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the stones and his whole being is alerted, which alertness
is instantly transmitted to the falcon. The falconer unties
the legs of the falcon, pulls out the leather veil from its
head and issues a roaring cry. This is a significant cry, in
response to which the falcon moves its neck and shakes its
head, turning its piercing looks in all directions. Suddenly,
it prepares to take to the air and in a moment would be
airborne at increasing speed, leaving the falconer far
behind. Then it climbs into the air in a straight line before
turning to dive on its awaited prey. Then it tumbles down
like a falling stone on the prey, piercing its sharp claws in
the back of the desert rabbit and strikes it with its crooked
beak. But the prey keeps resisting and, pop-eyed, in a mad
fear, it tries to escape in vigorous jumps in an attempt to
evade the grip of the merciless killer. But the falcon keeps
following it like a horseman on its intractable horse. Thus
it rises and falters and loses its balance, but keeps holding
the prey with an iron grip.
Finally, the climax is at hand. The falcon deals its
deadly blow to the neck of the miserable prey and the
battle is suddenly over, with a noise like the crash against
an invisible wall, and the cloud of dust subsides. But the
body of the victim keeps trembling for a while before it
finally comes to a stand still and passes away. Meanwhile,
the falcon would be sitting in a posture of fierce greed on
its prey. Soon, the hunting horseman arrives on the tragic
scene in time to put back the veil on the falcon’s head
and snatches the body of the rabbit, which would still be
warm after its recent death, from the claws of the falcon.
The falconer slices a piece of meat from the rabbit with its
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sharp knife and slips it into the beak of the hunter falcon
as a reward for its efforts. He then quickly puts the prey
in the scuttle lest the falcon should tear the prey to pieces.
Then he rubs the feathers of the falcon tenderly to calm it
down and cool its enthusiasm, addressing it with the name
he had given it. He then pulls the leather veil that covers
the falcon’s head to his ear and listens, awaiting a response
or reaction from it. The falconer lifts his hand from the
falcon more than once and probably many times to enable
it to spread its wings in the air, this brief intermission
being all the resting period the hunter bird gets.
There is nothing strange about the bedouins considering
these birds, which are the most skilful of all hunters, as
though they were members of the family. Thus they treat
them with great tenderness and treasure them as the most
valuable of possessions. Moreover, at the end of the hunting
season, they release them into freedom so that they may
have time to have a family of their own, to lay their eggs
and wait to enable them to hatch. Unfortunately, these
practices are becoming rare because the owners of falcons
are not willing to let go of these very expensive birds for
them to maintain their species, though they try their best
to arrange for such endeavor, but without liberating the
birds.
In general, hunting with falcons has changed during
the recent decades from a difficult task for the bedouins to
what is a virtual entertainment for the princes and the rich.
The hunting men rarely train on the saddle of horses. They
rather opt for a convertible jeep that is specially equipped
for that purpose. Acquisition of falcons in the Kingdom is