Falconry and Raptor Conservation Con't...

European Falconry

English Falconer

     Although falconry had been introduced to Europe by the 4^th Century, it was not until the 12^th Century that falconry grew to an obsession among nobility. It was Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1194-1250), the Holy Roman Emperor, King of Sicily and Jerusalem that placed falconry on the historical map for Europe. Frederick II was so passionate about falconry he wrote a book series called The 'De Arte Venandi cum Avibus'. A historically important work that was written during the Dark Ages:

The 'De Arte Venandi cum Avibus' was the culmination of thirty years' preparation. It is known from a two-book edition in both printed and written state, and from a six-book edition that exists only in (multiple) manuscript form. Books II to VI are devoted entirely to falconry, treated in great detail. Modern falconers will find that much of it represents current practices today. There appears to be little in the art as it was exercised in Frederick's time that he has not carefully described and systematized.¹²

In fact, Frederick’s books were written so scientifically complex and detailed in the tradition of falconry that Charles Haskins recommended, in his 1921 review of the works that they must be read by a zoologist and a falconer.¹³

By the 14^th Century, falconry had ascended to the sport of medieval European aristocrats, the sport for Kings. Only nobility were allowed to keep hawks. Falconers and the hawks had grown to be one of the most revered citizens in all of Europe. Some Kings would hire hundreds of falconers, paying them handsomely, to care for their hawks. In Wales, the King’s falconers were the fourth officer and were not allowed more than three drams of beer for fear of intoxication would lead him unable to care for the hawks.¹⁴

Nobility were known to be so obsessed with their birds; they would bring them to Church. Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) were the most prized of the falcons and generally only held by Kings. These falcons were often given as gifts to other countries’ nobility during peace agreements and diplomacy.¹⁵ In addition, a law was created that made it a crime to steal a bird or eggs from a falconer.¹⁶ By 1536, King Henry VIII issued proclamation protecting the poultry fed to the falconry birds which were nearing extinction.¹⁷ Eventually, this protection extended to the game fowl such as herons, pheasants and partridge. This proclamation protecting avian game is an early example of natural resource management.

Sadly, as the 18^th Century approached, falconry had become a dying practice. The Monarchy kept a small stable of hawks in their mews and falconers to care for them but in customs and pageantry position only. Without the exception of an eccentric English falconer, Colonel Thornton, who lead falconry parties in the Scottish Highlands in the early 19^th Century as well as the aboriginal inhabitants in the remote districts of the Highlands of Scotland, the sport of English falconry would have been lost into mystery.¹⁷

Early American Falconry 

Hunting in Virginia by early Settlers

         The first record of falconry in North America was in 1585. Thomas Harriot, one of Sir Richard Grenville’s colonists of Roanoke Island wrote in reference to falconry. Again in 1610, William Strachey wrote about the five different hawk species in Virginia, in which some were exported back to England.¹⁸ Because North America lacked the socioeconomical or cultural necessity for the practice of falconry, the sport remained limited to a few number of groups throughout the 19^th and 20^th Centuries. However, as the 1960’s rolled around, falconry in the United States played an enormous role in raptor conservation. 

Modern Falconry

 
The Fall from Grace

How deep the national passion had been stirred by the noble pastime may be estimated by those memories. For the two hundred years after the last tinkle of bells had ceased in the land, no living sport exercised from day-to-day, had such a hold on the popular imagination. The falcon and the falconer had become heroic. – Charles Q. Turner 1898

 

     For thousands of years, the falconer and raptor reined with high social status and magnificent accessory but, within a span of only two hundred-fifty years, the disappearance of this status and reverence has become one of the largest historical mysteries.¹⁹ In early 19^th Century, as the bells grew silent, the gunshots grew loud. Game hunting using guns had replaced falconry and the raptors, the once prized obsessions of nobility, had become vermin. This period marked the disturbing practice of mass raptor extermination throughout Europe and the United States. Killing raptors had become a condition of employment for English gamekeepers. The corpses of the killed were hanged from trees or sent to taxidermists for displaying. “The bird of kings reduced to a pile of bones hanging from a tree.”²⁰

     This era represented a disappointing time in our history of humanity and respect for the natural world. As humans, we disregarded traditional culture and ignored the value of nature for selfish and monetary gains. Not to mention a complete disregard for the raptors’ intrinsic right to exist in its own right in the world unmolested. Instead of admiration for the falcon as a skilled-flighted hunter, it had become a worthy opponent to prove that human skills can kill the most skilled hunter. Stuffed falcons were placed on display to celebrate these accomplishments. 

    The fall from grace was not unique to Western cultures. In Central Asia, the berkutchi was a person of high social and spiritual status but that has been lost over the past several hundred years as well. The region was marked by social and ecological poverty, in part because of Muscovy and later the USSR, carried profound impacts. The unique culture of falconry and the local traditions were believed to be outdated and practicing either was discouraged with persecution. The destruction of the natural environment, contamination of soils and sources of water reached a pivotal point; it affected the spiritual sphere and genotype of the indigenous people of Asia. ²¹ The once prized culture of falconry became a distant memory.  

However, in the Middle East, falconry continued to be practiced. During the 19^th and early 20^th Centuries, Western writers would refer to the non-Western cultures as cultures living outside of historical progress. Falconry did spread to British India, continuing the practice along with its social hierarchy and reverence that was reminiscent of earlier nobility in Europe. ²²

The Anti-predator Movement

       

     During the 19^th and early 20^th Centuries a movement was growing, in which, became the anti-predator movement. Mammalian and avian predators were considered a major threat to game, livestock and songbirds. This was a time when the traditional ecological knowledge was changing and a new paradigm emerged. Proponents of the predator control movement found it to be a rational solution to protect the vulnerable animals that fall prey to the predators as well as an avenue for humans to control the dangerous and unruly wilderness. Nature lovers and humanitarians concerned with minimizing the suffering of the animals killed by predators further romanticized this movement. The Bureau of the Biological Survey initiated an anti-predator campaign in 1915. Thankfully, just two years later the Migratory Bird Treaty Act came into law. ²³

^{Stay tuned...the birth of raptor conservation is next!}

^Notes 

12. J. T. Zimmer. Review: A Medieval Ornithological Treatise. The Auk 61, no. (1944): 483.

13. Charles H. Haskins. 'De Arte Venandi cum Avibus' of the Emperor Frederick II.” The English Historical Review. London: Longmens, Green and Co. (1921): 334.

14. Helen Macdonald. Falcon. London: Reaktion, (2006): 16.

15. William Wood. “Falconry.” The American Naturalist 4, no. 2 (April 1870): 74-76.

16. Ibid, 77.

17. Charles Q. Turner. “The Revival of Falconry.” Outing: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine of Sport, Travel and Recreation. Volume XXXI. London: Outing Pub. Co., (1898): 478-480.

18. Ibid., 473.

19. Ibid., 473.

20. Helen Macdonald. Falcon: 109.

21. Anon. Golden Eagle

22. Helen Macdonald. Falcon, 95.

23. M. V. Barrow Jr,. “Science, Sentiment, and the Specter of Extinction: Reconsidering Birds of Prey during America's Interwar Years.” Environmental History (2002): 70.