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Falconry, the
art of hunting wild game with trained birds of prey, is one of the oldest
sports still practiced. Its origins are in dispute, though the earliest
records are from China
and the Middle East. There is some
speculation that one of the Mongolian Khans may have introduced the sport
to the Middle East with war parties
dispatched to that area. Even earlier: the Egyptians most certainly revered
falcons, as their God Horus shows, though whether the birds were trained
cannot be ascertained from known hieroglyphs. Certainly in terms of large
numbers of people being involved in the art, the Middle
East would have to be considered the epicenter of falconry,
and it has certainly been practiced there for over a thousand years.
The art
flourished in Europe before the advent of
guns, with its origins there going back to the crusades. There eventually
developed in Europe a type of caste system
whereby certain raptors were allowed individuals based on their sex or rank
in society. So for example whereas only a king would have been allowed to
fly an eagle, the yeoman might be able to "keep his larder
stocked" with game caught by his goshawk. The small merlin was
considered the hawk of choice for aristocratic ladies.
Falconry is
responsible for one of the first ornithologists, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. His detailed analysis of bird physiology,
training, and hunting techniques, De Arte Venandi cum Avibus, was penned in
1247 and is still considered to be one of the finest and most practical books
ever written on the subject of raptors and falconry. It is still in print
and can be purchased at Amazon.com.
After the
advent of guns, the art waned throughout much of the world, and is today a
real part of the overall culture only in parts of central Asia and the Middle East. There are currently only a few thousand
individuals in the United
States who have passed written
examinations and served apprenticeships in order to gain permission from
the Department of the Interior to hunt with raptors.
In Europe and America,
falconers have recently been recognized for their conservation efforts with
respect to the peregrine falcon (falco peregrinus). When DDT threatened
this species, which is the cornerstone of falconry in both the new and old
world, falconers responded by breeding their hunting companions to one
another and developing liaisons with their governments in order to
re-introduce this noble species to its rightful place at the top of the
avian food chain. The peregrine fund
in Boise, Idaho,
is an organization founded and run by falconers with the support of the U.S.
government and private citizens. Its efforts and those of countless
back-yard breeders have led to the removal of the peregrine from the
endangered species list.
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