FAL 



The best way is to watch for a time when the mag- 

 pies hold one of those councils which are not urifre- 

 quent among these curious birds, and then to let fly 

 the falcon. The council is generally held at no 

 great distance from some cover, such as a broom or 

 furze bush, and (lie magpies have generally all their 

 eyes about them, so that they espy the falcon as 

 soon as she is in the air. Then it is " hurry-skurry " 

 for the cover, into which they creep, and lie so close 

 that the whole posse may be taken with the hand. 

 If there is no cover which they can reach, they squat 

 flat and motionless on the ground, and may be picked 

 up in the same manner. We know not how the jer 

 might come on in the event of being flown at the 

 raven ; but we once saw an instance of the common 

 falcon, in which it appeared to be a drawn battle 

 between the two, and as the companion raven was 

 approaching, the falcon, but for human aid, would 

 have been the victim. 



To observe the action of these birds, whether the 

 flight be low or high, is a very easy matter ; and 

 after the principles of mechanics, and the structure of 

 the birds are once fully understood, it is by no means 

 difficult to explain the rationale of their action, and 

 to show how admirably cacli is adapted to the place 

 which it holds, and the functions which it performs 

 in animated nature. But after this is done the grand 

 diih'culty remains behind, namely, how the powers of 

 these, apparently the wildest and most wayward of 

 all living creatures, should be brought into complete 

 subjection to man, and made as obedient to his com- 

 mand, as if they were endowed with reason. This, 

 however, has been done, and done so completely, 

 and under such different cirumstances of species and 

 of age in the birds, as to leave no doubt that, by due 

 attention and proper training, man might press every 

 power and every faculty of the animal kingdom into 

 his service, that, for instance, he might make the 

 porpoise, the seal, and the pike catch fish for him as 

 readily as the hound catches hares, or the falcon 

 strikes down pigeons. Nor is it at all unlikely that, 

 amid the vast improvement which has of late years 

 taken place in the mechanical use of dead matter or 

 the application of its chemical powers, the capabi- 

 lities of lite have been too much neglected ; for we 

 may rest assured that the use to man of every thing 

 in creation, if he could once find it out and know how 

 to apply it, is in exact proportion to its energy in the 

 wild state ; and this is the chief reason why the 

 training (for it cannot be called taming) of these 

 birds of prey is so worthy of attention. 



For the purpose of falconry, hawks were not in 

 general bred in a state of captivity, and indeed the 

 falconers who had charge of them used many arts to 

 prevent them from breeding. There were three 

 ways of obtaining them, or rather they were obtained 

 at three different ages. The young birds when they 

 could be found in that state were taken from the 

 nest, while they were yet covered with down instead 

 of feathers. In this state they were, in the language 

 of falconry, called simples, and though they were 

 longer in being ready for use than the more advanced 

 ones, their education, from being begun so early, was 

 much more easy. Another age at which they were 

 perhaps more easily procured, was that at which they 

 were so far fledged as to be able to quit the nest, but 

 not so much so as to be capable of flight. In this 

 state they were termed branchcrs, which term was in 

 all probability derived from those species which 



CON. 467 



build their nests in trees. These were a little sooner 

 ready for action than the simples ; but their education 

 was considerably more difficult, as they had acquired 

 more of their natural character in 'the wild state 

 before their education began. The third means of 

 obtaining them was, catching the wild birds in nets by 

 means of various stratagems, which had to be varied ac- 

 cording to the species. The birds obtained in this way 

 were of course much sooner fit for sport than the 

 younger ones ; but the training of them was a matter 

 of much more difficulty. Those birds which had 

 acquired their natural character in whole or in part, 

 before they came into the hands of the trainers, were 

 called haggards, and the same name was bestowed 

 upon refractory hawks and falcons, which were some- 

 times in the habit of breaking away from the game 

 for which they were trained, or of flying off with the 

 game and not returning to the falconer. Birds which 

 had this habit were held in very low estimation ; as 

 may be judged of by a very beautiful, though meta- 

 phorical allusion in Shakspeare's tragedy of Othello, 

 lago had just worked up the Moor to the requisite 

 pitch of jealousy, and left him to the agony of his 

 feelings ; and in his frantic soliloquy he is made to 

 give utterance to the following words among others 



If I do prove her haggard, 



Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings; 

 I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind, 

 To prey at fortune. 



This passage, short as it is, contains a pretty ample 

 epitome of the characters of falcons, though the poet 

 has a double meaning in the word "haggard" in allusion 

 to human frailty. If she acted as a rebellious falcon, 

 untrue to her training and trust, then she was to be 

 sent, after the manner of the ignoble hawks, to pro- 

 vide for herself as she best could. 



It would be too long to point out all the steps in 

 the education of hawks ; but at whatever age they 

 were taken, the first thing to be done was to attach 

 small bells to their feet, so as to accustom them to 

 noise every time they moved. If simples, they were 

 provided with eyries, which were shutters lined with 

 straw, placed at a little elevation for the birds of high 

 flight, but on the ground for the low-flighted ones ; 

 or, if the nest be naturally in such situations, the rock 

 breeders were placed on the top of a wall or heap of 

 stones, and those which breed in trees had a nest 

 for them placed in a tree at no great height. Near 

 the openings there were boards placed, on which they 

 were made to perform their first exercises, and on 

 which also they were fed, in order to attach them to 

 the place in which they were exercised. Their food 

 consisted of beef or mutton, but especially the latter, 

 which is indeed the best food for them at all ages ; 

 and must be freed of all the cartilage and fat, and cut 

 into slender and not too long shreds, but the more 

 recent it is and the more blood that there is in it, they 

 eat it with a greater relish. As soon as the low- 

 flighted hawks were able to descend from the board 

 and get up again, their food was placed on the ground. 



When the unfledged young are taken from the 

 nest, this nursery treatment is continued for about 

 six weeks, and if they have been properly fed and 

 attended to, they are by this time able to catch such 

 small birds as come within their reach, which shows 

 at how early an age birds of this description begin to 

 catch prey for themselves. Up to this period the 

 birds are allowed the full enjoyment of their liberty, 

 both because they are too young for entering upon 

 GG2 



