8. Portion of first wing-feather of male peregrine falcon,
"tiercel," half natural size, in process of imping; a, the living
hawk's feather; b, piece supplied from another tiercel, with the
imping needle c pushed half its length into it and ready to be
pushed home into the living bird's feather.]
_Mantle._--A hawk is said to "mantle" when she stretches out a leg and
a wing simultaneously, a common action of hawks when at ease; also
when she spreads out her wings and feathers to hide any quarry or food
she may have seized from another hawk, or from man. In the last case
it is a fault.
_Mew._--A hawk is said to "mew" when she moults. The place where a
hawk was kept to moult was in olden times called her "mew." Buildings
where establishments of hawks were kept were called "mews."
_Musket._--Male of the sparrow-hawk.
_Mutes (mutings)._--Excrement of hawk.
_Pannel._--The stomach of a hawk, corresponding with the gizzard of a
fowl, is called her pannel. In it the casting is formed.
_Passage._--The line herons take over a tract of country on their way
to and from the heronry when procuring food in the breeding season.
_Passage hawks._--Hawks captured when on their passage or migration.
_Pelt._--The dead body of any quarry the hawk has killed.
_Pitch._--The height to which a hawk, when waiting for game to be
flushed, rises in the air.
_Plume._--A hawk is said to "plume" a bird when she pulls off the
feathers.
_Point._--A hawk "makes her point" when she rises in the air over the
spot where quarry has saved itself from capture by dashing into a
hedge, or has otherwise secreted itself.
_Pounces._--A hawk's claws.
_Pull through the hood._--A hawk is said to pull through the hood when
she eats with it on.
_Put in._--A bird is said to "put in" when it saves itself from the
hawk by dashing into covert or other place of security.
_Quarry._--The bird or beast flown at.
_Rake out._--A hawk is said to "rake out" when she flies, while
"waiting on" (see WAIT ON), too far and wide from her master.
_Ramage._--Wild.
Red hawk.--Hawks of the first year, in the young plumage, are called
"red hawks."
_Ringing._--A bird is said to "ring" when it rises spirally in the
air.
_Rufter hood._--An easy fitting hood, not, however, convenient for
hooding and unhooding--used only for hawks when first captured. (See
fig.)
_Sails._--The wings of a hawk.
_Seeling._--Closing the eyes by a fine thread drawn through the lid of
each eye, the threads being then twisted together above the head--a
practice long disused in England.
_Serving a hawk._--Driving out quarry which has taken refuge, or has
"put in."
_Stoop._--The hawk's rapid plunge upon the quarry.
_Take the air._--A bird is said to "take the air" when it seeks to
escape by trying to rise higher than the falcon.
_Tiercel._--The male of various falcons, particularly of the
peregrine, also _tarcell_, _tassell_ or _tercel_; the term is also
applied to the male of the goshawk.
_Trussing._--A hawk is said to "truss" a bird when she catches it in
the air, and comes to the ground with it in her talons: this term is
not applied to large quarry. (See BIND.)
_Varvels._--Small rings, generally of silver, fastened to the end of
the jesses, and engraved with the owner's name.
_Wait on._--A hawk is said to "wait on" when she flies above her
master waiting till game is sprung.
_Weathering._--Hawks are "weathered" by being placed unhooded in the
open air. Passage hawks which are not sufficiently reclaimed to be
left out by themselves unhooded on blocks are "weathered" by being put
out for an hour or two under the falconer's eye.
_Yarak._--An Eastern term, generally applied to short-winged hawks.
When a hawk is keen, and in hunting condition, she is said to be "in
yarak."
The training of hawks affords much scope for judgment, experience and
skill on the part of the falconer, who must carefully observe the temper
and disposition as well as the constitution of each bird. It is through
the appetite principally that hawks, like most wild animals, are tamed;
but to fit them for use in the field much patience, gentleness and care
must be used. Slovenly taming necessitates starving, and low condition
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 would induce the bird in a state of nature to put
forth its full powers to obtain its food, with, as near as possible, a
corresponding condition as to 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 rufter hood should be
put on her head, and she must be furnished with jesses, swivel, leash
and bell. A thick glove or rather gauntlet 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 into 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, about 4-1/2 ft. from the ground,
with a canvas screen underneath. She will easily be induced to feed in
most cases by drawing a piece of beefsteak over 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 sound 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 sound with
feeding, and it will be found that directly 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 the 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 very 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
absolutely 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 seized the food and
begun to pull at 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, and she should be allowed to finish her meal
through the hood. Next day the hood may be twice removed, and so on; day
by day the practice should be continued, and more light gradually
admitted, until the hawk will feed freely in broad daylight, and suffer
the hood to be taken off and replaced without opposition. Next she must
be accustomed to see and feed in the presence of strangers and dogs, &c.
A good plan is to carry her in the streets of a town at night, at first
where the gas-light is not strong, and where persons passing by are few,
unhooding and hooding her from time to time, but not letting her get
frightened. Up to this time she should be fed on lean beefsteak with no
castings, but as soon as she is tolerably tame and submits well to the
hood, she must occasionally be fed with pigeons and other birds. This
should be done not later than 3 or 4 P.M., and when she is placed on her
perch for the night in the dark room, she must be unhooded and left so,
of course being carefully tied up. The falconer should enter the room
about 7 or 8 A.M. next day, admitting as little light as possible, or
using a candle. He should first observe if she has thrown her casting;
if so, he will at once take her to the fist, giving her a bite of food,
and re-hood her. If her casting is not thrown it is better for him to
retire, leaving the room quite dark, and come in again later. She must
now be taught to know the voice--the shout that is used to call her in
the field--and to jump to the fist for food, the voice being used every
time she is fed. When she comes freely to the fist she must be made
acquainted with the lure. Kneeling down with the hawk on his fist, and
gently unhooding her, the falconer casts out a lure, which may be either
a dead pigeon or an artificial lure garnished with beefsteak tied to a
string, to a distance of a couple or three feet in front of her. When
she jumps down to it, she should be allowed to eat a little on it--the
voice being used--the while receiving morsels from the falconer's hand;
and before her meal is finished she must be taken off to the hand, being
induced to forsake the lure for the hand by a tempting piece of meat.
This treatment will help to check her inclination hereafter to carry her
quarry. This lesson is to be continued till the falcon feeds very boldly
on the lure on the ground, in the falconer's presence--till she will
suffer him to walk round her while she is feeding. All this time she
will have been held by the leash only, but in the next step a strong,
but light creance must be made fast to the leash, and an assistant
holding the hawk should unhood her, as the falconer, standing at a
distance of 5 to 10 yds., calls her by shouting and casting out the
lure. Gradually day after day the distance is increased, till the hawk
will come 30 yds. or so without hesitation; then she may be trusted to
fly to the lure at liberty, and by degrees from any distance, say 1000
yds. This accomplished, she should learn to stoop at the lure. Instead
of allowing the hawk to seize upon it as she comes up, the falconer
should snatch the lure away and let her pass by, and immediately put it
out that she may readily seize it when she turns round to look for it.
This should be done at first only once, and then progressively until she
will stoop backwards and forwards at the lure as often as desired. Next
she should be entered at her quarry. Should she be intended for rooks or
herons, two or three of these birds should be procured. One should be
given her from the hand, then one should be released close to her, and a
third at a considerable distance. If she take these keenly, she may be
flown at a wild bird. Care must, however, be taken to let her have every
possible advantage in her first flights--wind and weather, and the
position of the quarry with regard to the surrounding country, must be
considered.
Young hawks, on being received by the falconer before they can fly, must
be put into a sheltered place, such as an outhouse or shed. Their basket
or hamper should be filled with straw. A hamper is best, with the lid so
placed as to form a platform for the young hawks to come out upon to
feed. This should be fastened to a beam or prop a few feet from the
ground. The young hawks must be most plentifully fed on the best fresh
food obtainable--good beefsteak and fresh-killed birds; the falconer
when feeding them should use his voice as in luring. As they grow old
enough they will come out, and perch about the roof of their shed, by
degrees extending their flights to neighbouring buildings or trees,
never failing to come at feeding time to the place where they are fed.
Soon they will be continually on the wing, playing or fighting with one
another, and later the falconer will observe them chasing other birds,
as pigeons and rooks, which may be passing by. As soon as one fails to
come for a meal, it must be at once caught with a bow net or a snare the
first time it comes back, or it will be lost. It must be borne in mind
that the longer hawks can be left at hack the better they are likely to
be for use in the field--those hawks being always the best which have
preyed a few times for themselves before being caught. Of course there
is great risk of losing hawks when they begin to prey for themselves.
When a hawk is so caught she is said to be "taken up" from hack. She
will not require a rufter hood, but a good deal of the management
described for the passage falcon will be necessary. She must be
carefully tamed and broken to the hood in the same manner, and so taught
to know the lure; but, as might be expected, very much less difficulty
will be experienced. As soon as the eyas knows the lure sufficiently
well to come to it sharp and straight from a distance, she must be
taught to "wait on." This is effected by letting the hawk loose in an
open place, such as a down. It will be found that she will circle round
the falconer looking for the lure she has been accustomed to
see--perhaps mount a little in the air, and advantage must be taken of a
favourable moment when the hawk is at a little height, her head being
turned in towards the falconer, to let go a pigeon which she can easily
catch. When the hawk has taken two or three pigeons in this way, and
mounts immediately in expectation, in short, begins to wait on, she
should see no more pigeons, but be tried at game as soon as possible.
Young peregrines should be flown at grouse first in preference to
partridges, not only because the season commences earlier, but because,
grouse being the heavier birds, they are not so much tempted to "carry"
as with partridges.
The training of the great northern falcons, as well as that of merlins
and hobbies, is conducted much on the above principles, but the
jerfalcons (gerfalcons or gyrfalcons) will seldom wait on well, and
merlins will not do it at all.
The training of short-winged hawks is a simpler process. They must, like
falcons, be provided with jesses, swivel, leash and bell. In these hawks
a bell is sometimes fastened to the tail. Sparrow-hawks can, however,
scarcely carry a bell big enough to be of any service. The hood is
seldom used for short-winged hawks--never in the field. They must be
made as tame as possible by carriage on the fist and the society of man,
and taught to come to the fist freely when required--at first to jump to
it in a room, and then out of doors. When the goshawk comes freely and
without hesitation from short distances, she ought to be called from
long distances from the hand of an assistant, but not oftener than twice
in each meal, until she will come at least 1000 yds., on each occasion
being well rewarded with some food she likes very much, as a
fresh-killed bird, warm. When she does this freely, and endures the
presence of strangers, dogs, &c., a few bagged rabbits should be given
to her, and she will be ready to take the field. Some accustom the
goshawk to the use of the lure, for the purpose of taking her if she
will not come to the fist in the field when she has taken stand in a
tree after being baulked of her quarry, but it ought not to be necessary
to use it.
Falcons or long-winged hawks are either "flown out of the hood," i.e.
unhooded and slipped when the quarry is in sight, or they are made to
"wait on" till game is flushed. Herons and rooks are always taken by the
former method. Passage hawks are generally employed for flying at these
birds, though sometimes good eyases are quite equal to the work. For
heron-hawking a well-stocked heronry is in the first place necessary.
Next an open country which can be ridden over--over which herons are in
the constant habit of passing to and from their heronry on their fishing
excursions, or making their "passage." A heron found at his
feeding-place at a brook or pond affords no sport whatever. If there be
little water any peregrine falcon that will go straight at him will
seize him soon after he rises. It is sometimes advisable to fly a young
falcon at a heron so found, but it should not be repeated. If there be
much water the heron will neither show sport nor be captured. It is
quite a different affair when he is sighted winging his way at a height
in the air over an open tract of country free from water. Though he has
no chance whatever of competing with a falcon in straightforward flight,
the heron has large concave wings, a very light body proportionately,
and air-cells in his bones, and can rise with astonishing rapidity, more
perpendicularly, or, in other words, in smaller rings, than the falcon
can, with very little effort. As soon as he sees the approach of the
falcon, which he usually does almost directly she is cast off, he makes
play for the upper regions. Then the falcon commences to climb too to
get above him, but in a very different style. She makes very large
circles or rings, travelling at a high rate of speed, due to her
strength and weight and power of flying, till she rises above the heron.
Then she makes her attack by stooping with great force at the quarry,
sometimes falling so far below it as the blow is evaded that she cannot
spring up to the proper pitch for the next stoop, and has to make
another ring to regain her lost command over the heron, which is ever
rising, and so on--the "field" meanwhile galloping down wind in the
direction the flight is taking till she seizes the heron aloft, "binds"
to him, and both come down together. Absurd stories have been told and
pictures drawn of the heron receiving the falcon on its beak in the air.
It is, however, well known to all practical falconers that the heron has
no power or inclination to fight with a falcon in the air; so long as he
is flying he seeks safety solely from his wings. When on the ground,
however, should the falcon be deficient in skill or strength, or have
been mutilated by the coping of her beak and talons, as was sometimes
formerly done in Holland with a view to saving the heron's life, the
heron may use his dagger-like bill with dangerous effect, though it is
very rare for a falcon to be injured. It is never safe to fly the
goshawk at a heron of any description. Short-winged hawks do not
immediately kill their quarry as falcons do, nor do they seem to know
where the life lies, and seldom shift their hold once taken even to
defend themselves; and they are therefore easily stabbed by a heron.
Rooks are flown in the same manner as herons, but the flight is
generally inferior. Although rooks fly very well, they seek shelter in
trees or bushes as soon as possible.
For game-hawking eyases are generally used, though undoubtedly passage
or wild-caught hawks are to be preferred. The best game hawks we have
seen have been passage hawks, but there are difficulties attending the
use of them. It may perhaps be fairly said that it is easy to make all
passage hawks "wait on" in grand style, but until they have got over a
season or two they are very liable to be lost. Among the advantages
attending the use of eyases are the following: they are easier to obtain
and to train and keep; they also moult far better and quicker than
passage hawks, while if lost in the field they will often go home by
themselves, or remain about the spot where they were liberated.
Experience, and, we must add, some good fortune also, are requisite to
make eyases good for waiting on for game. Slight mistakes on the part of
the falconer, false points from dogs, or bad luck in serving, will cause
a young hawk to acquire bad habits, such as sitting down on the ground,
taking stand in a tree, raking out wide, skimming the ground, or lazily
flying about at no height. A good game hawk in proper flying order goes
up at once to a good pitch in the air--the higher she flies the
better--and follows her master from field to field, always ready for a
stoop when the quarry is sprung. Hawks that have been successfully
broken and judiciously worked become wonderfully clever, and soon learn
to regulate their flight by the movements of their master. Eyases were
not held in esteem by the old falconers, and it is evident from their
writings that these hawks have been very much better understood and
managed in the 19th century than in the middle ages. It is probable that
the old falconers procured their passage and wild-caught hawks with such
facility, having at the same time more scope for their use in days when
quarry was more abundant and there was more waste land than there now
is, that they did not find it necessary to trouble themselves about
eyases. Here may be quoted a few lines from one of the best of the old
writers, which may be taken as giving a fair account of the estimation
in which eyases were generally held, and from which it is evident that
the old falconers did not understand flying hawks at hack. Simon Latham,
writing in 1633, says of eyases:
They will be verie easily brought to familiaritie with the man, not in
the house only, but also abroad, hooded or unhooded; nay, many of them
will be more gentle and quiet when unhooded than when hooded, for if a
man doe but stirre or speake in their hearing, they will crie and bate
as though they did desire to see the man. Likewise some of them being
unhooded, when they see the man will cowre and crie, shewing thereby
their exceeding fondness and fawning love towards him....
... These kind of hawks be all (for the most part) taken out of the
nest while verie young, even in the downe, from whence they are put
into a close house, whereas they be alwaies fed and familiarly brought
up by the man, untill they bee able to flie, when as the summer
approaching verie suddenly they are continued and trained up in the
same, the weather being alwaies warm and temperate; thus they are
still inured to familiaritie with the man, not knowing from whence
besides to fetch their relief or sustenance. When the summer is ended
they bee commonly put up into a house again, or else kept in some warm
place, for they cannot endure the cold wind to blow upon them.... But
leaving to speak of these kind of scratching hawks that I never did
love should come too neere my fingers, and to return unto the faire
conditioned haggard faulcon....
The author here describes with accuracy the condition of unhacked
eyases, which no modern falconer would trouble himself to keep. Many
English falconers in modern times have had eyases which have killed
grouse, ducks and other quarry in a style almost equalling that of
passage hawks. Rooks also have been most successfully flown, and some
herons on passage have been taken by eyases. No sport is to be had at
game without hawks that wait on well. Moors, downs, open country where
the hedges are low and weak are best suited to game hawking. Pointers or
setters may be used to find game, or the hawk may be let go on coming to
the ground where game is known to lie, and suffered, if an experienced
one, to "wait on" till game is flushed. However, the best plan with most
hawks, young ones especially, is to use a dog, and to let the hawk go
when the dog points, and to flush the birds as soon as the hawk is at
her pitch. It is not by any means necessary that the hawk should be near
the birds when they rise, provided she is at a good height, and that she
is watching; she will come at once with a rush out of the air at great
speed, and either cut one down with the stoop, or the bird will save
itself by putting in, when every exertion must be made, especially if
the hawk be young and inexperienced, to "serve" her as soon as possible
by driving out the bird again while she waits overhead. If this be
successfully done she is nearly certain to kill it at the second flight.
Perhaps falcons are best for grouse and tiercels for partridges.
Magpies afford much sport. Only tiercels should be used for hunting
magpies. A field is necessary--at the very least 4 or 5 runners to beat
the magpie out, and perhaps the presence of a horseman is an advantage.
Of course in open flight a magpie would be almost immediately caught by
a tiercel peregrine, and there would be no sport, but the magpie makes
up for his want of power of wing by his cunning and shiftiness; and he
is, moreover, never to be found except where he has shelter under his
lee for security from a passing peregrine. Once in a hedge or tree he
is perfectly safe from the wild falcon, but the case is otherwise when
the falconer approaches with his trained tiercel, perhaps a cast of
tiercels, waiting on in the air, with some active runners in his field.
Then driven from hedge to hedge, from one kind of shelter to another,
stooped at every instant when he shows himself ever so little away from
cover by the watchful tiercels overhead, his egg-stealing days are
brought to an end by a fatal stroke--sometimes not before the field is
pretty well exhausted with running and shouting. The magpie always
manoeuvres towards some thick wood, from which it is the aim of the
field to cut him off. At first hawks must be flown in easy country, but
when they understand their work well they will kill magpies in very
enclosed country--with a smart active field a magpie may even be pushed
through a small wood. Magpie hawking affords excellent exercise, not
only for those who run to serve the hawks, but for the hawks also; they
get a great deal of flying, and learn to hunt in company with men--any
number of people may be present. Blackbirds may be hunted with tiercels
in the same way. Woodcock afford capital sport where the country is
tolerably open. It will generally be found that after a hawk has made
one stoop at a woodcock, the cock will at first try to escape by taking
the air, and will show a very fine flight. When beaten in the air it
will try to get back to covert again, but when once a hawk has outflown
a woodcock, he is pretty sure to kill it. Hawks seem to pursue woodcock
with great keenness; something in the flight of the cock tempts them to
exertion. The laziest and most useless hawks--hawks that will scarcely
follow a slow pigeon--will do their best at woodcock, and will very
soon, if the sport is continued, be improved in their style of flying.
Snipe may be killed by first-class tiercels in favourable localities.
Wild duck and teal are only to be flown at when they can be found in
small pools or brooks at a distance from much water--where the fowl can
be suddenly flushed by men or dogs while the falcon is flying at her
pitch overhead. For duck, falcons should be used; tiercels will kill
teal well.
The merlin is used for flying at larks, and there does not seem to be
any other use to which this pretty little falcon may fairly be put. It
is very active, but far from being, as some authors have stated, the
swiftest of all hawks. Its flight is greatly inferior in speed and power
to that of the peregrine. Perhaps its diminutive size, causing it to be
soon lost to view, and a limited acquaintance with the flight of the
wild peregrine falcon, have led to the mistake.
The hobby is far swifter than the merlin, but cannot be said to be
efficient in the field; it may be trained to wait on beautifully, and
will sometimes take larks; it is very much given to the fault of
"carrying."
The three great northern falcons are not easy to procure in proper
condition for training. They are very difficult to break to the hood and
to manage in the field. They are flown, like the peregrine, at herons
and rooks, and in former days were used for kites and hares. Their style
of flight is magnificent; they are considerably swifter than the
peregrine, and are a most deadly "footers." They seem, however, to lack
somewhat of the spirit and dash of the peregrine.
For the short-winged hawks an open country is not required; indeed they
may be flown in a wood. Goshawks are flown at hares, rabbits, pheasants,
partridges and wild-fowl. Only very strong females are able to take
hares; rabbits are easy quarry for any female goshawk, and a little too
strong for the male. A good female goshawk may kill from 10 to 15
rabbits in a day, or more. For pheasants the male is to be preferred,
certainly for partridges; either sex will take duck and teal, but the
falconer must get close to them before they are flushed, or the goshawk
will stand a poor chance of killing. Rabbit hawking may be practised by
ferreting, and flying the hawk as the rabbits bolt, but care must be
taken or the hawk will kill the ferret. Where rabbits sit out on grass
or in turnip fields, a goshawk may be used with success, even in a wood
when the holes are not too near. From various causes it is impossible,
or nearly so, to have goshawks in England in the perfection to which
they are brought in the East. In India, for instance, there is a far
greater variety of quarry suited to them, and wild birds are much more
approachable; moreover, there are advantages for training which do not
exist in England. Unmolested--and scarcely noticed except perhaps by
others of his calling or tastes--the Eastern falconer carries his hawk
by day and night in the crowded bazaars, till the bird becomes perfectly
indifferent to men, horses, dogs, carriages, and, in short, becomes as
tame as the domestic animals.
The management of sparrow-hawks is much the same as that of goshawks,
but they are far more delicate than the latter. They are flown in
England at blackbirds, thrushes and other small birds; good ones will
take partridges well till the birds get too wild and strong with the
advancing season. In the East large numbers of quail are taken with
sparrow-hawks.
It is of course important that hawks from which work in the field is
expected should be kept in the highest health, and they must be
carefully fed; no bad or tainted meat must on any account be given to
them--at any rate to hawks of the species used in England. Peregrines
and the great northern falcons are best kept on beefsteak, with a
frequent change in the shape of fresh-killed pigeons and other birds.
The smaller falcons, the merlin and the hobby, require a great number of
small birds to keep them in good health for any length of time. Goshawks
should be fed like peregrines, but rats and rabbits are very good as
change of food for them. The sparrow-hawk, like the small falcons,
requires small birds. All hawks require castings frequently. It is true
that hawks will exist, and often appear to thrive, on good food without
castings, but the seeds of probable injury to their health are being
sown the whole time they are so kept. If there is difficulty in
procuring birds, and it is more convenient to feed the hawks on
beefsteak, they should frequently get the wings and heads and necks of
game and poultry. In addition to the castings which they swallow,
tearing these is good exercise for them, and biting the bones prevents
the beaks from overgrowing. Most hawks, peregrines especially, require
the bath. The end of a cask, sawn off to give a depth of about 6 in.,
makes a very good bath. Peregrines which are used for waiting on require
a bath at least twice a week. If this be neglected, they will not wait
long before going off in search of water to bathe, however hungry they
may be.
The most agreeable and the best way, where practicable, of keeping hawks
is to have them on blocks on the lawn. Each hawk's block should stand in
a circular bed of sand--about 8 ft. in diameter; this will be found very
convenient for keeping them clean. Goshawks are generally placed on bow
perches, which ought not to be more than 8 or 9 in. high at the highest
part of the arc. It will be several months before passage or wild-caught
falcons can be kept out of doors; they must be fastened to a perch in a
darkened room, hooded, but by degrees as they get thoroughly tame may be
brought to sit on the lawn. In England (especially in the south)
peregrines, the northern falcons and goshawks may be kept out of doors
all day and night in a sheltered situation. In very wild boisterous
weather, or in snow or sharp frost, it will be advisable to move them to
the shelter of a shed, the floor of which should be laid with sand to a
depth of 3 or 4 in. Merlins and hobbies are too tender to be kept much
out of doors. An eastern aspect is to be preferred--all birds enjoy the
morning sun, and it is very beneficial to them. The more hawks confined
to blocks out of doors see of persons, dogs, horses, &c., moving about
the better, but of course only when there is no danger of their being
frightened or molested, or of food being given to them by strangers.
Those who have only seen wretched ill-fed hawks in cages as in
zoological gardens or menageries, pining for exercise, with battered
plumage, torn shoulders and bleeding ceres, from dashing against their
prison bars, and overgrown beaks from never getting bones to break, can
have little idea of the beautiful and striking-looking birds to be seen
pluming their feathers and stretching their wings at their ease at their
blocks on the falconer's lawn, watching with their large bright keen
eyes everything that moves in the sky and everywhere else within the
limits of their view. Contrary to the prevailing notion, hawks show a
good deal of attachment when they have been properly handled. It is true
that by hunger they are in a great measure tamed and controlled, and the
same may be said of all undomesticated and many domesticated animals.
And instinct prompts all wild creatures when away from man's control to
return to their former shyness, but hawks certainly retain their
tameness for a long time, and their memory is remarkably retentive.
Wild-caught hawks have been retaken, either by their coming to the lure
or upon quarry, from 2 to 7 days after they had been lost, and eyases
after 3 weeks. As one instance of retentiveness of memory displayed by
hawks we may mention the case of a wild-caught falcon which was
recaptured after being at liberty more than 3 years, still bearing the
jesses which were cut short close to the leg at the time she was
released; in five days she was flying at the lure again at liberty, and
was found to retain the peculiar ways and habits she was observed to
have in her former existence as a trained hawk. It is useless to bring a
hawk into the field unless she has a keen appetite; if she has not, she
will neither hunt effectually nor follow her master. Even wild-caught
falcons, however, may sometimes be seen so attached to their owner that,
when sitting on their blocks on a lawn with food in their crops, they
will on his coming out of the house bate hard to get to him, till he
either go up to them and allow them to jump up to his hand or withdraw
from their sight. Goshawks are also known to evince attachment to their
owner. Another prevailing error regarding hawks is that they are
supposed to be lazy birds, requiring the stimulus of hunger to stir them
to action. The reverse is the truth; they are birds of very active
habits, and exceedingly restless, and the notion of their being lazy has
been propagated by those who have seen little or nothing of hawks in
their wild state. The wild falcon requires an immense deal of exercise,
and to be in wind, in order to exert the speed and power of flight
necessary to capture her prey when hungry; and to this end instinct
prompts her to spend hours daily on the wing, soaring and playing about
in the air in all weathers, often chasing birds merely for play or
exercise. Sometimes she takes a siesta when much gorged, but unless she
fills her crop late in the evening she is soon moving again--before half
her crop is put over. Goshawks and sparrow-hawks, too, habitually soar
in the air at about 9 or 10 A.M., and remain aloft a considerable time,
but these birds are not of such active habits as the falcons. The
frequent bating of thoroughly tame hawks from their blocks, even when
not hungry or frightened, proves their restlessness and impatience of
repose. So does the wretched condition of the caged falcon (before
alluded to), while the really lazy buzzards and kites, which do not in a
wild state depend on activity or power of wing for their sustenance,
maintain themselves for years, even during confinement if properly fed,
in good case and plumage. Such being the habits of the falcon in a state
of nature, the falconer should endeavour to give the hawks under his
care as much flying as possible, and he should avoid the very common
mistake of keeping too many hawks. In this case a favoured few are sure
to get all the work, and the others, possibly equally good if they had
fair play, are spoiled for want of exercise.
The larger hawks may be kept in health and working order for several
years--15 or 20--barring accidents. The writer has known peregrines,
shaheens and goshawks to reach ages between 15 and 20 years. Goshawks,
however, never fly well after 4 or 5 seasons, when they will no longer
take difficult quarry; they may be used at rabbits as long as they live.
Shaheens may be seen in the East at an advanced age, killing wild-fowl
beautifully. The shaheen is a falcon of the peregrine type, which does
not travel, like the peregrine, all over the world. It appears that the
jerfalcons also may be worked to a good age. Old Simon Latham tells us
of these birds--"I myself have known one of them an excellent Hearnor
(killer of herons), and to continue her goodnesse very near twentie
yeeres, or full out that time."
AUTHORITIES.--Schlegel's _Traite de fauconnerie_ contains a very large
list of works on falconry in the languages of all the principal
countries of the Old World. _Bibliotheca accipitraria_, by J.E.
Harting (1891), gives a complete bibliography. See _Coursing_ and
_Falconry_ in the Badminton Library; and _The Art and Practice of
Hawking_, by E.B. Michell (1900), the best modern book on the subject.
Perhaps the most useful of the old works are _The Booke of Faulconrie
or Hawking_, by George Turberville (1575), and _The Faulcon's Lure and
Cure_, by Simon Latham (1633). (E. D. R.)
FALDSTOOL (from the O.H. Ger. _falden_ or _falten_, to fold, and
_stuol_, Mod. Ger. _Stuhl_, a stool; from the medieval Latin
_faldistolium_ is derived, through the old form _faudesteuil_, the Mod.
Fr. _fauteuil_), properly a folding seat for the use of a bishop when
not occupying the throne in his own cathedral, or when officiating in a
cathedral or church other than his own; hence any movable folding stool
used for kneeling in divine service. The small desk or stand from which
the Litany is read is sometimes called a faldstool, and a similar stool
is provided for the use of the sovereign at his coronation.
FALERII [mod. _Civita Castellana_ (q.v.)], one of the twelve chief
cities of Etruria, situated about 1 m. W. of the ancient Via
Flaminia,[1] 32 m. N. of Rome. According to the legend, it was of Argive
origin; and Strabo's assertion that the population, the Falisci (q.v.),
were of a different race from the Etruscans is proved by the language of
the earliest inscriptions which have been found here. Wars between Rome
and the Falisci appear to have been frequent. To one of the first of
them belongs the story of the schoolmaster who wished to betray his boys
to Camillus; the latter refused his offer, and the inhabitants thereupon
surrendered the city. At the end of the First Punic War, the Falisci
rose in rebellion, but were soon conquered (241 B.C.) and lost half
their territory. Zonaras (viii. 18) tells us that the ancient city,
built upon a precipitous hill, was destroyed and another built on a more
accessible site on the plain. The description of the two sites agrees
well with the usual theory that the original city occupied the site of
the present Civita Castellana, and that the ruins of Falleri (as the
place is now called) are those of the Roman town which was thus
transferred 3 m. to the north-west. After this time Falerii hardly
appears in history. It became a colony (Junonia Faliscorum) perhaps
under Augustus, though according to the inscriptions apparently not
until the time of Gallienus. There were bishops of Falerii up till 1033,
when the desertion of the place in favour of the present site began, and
the last mention of it dates from A.D. 1064.
The site of the original Falerii is a plateau, about 1100 yds. by 400,
not higher than the surrounding country (475 ft.) but separated from it
by gorges over 200 ft. in depth, and only connected with it on the
western side, which was strongly fortified with a mound and ditch; the
rest of the city was defended by walls constructed of rectangular blocks
of tufa, of which some remains still exist. Remains of a temple were
found at Lo Scasato, at the highest point of the ancient town, in 1888,
and others have been excavated in the outskirts. The attribution of one
of these to Juno Quiritis is uncertain. These buildings were of wood,
with fine decorations of coloured terra-cotta (_Notizie degli scavi_,
1887, p. 92; 1888, p. 414). Numerous tombs hewn in the rock are visible
on all sides of the town, and important discoveries have been made in
them; many objects, both from the temples and from the tombs, are in the
Museo di Villa Giulia at Rome. Similar finds have also been made at
Calcata, 6 m. S., and Corchiano, 5 m. N.W. The site of the Roman Falerii
is now entirely abandoned. It lay upon a road which may have been (see
H. Nissen, _Italische Landeskunde_, ii. 361) the Via Annia, a by-road of
the Via Cassia; this road approached it from the south passing through
Nepet, while its prolongation to the north certainly bore the name Via
Amerina. The circuit of the city is about 2250 yds., its shape roughly
triangular, and the walls are a remarkably fine and well-preserved
specimen of Roman military architecture. They are constructed of
rectangular blocks of tufa two Roman ft. in height; the walls themselves
reach in places a height of 56 ft. and are 7 to 9 ft. thick. There were
about 80 towers, some 50 of which are still preserved. Two of the gates
also, of which there were eight, are noteworthy. Of the buildings within
the walls hardly anything is preserved above ground, though the forum
and theatre (as also the amphitheatre, the arena of which measured 180
by 108 ft. outside the walls) were all excavated in the 19th century.
Almost the only edifice now standing is the 12th-century abbey church of
S. Maria. Recent excavations have shown that the plan of the whole city
could easily be recovered, though the buildings have suffered
considerable devastation (_Notizie degli scavi_, 1903, 14).
See G. Dennis, _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_ (London, 1883), i.
97; for philology and ethnology see FALISCI. (T. As.)