Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna

by Comte de Auguste Louis Charles La Garde-Chambonas

When, amidst the difficulties of finding new recreations, the fêtes committee conceived the project of bringing the guests of the Congress to Laxemburg and entertaining them there, the idea of ‘flying’ the hawk naturally presented itself. In the vicinity of that Gothic castle nothing could be more in harmony with the style of its construction than an amusement borrowed from the traditions and manners of the feudal ages.

The place of meeting was on the banks of the lake, not far from a marshy spot tenanted by numerous flocks of water-birds. Foremost among the company was the lovely Empress of Austria, famed for her love of sport and her marvellous skill, the graceful Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, Queen Caroline of Bavaria, her sister, and a number of ladies, several of whom wore the elegant costume of the sixteenth century. At the head of the sovereigns on horseback was Emperor Francis, unflaggingly hospitable. Amidst them, in a low-wheeled calèche, is the enormous King of Würtemberg, famed for his former hunts and hunting exploits, and anxious to witness tranquil amusement, altogether unlike the fatigues and perils he was wont to court.

The huntsmen in their handsome uniforms, holding their dogs in leash, come first; then come the falconers with their hooded birds on their wrists, and behind these the eager mass of spectators.

At a spot where the reeds and rushes impede the view of the lake, there is a halt, and the dogs’ leashes are slipped to start the birds. The air rings with barking, and all eyes are strained upward in expectation of the struggle, somewhat novel to the majority. All of a sudden, a grey-plumaged heron takes its flight, at first slowly, heavily, and with listless movement; then spreading its wings it rises rapidly. At the sight of the bird, promising not an easy victory but a protracted struggle, the falconers get ready, encouraging their birds with their cries, awaiting a signal from the empress to give the first pursuer flight.

The signal is given, and in the twinkling of an eye the hood is removed from one of the hawks and it is set free. The falconer points to the fleeing heron, the impatient hawk shakes its pinions, utters a cry, and quick as lightning soars aloft. The affrighted heron tries in vain to rise higher than his pursuer, but the latter directs its flight in such a manner as to be constantly hovering above its quarry. Each attempt of the heron meets with a counter-move on the part of the hawk, compelling its victim to descend. If the heron shows signs of returning to the starting-point where the hunters are, the hawk, swift as a flash, bars its progress in that direction and forces it to take the opposite one; it keeps worrying the other bird, tiring it and practically dazzling it by the repeated beating of its pinions, until it finally brings it back to the point within an easy view of the spectators of the struggle. The heron at length determines upon resistance. Steadily pursuing its course, and apparently motionless, it presents its long bill, sharp like a sword, to its foe. The hawk, on its part, decides upon attack. Rapidly wheeling round and round the heron, it lowers its flight, then re-ascends and all at once grips the flanks of its victim. Then begins a veritable struggle at close quarters, with all its fury and all its rapidly changing incidents.

The heron has the first advantage; it aims a terrible stroke at its adversary, piercing it between the neck and one of its pinions as if with a dagger. The hawk, nevertheless, clings to the heron and rends the latter’s flesh with its beak. The heron quickly follows up its strokes; compelled to fight and at the same time to carry the weight of its foe, it multiplies its attack without getting rid of its assailant, and the blood of both stains their plumage crimson. In spite of this, the hawk looks like getting the worse of it. There is a longer interval between its attacks, which are neither as fierce nor as sure as heretofore, and the victory bids fair to remain with the heron, when the falconer despatches a second hawk from among those which, though hooded up to now, seem aware of the struggle going on, to judge by the flapping of their wings and the sudden stiffening of their feathers. The freshly-despatched combatant is a hen-bird, easily recognised by its beautiful brown plumage, for it is noteworthy that among this species the females are bigger, stronger, and bolder than the males. No sooner is the hood removed than the female rises into the air and, disdaining all preliminary evolutions, fastens its beak into the neck of the heron. The air is rent by the cries of the hunters, the barking of the dogs, and the braying of the horns. The heron’s resistance is, from that moment, useless. The new assailant virtually smothers it, and, moreover, digs its claws into the heron’s back, while the male, its strength revived by the timely aid of the female, renews its attacks. It becomes merely a question of seconds with the ill-fated heron. After a few spasmodic movements, rendered uncertain by the loss of blood, it finally closes its eyes and drops to the earth. The two hawks utter screeches of victory, tear their victim’s eyes out, and without letting go of it for a moment, drag it to the falconer’s feet.

According to the ancient usages of the chase, a huntsman stepped forward at that moment, and, plucking from the heron’s neck its fine and elegant plumage, constituting as it were a natural aigrette, he handed it to Emperor Alexander, who, in his turn, immediately offered it to the lovely Empress of Austria. The horns sounded ‘the death,’ while the birds devoured their quarry, and the illustrious guests crowded round the falconers to compliment them.

This, after all, was only the prelude to a more important sporting item of the programme. Every care had been taken to ensure its success. The signal for a new start was given, and we moved towards another part of the park, where on an immense lawn surrounded by trees a vast arena had been arranged for the guns. At one side there was a circular stand for the guests of the Court. The sovereigns and the high personages in whose honour the entertainment was given took up their positions, each one provided with four pages charged with loading the guns, in order to spare the principals the slightest fatigue.

The general beating-up had taken place on the previous night. At the word of command from the empress the circle of beaters drew in, and at the same moment from all the outlets of the wood, there emerged a numberless quantity of wild-boars, deer, hares, and game of all kind, which in a few moments were killed by the privileged marksmen, amidst the general applause of the lookers-on.

My friends and I had taken up our positions a little distance away from the Empress of Austria, who was using only a musket, loaded with ball, and who aimed exclusively at hares or small game, which she never missed.