Asian and Arabic Falconry
Although
the true beginning of falconry remains unclear, the traditional time period is
about four thousand years ago in Central Asia.
According to Asian tradition, the King of Persia was the first falconer.6
This king’s fascination with raptors developed no differently than the falconers
that would follow the king. J. E. Harting describes this fascination in his
essay Hawks and Hawking:
During
one of his excursions, he became deeply interested in the unobserved actions of
a wild hawk. He saw it perched upon a bough “with the air of a sovereign upon
his throne,” where he watched for an opportunity to seize a passing bird. He
was struck with admiration at its majestic appearance, its wonderful patience,
and its power over other birds, which it seemed to take by sovereignty of
nature, and was, seized with a desire to posses it. He learned many of its
(hawk) good qualities – so much so, it changed him from a violent to better and
wiser sovereign.7
In
this story, the King of Persia was likely talking about a falcon but the Golden
Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) has made
its place in history and culture in Central Asia. This living tradition
continues as the falconer in Central Asia rides horseback with a Golden Eagle
trained to take down quarry as large as a wolf. This falconer, a berkutchi, is
of noble birth and perceived as not just a hunter but as a spiritual symbol as
well.8
The high social status of the berkutchi developed
because of the local cold climate and the demand for warm, strong and durable
clothing for the people during the winter seasons. From ancient times,
berkutchi-falconers had the role of preserving and stocking furs and held the
secrets of curing hides and pelts. The most valuable were the pelts of wolves
and foxes so, the use of Golden Eagles to obtain them is a continued tradition
today.9
 |
| Golden Eagle taking a fox |
They catch young eagles and bring them
up and train them for hunting. The procedure is as follows. They hang meat on a
tame hare or a tamed fox and let it run; then they send the birds after them
and permit them to take hold of the meat. The birds try this with all their
might, and when they have caught up with the one or the other, they may take
the meat as a prize and this for them is a great lure. When they have been
brought to precision in this type of hunting, the Indians let them loose on
mountain hares and wild foxes. In hope of the usual meal, they chase after the
prey which appears, and catch it very quickly.10
Thousands of years later, the
fundamental concepts of these techniques are still used today to train a raptor
for falconry.
In
Middle Eastern (Arab) falconry tradition, the falcon plays a vital role in
culture. The traditional falconry bird used in the Middle East has been the
larger desert-type falcons, the Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) and hybridized with the largest falcon the Gyrfalcon
(Falco rusticolus), mostly because of
the topography and quarry hunted. For hundreds of years, Arabic falconers have
trained these falcons to catch quarry such as hares and Houbara which has been
a major food resource for Arabic locals due to the high number of these birds
that migrate from Central Asia each winter.11 Arabic falconers
release their falcons from gloved fists after targeted quarry resulting in a
tail pursuit.
Notes
6. J. E. Harting. “Hawks and Hawking.” Essays
on sport and natural history. London: Horace Cox, (1883), 69.7. Ibid.
8. Anon. Golden Eagle. http://proeco.visti.net/naturalist/falconry/geagl.htm.
9. Ibid.
10. Anon. Ancient Falconry. http://www.firstscience.com/home/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1381&Itemid=75&pop=1.
11. Tom Bailey, Jaime H. Samour, and Theresa C. Bailey.
“Hunted by Falcons, Protected by Falconry: Can the Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis
undulata macqueenii) Fly into the 21st Century?.” Journal of Avian Medicine
and Surgery 12, no. 3 (September 1998): 190-201.
