CHAPTER XIX 



Anecdotes and Adventures 



IF history is rightly called the practical illustration of philo- 

 sophy, then the quarry -book may be considered with 

 justice the tangible test of the falconer's theories. In many 

 cases a handful of experience is worth a cart-load of advice ; 

 and a trainer who has lost a valuable hawk by treating her in a 

 bad way is not likely to forget in a hurry how bad that system 

 proved. Some entertaining and very instructive anecdotes may 

 be found scattered about in the old books, and more especially 

 in that of Charles d'Arcussia, Lord of Esparron and Revest, 

 the Italian who was falconer to Louis XIII., and was honoured 

 by him with special favour. This treatise, which is difficult to 

 procure, is well worth perusal, not only for the descriptions con- 

 tained in it of remarkable flights, but for the sound sense of 

 many of the precepts given. Between the French and Italian 

 schools of falconry, as of fencing, a sort of friendly rivalry 

 existed ; and the Italian, who had become a Frenchman, may 

 be said, in a way, to have represented both. 



Coming to more modern times, a great many interesting 

 details of a historical and anecdotal kind are given in the works 

 already mentioned, published during the last fifty or sixty years, 

 beginning with the fine illustrated volume of Schlegel and 

 Wulverhorst, and including the new edition of Mr. J. E. Harting's 

 Hints. Without going over any of the ground covered by these 

 writers, I propose to add a few notes of actual experiences 

 within the memory of man. For most of these I am indebted 

 to the kindness of brother-falconers, who have supplied them at 

 some trouble to themselves, and whom I desire to thank heartily 

 for their friendly aid. 



The powers of a trained peregrine are severely tested by a 

 first-rate house-pigeon, which is one of the fastest of flying 

 things, shifts well, and lives usually in fine condition, taking 



