THE FALCON. 



V- 



Death of the Heron. 



Casting off the Hawk. 



Though now out of fashion in Europe, hawking is still a common amusement among the Turks, in some 

 parts of Asia Minor, among the Persians, Circassians, and the wandering hordes of Turkomans and 

 Tartars. For most species of game, it appears that spaniels, cockers, or other dogs were required to rouse 

 the birds to wing. When at a proper elevation, the Hawk, being freed from his head-gear, was cast off 

 from the sportsman's fist, with a loud whoop to encourage her. When thus cast off, the Hawk flew in the 

 direction of the game, and endeavored to surmount it, or get above it in its flight. When the Hawk reached 

 a proper elevation above the game, she shot down upon it with all her force and velocity, and this descent 

 was techically called " the stoop," or " the swoop." When the Hawk closed or grappled with its prey 

 (which was called binding, in falconry,) they generally tumbled down from the sky together, and the 

 object of the sportsman was, cither by running on foot or galloping his horse, to get to the spot as soon as 

 they should touch the earth, in order to assist the Hawk in her struggle with her prey. 



The Falcons, it should be observed, were taken into the field with hoods over their eyes, and with little 

 bells on their legs ; and the sportsman carried a lure, to which the bird had been taught to fly by being 

 fed regularly upon or near it, with fresh killed meat. These lures seem to have been of various sorts. In 

 very old times, a " tabur-stycke," which was merely a piece of wood, rounded and besmeared with blood, 

 was in use; but with the progress of civilization, a better lure, called a "hawker," was introduced. The 

 hawker was a staff about twenty-two inches long, cased at the upper part with iron, having a bell "rather 

 of sullen tone than musical," and f be figure of a bird, with outstretched wings, carved at the top. 



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