-8- 



FALGOHRY 



The training of a hawk affords much scope for judgment, 

 experience and skill on the part of the falconer, who must 

 barefullylo^serve the temper and disposition as well as the 

 constitution of each bird; and various practices are resorted 

 to which cannot be here discribed. It is through the appetite 

 principally that hawks, like most wild animals, are tamed; 

 but to fit them for the field much patience, gentleness and 

 care must be used. Slovenly taming necessitates starving, 

 ahd low conditions and weakness are the result. The aim of 

 the falconer must be to have his hawks always keen, and the 

 appetite when they are brought into the field should be such 

 as wouli^ induce the bird in a state of nature to put forth 

 its ful^owers to, obtain food, with, as near as possible, a 

 corresponding condition of flesh. The following is an outline 

 of the process of training hawks, beginning with the management 

 of a wild-caught peregrine falcon. When first taken, a f*ufter 

 hood should be put on 'her head, and she must be furnished 

 with jesses, swivel, leash, and bell. A thick glove, or 

 rather ga\antlet, must be worn on the left hand, (eastern 

 falconers always carry a hawk on the right), and she must 

 be carried about as much as possible, late in the night, 

 every day, being constantly stroked with a bird's wing or 

 feather, very lightly at first. At night she should be tied 

 to a perch in a room with the window darkened so that no 

 light can enter in the morning. The perch should be a padded 

 pole, placed across the room at a height of about 4§ feet 

 from the ground, with a canvas screen underneath. She will 

 easily be induced to feed ih most cases by drawing a piecd 

 of beefsteak across her feet, brushing her legs at the time 

 with a wing, and now and then, as she snaps, slipping a 

 morsel into her mouth. Care must be taken to make a peculiar 

 so-und with the lips or tongue, or to use a low whistle as 

 she is in the act of swallowing; she will very soon learn 

 to associate this soiind with feeding, and it will be found 

 that directly as she hears it she will gripe with her talons 

 and bend down to feel for food. When the falconer perceives 

 this and other signs of her "coming to", that she no longer 

 starts at voice or touch, and steps quietly up from the 

 perch when the hand is placed under her feet, it will be 

 time to change her rufter hood for the ordinary hood. This 

 latter should be carefully chosen, — an easy fitting one, 

 in which the braces draw closely and yet easily and without 

 jerking. An old one previously worn is to be recommended. 

 The hawk should be taken into a very dark room, — one abso- 

 lutely dark is best, — and the change should be made, if 

 possible, in total darkness. After this she must be brought 

 to feed with her hood off; at first she must be fed every 

 day in a darkened room, a gleam of. light being admitted. 

 The first day, the hawk having sCdzed the food, and begun to 

 pull it freely, the hood must be gently slipped off and after 

 she has eaten a moderate quantity, it must be replaced as 

 slowly and gently as possible. Next day the hood may be 



