Falconry Is His Hobby
AMONG the hobbies brought to the campus by Dartmouth undergraduates, that of Bill Mattox '52 of Elkins Park, Pa., is one of the rarest—and also one of the most exacting. He is an ardent devotee of falconry, an outdoor sport that is estimated to have only about 100 true practitioners in the whole country. He has been at it since high school days and knows a great deal about the ancient sport which was introduced into Europe by Crusaders returning from the East.
In the accompanying picture Bill is shown with the young female Peregrine Falcon he is now training in Hanover. The leather hood with a tuft of feathers, the jesses, leash and gloved fist are all essentials of the sport, and so are the bells to be attached to the hawk's feet so her master can locate her after she has used her telescopic vision to dive hundreds of feet upon some unsuspecting prey.
Training a hawk is a large part of tne appeal of falconry. Trapped when young, or sometimes taken as a nestling, the hawk is first trained to associate its feeding with its master's gloved hand. It is tethered by a light but strong cord that is gradually lengthened; and finally the exciting day arrives when the hawk is allowed to .fly free. Proper training requires time and a world of patience, which is one reason why there are not more true falconers.
Bill Mattox arrived at college last fall with a rare Greenland Falcon, one of eleven he and three other falconers had trapped in Greenland this past summer. These largest of all falcons are especially prized by falconers, and many offers to buy them came from Philadelphia, Washington, New York and Colorado, the main centers of falconry in this country. Unfortunately, Bill's Greenland Falcon got loose and escaped—a heartbreak of the sport that is even worse when a fully trained hawk fails to return. It was later seen flying over the football field during Christmas vacation and is probably wintering around Hanover.
Falcons are fed lean meat, but Bill has a problem in that the Peregrine he is now training has epicurean tastes and will eat only fresh bird meat. That calls for two pigeons every three days—an order Bill is managing to fill, even though he has to go over into Vermont to get most of them.
After Carnival Bill plans to get down to some serious training with his young falcon. It's an exacting job, and the hill country around Hanover may offer complications when the Peregrine is allowed to fly free, but there's always the chance of creating the perfect team of master and falcon, and that thrill makes it worth all the effort.
Bill Mattox '52 and Peregrine Falcon
