After lunch we met at the mews, where the 20-odd birds were kept, two miles from the hotel. Food, or its absence, provides the falconer with his means of control. We learned the nuances of this after meeting a large Russian steppe eagle, and then the Harris hawks that we would work with during the session. In a hungry bird, the bone is pronounced. Not to worry, said Davis, on the several occasions I brought this up.
Hawks do their main damage with their feet.
Other birds gave more reason for concern than Arthur. After a few flaps, he would swing upside down and dangle from the fist like a chicken on its way to market, all majesty gone. Davis showed us how to swing the bird back to its feet, pushing on the breast so as not to touch the wing feathers, which are weakened by contact with our skin oils. The schooling continued, with morning instruction in one of the Equinox's meeting rooms and afternoon work with the birds, leading up to a hunt on the last day. Davis showed us how falconers affix a small transmitter to the bird's tail, to help track it down should it fail to return.