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 haggards. 



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 brancher has been 

 caught, its legs are first made fast in 

 the shackles, or bewits (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- 

 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 



Fig. 271. Hood 



