Perhaps you have read enough about tame animals of the four-footed kind. At any rate it will be well to turn now to the two-footed kind, the birds, and talk about a kind of sport in which birds have been used for many centuries. Nowadays, when one of us goes hunting, we take our shot-gun or rifle, with the dog for companion, and bring down the game with a bullet or load of shot. But long ago, before the gun was known, there was another way of catching game, and of this I wish to speak.
It is called Hawking or Falconry, and is a very old sport in which the falcon or the hawk was used to take game. It is still in use in some countries, but in old times falconry was the favorite sport of kings and nobles, many of whom spent much of their time in the field, hunting smaller or weaker birds by aid of the strong and swift falcon or hawk.
This kind of sport began very long ago, no one can say how long, it being common in Asia long before it was known in Europe. And it is common in some parts of Asia still.
A Hooded Peregrine Falcon. Its eyes are covered by the hood until the game is in sight
Bishop Stanley says: "About two thousand years ago ancient writers speak of hawking as a common sport. People used to go out into the marshy grounds and beat among the reeds and bushes for small birds, and as these flew away hawks were let loose in pursuit, and when the game fell to the ground, either through fright or struck by the hawks, men ran up and secured them.
"In China it is a favorite sport with some of the mandarins to hawk for butterflies and other large insects with birds trained for that particular pastime. In India the Goshawk and two other species are taught to keep hovering over the hunters' heads and when deer and other game start up, they dart down and fix their claws upon its head and thus bewilder it until it is secured. A certain sultan kept a corps of seven thousand falconers."
The Arabians used the falcon to hunt the goat. When a rock goat was seen on a mountain the falcon would be let loose and would fly like an arrow straight for the animal, lighting on its back and fixing its talons in its throat. It held fast until the huntsman came up to the weakened animal and cut its throat, the falcon being paid for its service by drinking the blood.
Falconry is still common in Persia and is much spoken of in the poetry and stories of the Persians. One of these stories is worth telling, both from its being a very pretty one and from its being like a famous story of ancient Wales. In the Welsh story, which we have in a fine ballad, Prince Llewellyn had a faithful dog named Gellert which he left in charge of his infant child. During the absence of the prince a wolf entered the house and was attacked and killed by the dog. When he came home he saw the cradle upset and blood all over the floor, and thinking that the dog had killed his child he plunged his sword into its side. A minute later he saw the child safe under the cradle and the wolf lying dead. He was sorry enough when he saw this, but all he could do was to build a monument over his faithful dog.