Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/840

822 not be so eager to pursue the game. It might be supposed that the falcon would not be drawn to its master by such deceit, but he comes to know his proprietor very well. Decoys are used in training the birds—a piece of stuffed rawhide so fixed as to resemble a hare or other animal sitting on the ground, or some feathered object which when thrown into the air falls with motions like those of a wounded bird. Falconers further provide themselves with a tambourine to call the bird back, a wooden prop fixed to the saddle and forked at the other end to sustain the arm on which the bird is carried, and perches and cages for use at home.

As a rule, the smaller these birds of prey are, the more ardent and brave they seem to be. Very small sparrow hawks and hobbies will attack ducks six times as large as themselves, while most of the larger falcons are only moderately eager for the hunt. Eagles, notwithstanding their size and strength, have very little interest in the sport, and have to be very hungry before they will attack game, and then the game must not be very far away, else they will simply look at it with a philosophic air calculated to make the hunter frantic.

The falcons of Africa are competent to capture chiefly hairy game, while of feathered game they are effective only against small birds and young bustards running along the ground. A good Asiatic falcon, on the other hand, is efficient against every kind of game bird except pigeons. Quails are almost a sure prey to them, and they can catch three fourths of the partridges and half the ducks which they attempt. Ducks, if they are missed at the first descent, often succeed in escaping, either by their cunning or by their power of flight. Pigeons are never taken unless they are surprised or have been wounded. In general, the Asiatic falcons have greater powers of flight than their African congeners; but the African birds are more trusty than the Asiatic. They are in the habit of hunting together, of assisting and re-enforcing one another, and will often answer when their name is called. In chasing a hare, for instance,