BORCH'S FALCONRY - english
A possibly little known method of taking hares is by hawking. It is, however, rather to be regarded as a tour de force in sporting matters than as a means whereby they can be 'readily reduced into possession,' as the lawyers phrase it. The feat has been performed in modern times in two different ways: first, by means of the long-winged gerfalcon; secondly, of the short-winged goshawk. For the former method a very open country is needed; the flight is often of long duration, for the falcon, soaring above the fleeting hare, will endeavour to stun and confuse her by repeated blows, ere she will 'bind to' or finally seize her quarry. In this kind of flight the hare has every chance to make good her escape to some friendly covert, not indeed without sustaining a shrewd buffet or two, or perchance getting one of her ears slit, but still alive and safe. Ofttimes she will turn to meet the stoop, and, bounding four or five feet into the air, allow the falcon to pass below her, or, by thus springing to meet her, bafffle the stoop altogether. Or if a rut or bramble brake afford the scantiest concealment, she may squat therein and is safe, for the long-winged hawks will not pounce upon and seize their quarry thus motionless on the ground. To prevent this, it was in old times the custom to run, with the hawk, a slow lurcher, and it was probably to his efforts that the hare succumbed after being knocked about by the hawk.
I have myself in recent years seen even a peregrine stoop at a brown hale and knock her head over heels as though shot, while on three or four different occasions the blue hare has been fairly killed by the trained peregrine, just as the brown hare has been taken by the gerfalcon. An account of these remarkable flights will be found in that volume of the 'Badminton' series which relates to Falconry.
The flight with the goshawk is another affair. It is the nature of these short-winged hawks to seize ttleir prey upon the ground, by one swift dash out of a tree, or, in the case of trained birds, from off the fist of their master. But it requires a very courageous and powerful hawk to hold so muscular a quarry as a fullgrown hare, and the instances of goshawks that could do so regularly are few and far between. None, perhaps, have been better at the work than one that was trained in I89I by Sir Henry Boynton, of Burton Agnes, which time after time captured, in the open, stout old Yorkshire Wold hares. Some of the flights lasted for half a mile, as the hawk, bafffled time after time in making good her grip, would renew the chase almost as a falcon throws herself up after her stoop. But the capture of the hare with a trained bird of prey, though a very fascinating and exciting form of sport, must be Iooked upon as exceptional.
The Bonelli eagle has lately been trained with success by M. Barrachin, a French falconer. In his case the eagle was chiefly used for taking rabbits, but there is little doubt that it could be as well trained to take hares, and on open downs this quarry would wel' display its sweeping powers of flight, and be worlh following up. The attempt is worth making by English falconers who have ground suitable for the sport, and if it succeeded a new feature would be added to falconry in this country.
The only instance of hare-hawking in modern times being regularly followed was that of the sport shown about the year 1869 by the establishment of the late Maharajah Dhuleep Singh at Elveden in Norfolk. There was plenty of open heath land and of large fields well suited to the purpose. Just at that time the Maharajah had sent John Barr, the falconer, to Iceland, to bring back a large stock of these noble falcons. At one time he had as many as thirty-five in his mews, and three or four of these were regularly trained to fly the big brown hares of which he had so many on his estate. No very great number was killed, for disease played havoc with the beautiful falcons, which were ill suited to the damp English climate; but as to their power to take hares, and the possibility of success at this flight, there could be no doubt.
BORCH'S FALCONRY - english