FALCONRY, THE SPORT OF KINGS 



45 



"All is hushed as the rook, a single 

 bird, presumably a strong old cock, comes 

 slowly up. He passes us and is going 

 nicely on when something about the party 

 awakens his suspicions and he gives a 

 sudden swerve that in one second takes 

 him about 150 yards off on a side wind. 



"We are not to be done this way, 

 though, and in a moment the head of our 

 party, with falcon on hand, dashes out at 

 a brisk gallop down wind of the rook, 

 which hastens up on wind. But a hun- 

 dred yards or so is no matter to us with 

 this hawk, and the moment we are fairly 

 down wind of him the old hawk is un- 

 hooded and flung off ; and the falcon is 

 in hot pursuit of her quarry, rising with 

 each stroke of her powerful wings till 

 she seems to shoot upward like an arrow 

 from the bow. 



"The rook has seen her, and is making 

 his way upward at no mean rate ; but the 

 pace of the falcon is too much for him, 

 and ere long she is above him. Poising 

 herself for a moment, she comes, with 

 one terrible perpendicular stoop, straight 

 at him. 



"It would seem as though nothing 

 could escape ; but our rook is equal. to the 

 occasion, and with a clever shift he has 

 dodged her attack by a good yard or 

 more. 



"WELI, DOXE, rook" 



" 'Well done, rook !' but there is clearly 

 now no safety for him in the air, for the 

 falcon has shot up again, with the im- 

 petus of her stoop, to a height scarcely 

 inferior to that from which she de- 

 scended ; so, turning his tail to the wind, 

 he makes all possible haste to a small 

 patch of thorns that promises a tempo- 

 rary shelter, having, however, on the way 

 to evade two similar stoops from the 

 hawk, almost as fine as the first. 



"Alas for friend rook ! On reaching 

 the covert he finds it already occupied by 

 the enemy, in the shape of the excited 

 field, who soon drive him with halloo and 

 crack of whip from his shelter, and com- 

 pel him again to seek the open. The 

 falcon has, however, strayed a little away ; 

 so he starts with might and main to ring, 

 in spiral curves, into the very clouds. 



"After, him starts the hawk, but soon 

 finds that really good rook, such as this 

 is, can mount nearly as fast as she can. 



"Up, up they go, gradually becoming 

 smaller and smaller. Ring above ring 

 does the falcon make, yet without getting 

 above him, till, apparently determined to 

 gain the victory, she starts off into the 

 wind to make one tremendous circle that 

 shall attain her object. 



"Steadily into the wind she goes, the 

 rook striving to follow her example, and 

 appearing from below to be flying after 

 the hawk. At length, as she almost com- 

 pletes the outer circumference of her cir- 

 cle, the rook, perhaps feeling his powers 

 exhausted, turns down wind, and, at a 

 great height, makes oft' as fast as he can 



go- 



"Surely the flight is over, for the falcon 

 is still working away, head to the wind, 

 as hard as she can — in fact, the two birds 

 are flying in opposite directions, half a 

 mile apart. 'Not a bit of it,' say the 

 initiated, who are oft' down wind as fast 

 as they can ride. 



A MAGXIFICENT STOOP, AND VICTORY ! 



"In another moment you see the falcon 

 come round, and though at such a height 

 she looks no bigger than a swallow, you 

 can see that she is far above the rook, 

 while her pace, slightly descending as she 

 is, is almost that of a bullet. So thinks 

 her quarry, apparently ; for. shutting his 

 wings, he tries to drop like a stone into 

 a clump of trees now nearl}^ beneath him. 



"Swiftly as he drops, there is a swifter 

 behind him, and down from that terrific 

 height comes the falcon like a thunder- 

 bolt. Lord, what a stoop ! 



"By the powers, she has missed ! And 

 now surely he must escape. 



"But no. Shooting upward like a 

 rocket, the old falcon puts in one more 

 straight, swift stoop, and the rook is 

 taken just as he enters the sanctuary 

 which he has had his eyes on from the 

 first. Whoo-who-op ! A grand ring ! a 

 magnificent stoop ! a splendid flight ! 

 Bravo, 'Bois-le-duc !' " 



Among the smaller falcons the merlin, 

 hobby, and kestrel are the only ones now 

 used, and, indeed, the kestrel, being 

 largely a locust and mouse feeder, seems 

 to be rather beyond the skill of the mod- 

 ern trainer, though there are abundant 

 proofs that it was used in medieval times. 

 This is a beautiful and gentle species and 



