FALCOXRY, THE SPORT OF KINGS 



433 



According to the "Boke of St. Albans," 

 published about i486, the kinds of hawks 

 apparently used by the various elements 

 in English socie;ty are given as follows : 



Emperor . . . Eagle. 



King Gerfalcon and tiercil of 



gerfalcon. 

 Prince Falcon gentle and tierci! 



gentle. 



Duke Rock falcon. 



Erie Peregrine. 



Baron Bastard. 



Knight Sacre and sacret. 



Squire Lanare and lanret. 



Lady Mezlyon (Merlin). 



Young Man. Hobby. 

 Yeoman .... Goshawk. 

 Poorman . . . Tezcett. 



Priest Sparrowhawk. 



Holywater 



Clerk Muskayte. 



THE Falconer's xames for his hawks 



Falcons of the same kind differ so in 

 performance and character, according to 

 their experience before being taken in 

 hand, that the falconer has separate names 

 for each type, as follows : 



Eyess is the name given to falcons 

 taken from the nest ; 



Branchcr is applied to young thjit have 

 left the nest, but not the neighborhood of 

 their infancy ; 



Passagers are birds of the year caught 

 in the autumn migration ; 



Haggards are adult birds with two or 

 more years of wild experience ; 



Falcon is strictly the female of any of 

 the larger long-winged hawks, while the 

 male, being nearly a third smaller and 

 lighter in weight, is called the "tiercel" 

 or "tarsel." In strictest usage (now gen- 

 erally ignored) the tiercel is the male of 

 the goshawk, the larger of the short- 

 winged hawks, while the male peregrine 

 is the "light tiercel" or "tiercel-gentle" of 

 Juliet's time. Being so much larger and 

 stronger, the female, or falcon proper, 

 has always received the greatest share of 

 the falconer's regard and labor. 



Gne who trains and hunts long-wings 

 only is the true falconer, while the user 

 of goshawks and sparrow-hawks is tech- 

 nically an Austringer or Ostringer, from 

 the Latin Astru (French Aittur), the 

 generic name of these hawks. 



The falconer has a special name for 

 every part of his hawk and for every- 

 thing he does. 



Falcons are brought into subjection to 

 man's will either by being taken from the 

 nest just before they are able to fly or by 

 being caught wild after they are fully 

 grown and self-supporting. Those taken 

 from the nest (eyess hawks) are the ones 

 usually trained over most of Europe. 

 Ordinarily they are much gentler and 

 more easily trained, but lack the dash and 

 style of the wild-caught birds known as 

 "haggards." In India and Africa, how- 

 ever, the eyess is virtually unknown, as 

 the hawks are always trapped adult. 



THE bird's training BEGINS 



In the training of eyesses the procedure 

 of the present day differs only slightly 

 from that of the Middle Ages. Modern 

 falconers use very much the same quaint 

 medicines and nostrums and have the 

 same names for falconine troubles as are 

 so picturesquely described by Bert in his 

 "Treatise of Hawks and Hawking," pub- 

 lished 300 years ago. 



The }"oung hawks are left until nearly 

 all the down has been replaced by brown 

 feathers. Their removal from the nest 

 takes place toward evening, when they 

 are put in a hamper and sent to the fal- 

 coner. It is highly desirable that as much 

 as possible of their journey be made at 

 night. 



Arriving at their destination, they are 

 placed in a roughly made nest and fed on 

 chopped beef and egg. and a little later 

 on fresh birds, rabbit, rat, or squirrel. 

 All food should be tied to a boferd in a 

 given place, to force the young hawks, 

 which are otherwise free except for the 

 bell and "jess," or leg-strap, to come to 

 the same place for food. 



The birds are now "at hack" until they 

 learn to fly, and begin to stoop at live 

 prey on their own account. They should 

 be left entirely alone, and for the present 

 the wilder they become the better ; for 

 should they come now to associate food 

 with man's presence, they would at once 

 start clamoring and screaming every time 

 they saw a man — a most undesirable 

 trick. 



If properly "hacked," the young birds 

 soon learn to make long flights into the 

 surrounding country, returning at regular 

 intervals to be fed from the shelf or feed- 

 ing-board. They may be left in this state 

 of virtual freedom for some three weeks, 



