The Compleat Falconer

A veritable how-to of Frank Beebe's lifetime experience. Included are plates of 32 original paintings and more that 100 illustrations and drawings. What is Falconry? Really it is just bird watching, although a rather dramatic, specialized, glamorized, and historical kind of bird watching. It involves the taking of a predatory bird into the same kind of familiar, loosely controlled relationship with man as is so well known and so commonplace with a dog or a horse; then, with the relationship established, going out hunting in the company of that predatory bird in a partnership in which the bird is the primary hunter and the human plays the lesser part. The human becomes a bird watcher or, if involved, in the menial capacity of a bird dog to flush quarry or as an assistant in subduing quarry already taken. It is an ancient, honorable, and rather humbling relationship, as old in time as that of man and dog or man and horse. With the exception of eagles, most of the birds involved are smaller than the most ordinary house cat or Pekinese dog and are about as dangerous to people. They are accordingly much less dangerous than any ordinary-sized dog and infinitely less dangerous than is the smallest pony. Their acquisition and their use, therefore, needs no more in the way of imposed control than does the keeping of the most inoffensive dog or cat. This book is about falconry. It deals with the acquiring and the care, control, and training of the kinds of raptorial birds most suited to this ancient relationship and also, as far as is now possible, describes and identifies the birds of falconry. Of the determined and devious twenty-year efforts, extending from 1964 to 1987, by nature preservationist groups and government agencies to control, constrain, institutionalize, and finally to simply criminalize falconry, this book will contain only enough to orient a newcomer. Some of this had to be included, somewhat reluctantly; it is highly condensed and closely edited to allow some comprehension of why and how contemporary falconry has become so different from its traditional past as to require a new book with quite different priorities and orientation than heretofore. The training procedures I propose in this book differ significantly from the traditional procedures reiterated in all previous books on falconry and are especially oriented toward the training of these domestic hawks and falcons. Because they are essentially man made, these birds come to the falconer not only devoid of fear and of hunting experience but also devoid of those subtle disciplines imposed by natural selection with which the traditional procedures were, by trial and error, so perfected to cope.

A Falconry Manual is a comprehensive, extensively updated version of his out of print book- Hawks, Falcons and Falconry (Hancock House 1976) and The Compleat Falconer (Hancock House 1992). Drawing on over 50 years of field experience and research, Beebe presents an exhaustive summary of the behavior, capture, and training of the-birds-of-prey. It was Beebe's field studies and practical experience that led to his pioneering successes in breeding captive falcons in the early 1960s. His artistic talents not only contribute to the concise illustrations on how to capture and train birds but how to easily make all falconry hardware. One of the all-time best books for new Apprentices to learn about training a new hawk or falcon and one of the best selling falconry books ever produced.

"This falconry book is specifically designed to help falconers become better caretakers, trainers, and hunters; to help breeders increase production; and to make captive bred raptors better falconry birds and hunting hawks. The Coulsons teach about husbandry, rearing, training, socialization, scouting, hunting, selective breeding, and captive propagation techniques." --Publisher's description.

De Arte Venandi cum Avibus was written shortly before the year 1250 by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Sicily and Jerusalem, in whose court, with its remarkably cosmopolitan and highly intellectual life, may be found the real beginning of the Italian Renaissance. In spite of its title, it is far more than a dissertation on hunting. There is a lengthy introduction dealing with the anatomy of birds, an intensely interesting description of avian habits, and the excursions of migratory birds. Indeed, this ancient book has long been recognized as the first zoological treatise written in the critical spirit of modern science. The sumptuous volume now in hand is, however, the first translation into English of the complete text, originally divided into a prologue and size books. Together, the translators and editors, have at last made available this classic work and have adorned it with notes, comments, bibliographies, and glossary. They have produced a work of great value to zoologists--especially the ornithologist--and also to everyone interested in the history of science and in medieval art and letters.

This lavishly illustrated encyclopedia contains some 1,500 terms and idioms, related to or connected with falconry, with explanations, derivations and notes. It is illustrated with photographs, figures, and reproductions of antiquarian prints and is believed to be the first attempt to catalog and review the complete language of falconry as used between the later Middle Ages and the present day. The Encyclopedia of Falconry will be a valuable addition to all reference collections by uniquely covering a subject with a long and distinguished history.

A stunning treasury of 86 full-page plates span the famed English artist's career, from Rip Van Winkle (1905) to masterworks such as Undine, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Wind in the Willows (1939).