The nobility usually didn’t bother with training their birds themselves. Instead, they hired falconers, and Master falconers were paid extravagant sums of money to work for kings or other nobles. The office of Master of the Mews was created for the individual in charge of obtaining, grooming, and keeping the king’s best hawks in constant readiness for hunting.
Sadly, around 1800, societal changes, including the French Revolution and the growing popularity of firearms, caused interest in falconry to wane.
Shadows of Falconry in Modern Language
Many of the terms used in Falconry, then as well as today, are French in origin. A “cadger” carried a portable perch called a cadge for the falconer. Most cadgers were older falconers and in time, the word became corrupted to “codger” meaning an elderly person.
“Callow,” which was used to describe a nestling falcon that still had quill feathers, now means someone young and untested. When raptors drink it is called “bowsing,” and a bird that drinks heavily is called a “boozer.” The term now applies to people of the same disposition.
Although it now means someone who was cheated, “hoodwinked” also describes the state of a hooded hunting bird and was originally used in this context. A hooded bird had been cheated out of the meat it caught, because shortly after the bird caught its prey, the falconer replaced the hood on the bird’s head, allowing him or her to take the prey from the bird. The hood serves to keep the bird “in the dark” and allows it to remain calm while waiting for its master’s orders.
Modern Falconry
As the terminology in falconry has trickled through the ages, so too has the equipment. While the building materials may have changed, raptors are still kept in their own personal enclosures, called mews. This home includes bathing and watering facilities, perches, and a place for the caretaker to perform routine chores, such as monitoring the bird’s weight.
In the United States, someone who wishes to become a falconer needs to pass a falconry examination provided by the state (in accordance with federal law) by scoring at least 80 percent. The apprentice enters into the sport under the careful eye of an experienced master who then becomes the person’s sponsor. Finding a sponsor may be difficult, as there are only about 1500 licensed falconers nationwide. Not everyone who is licensed practices falconry, and not everyone who practices wishes to take on the care and responsibility of an apprentice.
After passing the test, the apprentice sets up the mews, which are inspected and approved by the state’s department of fish and wildlife. Federal law regulates the design and amenities offered, though states may enact stricter laws if they choose. In any case, the mews must contain flights, one for each raptor kept. Flights are large walk-in cages that allow the bird freedom of movement. They must be both indoors and outdoors, to protect the raptor against inclement weather. Outdoors flights should contain at least one perch. Both indoor and outdoor flights need a bathing container, at least two to six inches deep and wider than the length of the raptor. Dead trees work well for perches.
Once all of these items are in order, the appropriate paperwork is sent to the state’s department of fish and wildlife, which will then issue a permit for the apprentice to acquire a hawk from the wild, the source for every American falconer’s first birds. Obtaining the birds from the wild serves several functions. First, individuals without the patience and fortitude to capture a wild raptor do not continue with a sport that easily demands a lifetime of attention. Secondly, falconry is a dance between man and bird, and what better way to learn the most intimate habits of any creature, than to understand it in the wild. It takes more than technology to capture a wild raptor; it takes a harmony with the creature itself.
It isn’t enough, however, to merely have a place for the bird and a permit, special equipment is needed. In addition to the mews, the aspiring falconer needs the tools of the trade. According to the federal falconry regulation, before the applicant can become a licensed apprentice falconer, he or she needs to have the following items:
The falconer needs at least one pair of jesses, made of either pliable, high-quality leather or other synthetic materials. The jesses hold the hawk to the perch when it is outside its pen.
Whereas the jesses hold the raptor to the perch, leashes and swivels hold the hawk to the human. Swivels are the snaps that attach to the gauntlet. Swivels connect the leashes to the bird. Leashes are longer pieces of leather or cord that allow the bird more freedom of movement than jesses, but not so that it ranges far from its human. At least one leash and swivel pair are required for the beginning falconer.
Finally, the apprentice should acquire a good gram scale in order to measure the weight of the raptor accurately. A raptor that is too fat may not hunt, as it has all its meals given to it, while an underfed raptor will not hunt because of lack of energy. Just as in the wild, raptors eat small animals, and these are either provided live, or meat is torn into strips and provided for food.
Today, all raptors used for falconry are marked with identifying bands. If the bird is born in captivity, the band will be a seamless one, placed around the chick’s leg and remaining as a permanent identification marker. Birds taken from the wild have an open, numbered band affixed to their leg. The band is closed around the bird’s leg like a ring.
In the Medieval heyday of falconry, a young person would present himself to a master falconer for apprenticeship, appropriate with his station in life. The training presents itself much the same way today, with the exception that we do not have to worry about proper societal positions. Still, it takes a good king’s ransom to keep a raptor happy and well fed so that it will hunt well for you.
Federal regulations also control how the apprentice progresses through the steps to become a master falconer. The apprentice has this status for at least two years, and during that time, he or she is limited to the numbers and types of raptors kept. The General falconer is someone who has been an apprentice for at least two years and is at least eighteen years old. While under limitations for the numbers of raptors kept, these are less restrictive than the apprentice license, but more restrictive than the master. The Master falconer is one who has been a general falconer for at least five years. The government imposes restrictions on Master falconers as well, though these are the least restrictive.
Regulations may have changed, as have the materials from which equipment is made, but the thrill has remained the same over the centuries. Man and bird, working with the wilder instincts of nature to feed themselves and their families. Back then, as it is now, falconry was a sight to behold.
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Mary K. Wilson lives in Iowa with her parrots (who wish they were raptors), cats, and horse. She writes weekly for Suite101.com and recently, her nonfiction has appeared in Bird Breeder Online. She edits the e-zine Dreaming Blood, and also maintains her own Web site.
Forget Me Not
By Angela Boord, illustration by Judith Huey
11/5/01
The summer that Aria left me, the prairie turned to dust—fields, roads, even the endless unworked stretches of grass. Most of the dust that year was just raised by the wind, but when we saw the dust cloud approaching us, we bet on who was causing it for three days. At first it was just a film on the horizon and you wondered if your eyes were as dirty as your hands, but then it got bigger and bigger and you realized it wasn’t just a farmer from Old Caledon come to trade. For a while we thought it might be a dust storm, but the wind whipped those up out of the west, scouring away dying fields. This was a brown cloud up from the east. Road dust, like a dirty thumbprint on the rainless sky.
On the third day, the monks walked out of the cloud like a dream. It was only Aria and me out in the fields when they appeared, their gold robes and the quartz braided into their hair flashing in the sun. Aria was only five years old, and had never seen more than fifteen people in a room together. I stopped counting monks after I got to twenty.
“Aria,” I said, “run tell your father.”
“But I want to watch, Mama!”
“Hush, girl. Go tell your father. He’s mending the roof.”
She gave me a surly look, then turned and ran down the line of scorched knee-high corn, looking at the monks over her shoulder. I wiped my hands on the rag at my belt and watched them come closer. Monks came for only two things: tribute and war. But I’d never seen so many of them in one place. I wondered who my man would have to go fight now. We’d been raided many times by the Enhala, but the monks had never bothered with that. Reddis was the far frontier. There weren’t enough of us to matter.