Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-06-07
HUNTING WITH FALCONS.


| HUNTING WITH FALCONS.
Descriptions OF sport which Was Q.
Ono Time Very Popular.
! As my party was crossing q space Of
withered bracken on a sunny day in
late October. on the shore of the sea
loch of Lochcil. I caught glimpse of q
bird which jumped up foot of the
ground in the bracken. disturbed in
our approach one hundred yards Of
The keeper declared it winged grouse.
knew it well for Scolopax rusticola.
Here was chance. To stop the men
and the cadge; to take lovely and
favorite little Welsh evess falcon, born
in the rocks of the Glamorganshire
Worms Head" ON my hand. to cast
her off and to form a line across the
bracken. was soon done. Up rose the
falcon in the sunshine, and perhaps if
l had had little more patience and
allowed poor ''Taillie'' ESQ called from,
her broken but we'll imped up taiD
more time to mount this story might
never have been written and the wood
cock brought to hand by the hawks
very first stoop.
However. we soon moved on. and so
also did the cock. and up he went.
too. most cheerfully. Down came the
falcon; the cock shifted cleverly. and
stretched away upward from the blue
sea loch in wide zigzags. flying for all
the world just like his congencr. the
full snipe. goes up. and apparently
with even greater ease. speed and de-
termination, if possible. than he. In
short. never believed then that any
trained pcregrine could overhaul such
a bird. for l we'll knew that captivity
and training deprives falcon of fully
One-third of her natural wing power,
and that the woodcock possessed all
his. and had probably not so very long
arrived from Scandinavia on the
wings he was making such use Of; and
even now 1 am convinced 1 should
have had good pa ssage falcon for
this flight, and that the eyess would
never have illed if the cock had not
turned back.
Away tolled poor little Talllie up
ward also-nOt in the rings she could
make so well on occasion. but in a
straight line. As the cock was evil
IDENTITY bent on crossing the sea loch
| Uhere mile widc) for distant Dhuls-
! kee, soon saw that the matter was
growing serious, and down dropped
with a fine pair of Volghtlander field
glasses at my eyes. On my left were
the well-known best pair Of eyes in
all broad Argyleshire in the he ad of
my ghillic, Sandy Kennedy, the Fox
hunters" son; on my right my light
sighted falconer. Jamie Barr. Il cam
ma see Them" quoth he on the right.
Il ken EN- tine." said he ON the left
Gas well he mighty. Il ken them no
! MORE" soon came from him also, and
my glasses alone held the field. Soon
thought the two little dots, which
had then become one, grew somewhat
larger. Il ken EN- again." came from
my right; Il see them. see them!'
from my left.
Larger and larger grew the spot;
then it turned into two spots. both
shooting out of the clear blue sky.
over the clearer blue loch. right toward
our astonished eyes. with this diff
ference. that "Taillie" was now far
the higher up in this headlong fall.
and the woodcock was plainly seeking
the shelter of the very same bank of
bracken he had risen from. Forward
shot the falcon, and tuSning over. de-
livered the stoop known and loved by
falconers of all ages; and this time
with entire success. The cock was
cut completely over and fell from u
height of two hundreds yards. leaving
trail of brown feathers in the air.
dead as stone. not fifty yards from
where we were lying. '.Her con-
queror descended on closed pinions."
rs Knox has it in his inimitable de.
scription of fight he saw. worked by
wild falcon at wild mallard, in Ire
land; and there she sat, with the dead
quarry safe in her foot. on an OPP II
knoll on the moor ("as tame rs par
rot" sa d Barr). while eating her we'll
earned meal. and perfectly free and
unfettered all the time.-Lomdon Field.
Electric Piano-Piaying.
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