FALCONRY. 583 
or providing for their own subsistence. ‘The latter are preferable to 
all others, as they are not so young as to require the care necessary 
to the eyas, and are yet not old enough to have become intractable. 
Fig. 270.—Bewits. 
At a year old it would be nearly useless to attempt their education ; 
they are then called Aaggards. 
The Falcon being naturally wild, violent, and alike insensible to 
caresses and chastisements, it can only be tamed by privations, such 
as want of light, sleep, and food, and 
also by constantly being cared for by 
the same person. This is the founda- 
tion of the method which the falconer 
practises. 
Supposing that a drancher has been 
caught, its legs are first made fast in 
the shackles, or dewits (Fig. 270), made 
of straps of supple leather, terminated 
by bells. Then the falconer, his hand 
covered with a glove, takes the falcon 
on his wrist, and carries it about night 
and day, without allowing it rest. If 
the pupil is intractable, refuses to sub- 
mit, and tries to use its bill, the tamer 
plunges its head into cold water, and 
thus produces stupor in the bird. After- a ee 
_ wards the head is covered with a hood 
(Fig. 271), which keeps it in complete darkness. After three days 
and nights of this treatment, rarely more, the bird becomes to a 
certain extent docile. The falconer then accustoms it to take its 
food quietly ; this is presented in the hand, while at the same time a 
peculiar noise is made, which it learns to recognise as a call. In the 
meantime it is carried about in frequented places, so as to become 
