Vol. XXXVllI, No. 6 WASHINGTON 



December, 1920 



THE 



NATEONAL 

 OEOGMAPEflC 



COPVRJGHT, I9Z0. BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, ' 



HNGTON. P. C 



FALCONRY, THE SPORT OF KINGS 



O^nce the Means of Supplying Man's Necessities, It Has 



Survived the Centuries as One of the Most 



Romantic Pastimes of History 



By Louis Agassiz Fuertes 



Illustrations in Color from Paintings by the Author 



IT WILL surprise many to learn that 

 the art of falconry, or hawking, goes 

 back to the remote and unwritten 

 past. We have many proofs of this in 

 the frescoes and sculptures of the early 

 Egyptians and Persians. And in all the 

 time that has passed since that early day 

 there has never been a total lapse of the 

 art; falconry has in every age been car- 

 ried on in some part of the world. Ref- 

 erence material is found in books not 

 only of England, Holland, France, Italy, 

 and Spain, but of China, Japan, and 

 Russia, while the sport has been followed 

 from immemorial time in India and 

 northern Africa. 



The ancient Greeks apparently knew 

 nothing of falconry, but the Lombards, 

 settling in north Italy about 560, knew of 

 the art, and by 875 it had become a gen- 

 erally known practice throughout west- 

 ern Europe and Saxon England. From 

 that tim^ it thrived, filling an important 

 place in the life of the times. 



RETURNING CRUSADERS WERE ENTHUSI- 

 ASTIC DEVOTEES OE EAECONRY 



A vast impetus was given to falconry 

 by the returning crusaders, who had be- 

 come familiar with the methods of the 



Orient and had brought with them both 

 falcons and trainers. War lords never 

 left their courts without their falconers 

 and a cadge of hawks, to be flown at 

 anything that might be deemed worthy. 



The gun, of course, delivered a serious 

 blow to the art, as it provided a quick, 

 sure, and inexpensive way of getting 

 meat. Still, the real devotees were never 

 greatly affected by this device, and 

 through the centuries, up to the rebel- 

 lion in England, and later through the 

 French Revolution on the Continent, 

 falconry survived the difficulties imposed 

 by the introduction of firearms, the 

 breaking up of the country into small 

 holdings, the reclaiming of large areas 

 of wild land, and other inevitable changes 

 incident to a multiplying and advancing 

 population. 



As a general practice, however, fal- 

 conry in Europe ceased after the great 

 social upheavals mentioned. Its mainte- 

 nance as a sport since then is attributable 

 in large measure to half a dozen hawking 

 clubs, among which are the Falconers' 

 Club, the High Ash Club, and the Loo 

 Club in Holland. There were probably 

 thirty or forty private establishments in 

 England in 1914, but no doubt the World 



