Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1893-04-13
GREAT TRAINED BIRDS.
a REVIVAL OF FALCONRY IN
MANY COUNTRIES.
The Great Eagles OF Tartary and the
Lam nar-GeyccS o: stycii An Ex-
citing IIuaS with Falcons
In Hungary.

hungarian HuutIIg cdSll8 OF MS
| Martony was pronounced q success by
all the leading sportsmen of the
Austrian empire, and Captain George
AlcOtt, who spent an afternoon with
an Afghan hunter, declares that he
| never had as much fun in any Other
half day of his life
The trained hawks caught rabbits
and marmots Ca kind OF gopher) as
! easily as birds aud tackled big
black cock, who beat off his first
assailant, but finally succumbed to
| the combined attack Of the two
winged bulldogs. The only difficulty
| seemed to be in getting them to catch
: sight Of the desired game, but that
problem once solved distance or
the speed and cunning of their quarry
made very little difference in the
! eventual result. If ar abbt "doublcd. 9"
as our hunters call it. G., ran zir-
gag and in tricky circles, ono Of the
stcr to prevent him from disappear-
ing in thicllct of heather shrubs.
while hawk No. rose to 4 height of
Il hundred yards where he hovorcd.
| ready to dart down at the first favor
able opportunity. Pigeons now and
I then escaped by the caprici0uSncss of
! their flight, bat straight-lying birds,
like grouse ard ducks, had no chance
/ whatever, writes T. l.. Oswald in the
San Francisco Chronicles
The hawks overlook them as a
couple of greyhounds would run
down pig, and generally knocked
them out of time at the first plunge
with the same unerring instinct in
striking vital part that enables q
panther to kill a deer at tho first
spring.
The hawks chosen for that sport
spread about four feet from tin to
tip of their outstretchcl wings and
are less easy to manage than the ger.
falcons, bat tAo Tartars Of Western
China go even farther auI pnt,iye to
train eagles that help them to cap
turo the largest antelopas of th2ig
tablelands. The Saigai buck. a c"ca.
turc nearly as large a s an elk, cannot
be ovcrpowcrcd at once but tn,
hunting eagle wears it out by clutch
ing its rump and then spreading his
wings, thus Obliging the buck to con-
tinue its flight under the disaivant.
age of man trying II run with an
open parachute or an old fashioned
umbrella
Hunting eagles We're also kept by
tho Mexican grandeo3, and the vice,
ROY OF Tia scala pro ,cnt,d Cortez
with trained harpy eagle known as
"El principe del ayrc'-tho ..princ,
of tine air. and valued a. price that
would have purchased six slaves.
In the epic "Arau"ana " a rhymad
chronicle of the conquest of Chilli,
there is an account Ola 'hunting vul-
turc' which may rerc" to the condor
OF the Southern Andes, Il vulture
only in appearance bat II bold and
aggressive bird with decided pref
erence for fresh meat when il can be
procured. a trained pet of that sort
would support whole family in Il
country 50 we'll stocked with game a.
the highlands of Chilli
relative of the condor, was success
fully t'aincd by the Forster Althoicr, |
the OVersc"r of an imperial game pre- |
serve near Judcnburg in Styria. Its !
Owr"r has taught it to take airline |
trip, II tho highland lakes whore /
ducks can always be found at certain /
times of the year, aud estimates that |
the food saves him each year from - !
to b hOrins worth of shot and /
powder.
There was a time when the artistic. |
Gratis of Western Europe did not !
think life worth living without an as |
sortment o. trained falcons Louis !
Nj. Of Franco was considered the |
greatest miser who ever disgraccd Il
throne, but he made an exception in |
the matter Of hawking, his faucOnicr- |
en-chef and extra successful trainers |
being always paid with royal munif. |
Cencc, At a time when franc went |
further than two modern dollars the |
chief falcOncr Of Henry ". received |
a salary Of 80 francs u year. Fran !
els !, long refused to sign a treaty .
with the Barbary coast states. but /
his reluctance was finally overcome /
by Il present of splendid Moorish |
hawk, and the Emperor Frederick H. /
OF Germany wrote an elaborate !
treatise on falconry which was re. .
published in Leipzig few years ago .
The NOrmans spent almost all their !
leisure in hawking. Every knight |
decorated his hunting cap with heron !
plumcs: every lady, from the spouse |
of poor robbcr-barOn TO the daugh. |
ter Of king, kept a pet falcon and |
did not let it suffer from want OF /
exercise.
From Normandy the sport was i'm
ported to England, whcrc the Plan !
tagenets enacted truculcnt bylaws !
for its protection from the wrath OF !
damaged rustics, who had to submit F.
to steeplechaseS across their rye
fields whenever plumed cayalcadc .
wished to keep up with u hawk pur- /
suing a heron beyond the morland
lakes. The Spani-h Moors, too. were !
passionate falconers, bat probably +.
imported their trade secrets from
much further East. Gcyfalcons are
mentioned in the oldest chronicles OF #.
Hindostan, and sculptures represent !
ing hunters with hooded hawks have
been found on the monuments of the /
ancient cities of Assyria
In Great Britain the sport declined
i'll the sixteenth century, when the |
enormous musket5 of royal arsenals I.
were first reduced to size enabling |
sportsmca to use them with anything /.
like ease. The Barr Bros. of Lincoln !
shire, have, however, proved that the /.
Shyness of sh0tgun-scared partridges (
will not save them from first-class /
falons. and the Duke of Dovenshire +.
has rented his Irish estate of Lism1re !
Castle to sportsman who does most /
OF his hunting with hawks. The /
HungarianS have never let falcOnry /
die out altogether, and besides the /
above-mentioned hunting lodge OF /.
kis-Martony, there arc training es-
ia DliShu1EDts in fin. Raly,,,,,,, J., !