a 

 little sack of leather or padded cloth, furnished with a running 

 string at its lower part and a leather or metallic ring on the up- 

 per part. To put the cap on, the bird is offered a piece of meat, 

 while the owner holds the hood in such a position that it can be 

 slipped over the bird's head as it stretches it out for the morsel. 

 The meat is not given to the falcon, because if it were he would 



Fig. 2. Goshawk (Astur palumbarius). 



