Page 127 - Arabian Studies (II)

Hunting Techniques and Practices in the Arabian Peninsula 119

i.e. too weak and dejected to care. A hawk’s condition can be gauged
with some accuracy by the fullness of the muscle on either side of
the base of the sternum, and of course by its general appearance and
behaviour. By inadequate or unsuitable food, a hawk can be reduced
in days from being fat and independent to a listless invalid. If the
hawk is to fly successfully at wild — and therefore superbly
fit — quarry, then from the moment of capture it must be kept in the
highest condition compatible with obedience.
To describe in brief the training of a hawk, we may start with the
newly trapped bird, tightly bound in a sock and lying on its chest
immobile, so that no feathers should be broken in its efforts to
escape. Broken feathers handicap a hawk as lead weights do a race
horse. Sight is by far the hawk’s most important sense. Therefore to
minimise the shock of capture, the trapper will seel the hawk’s eyes
or put a hood* on its head. To seel a hawk a thread is passed through
the lower lid of each eye, drawn tight over the skull and then tied,
thus pulling up both lids and rendering the hawk blind.
Transferred to its owner, the hawk will be released from its
swaddling and set on a block*, still hooded or seeled, and left. When
the falconer judges that the hawk is hungry though not weakened, he
will offer it food, some freshly killed bird which will increase the
hawk’s appetite. Feeling the feathers and warm flesh by its feet, it
will bend down and feed through the hood. When it associates being
picked up with being fed, the hood may be removed and taming
proper can begin. As long as the hawk is feeding happily on the fist,
it can be carried and by degrees introduced to the sights and sounds
of the camp: horses, hounds, camels, children and finally, if all this
has been done with tact and care, the time will come when the hawk
will allow itself to be carried, quite relaxed, in the majlis. If,
however, a sudden movement or sound upsets the hawk, it will
bate*, be pulled up by its jesses*, regain the fist, glare at the falconer
and bate again. Valuable lessons will have been forgotten and
relations will temporarily suffer a setback.
During the manning, this process of training described above, it
will also be trained to come to the fist for its food. First a few inches
on its leash*, later on a creance* until it will come 50 yards or more.
After each flight to the fist, it will be rewarded with a few
mouthfuls of warm meat. Then, to continue the process of taming it
will be given a bird’s wing or hind leg of a hare which will take up its
interest without dulling its hunger.
When the hawk will fly this far, it is trained and may be taken to
the field to hunt. Depending on the skill of the falconer and the
personality of the hawk, the process of training may require a period
of between ten days and a month.