BYGONE BIRDING: DURHAM CLERGYMAN IN PURSUIT OF THE HOUBARA BUSTARD

Houbara bustard - when hunted, a bird will eject slimy fluid from both mouth and vent (photo: Jimfbleak via Wikimedia Commons)

As well as being a high-ranking clergymen in his native Durham, the Rev Dr Henry Baker Tristram (1822-1906) was a globetrotting ornithologist, happy to spend long periods away from his wife, their son and his congregation. A favourite destination was North Africa where he spent much of the winter of 1859-60. Here he describes what it was like to ride with sheiks as they pursued their favourite pastime - falconry.

Henry Tristram - bustard-hunting with the sheikhs

I much regret that the extreme value set by the Arabs upon
their falcons prevented me from bringing home a specimen of the Saker Falcon, though, in Tunis, I  purchased a skin.

Still, I had many opportunities of observing the Lanner and Saker in a state of domestication, and occasionally saw a bird haunting
the cliffs which could be none other than the true Lanner. 

As far as I could discover, the Lanner breeds about the Atlas mountains range, chiefly, if not exclusively, on its southern side, while the Saker is a more truly desert habitant. 

The Arab sheiks pursue the sport of falconry with all the zeal, skill, and science of the “ noble mysterie ” of our ancestors. 

No agha or sheik of high degree ever moves for war, business, or pleasure unattended by his falconers who are his confidential lieutenants. 

The care of three falcons is considered sufficient employment for one falconer with an assistant.

On a march, one or two of these important personages follow mounted immediately behind the sheik, with a hooded Falcon on the wrist and one perched on each shoulder. 

The Houbara Bustard is the favourite quarry, but eagles, kites,
sand-grouse (and in the case of the Saker Falcon, the gazelle)
afford equal sport to the huntsman. 

When a bustard is discovered, the whole cavalcade instantly halts.

The hawk on the wrist is transferred to the hand of his master, who, attended by his falconers alone, instantly sets off, and unhooding his bird, throws him from his wrist towards the bustard. 

Much skill is exercised in drawing the attention of the falcon to the bustard before it rises. 

Should it unfortunately take wing before its pursuer has poised herself above it, an ill-trained or impetuous bird is very apt to strike it in the air. 

This, according to the view of your desert connoisseur, is a most unpardonable and unsportsmanlike offence to be punished with death. 

A skilful hawk will at once rise to a considerable height, then, swooping down, make feints until the bustard takes to its legs instead of its wings. 

The falcon then poises herself over it while a second is flung off the wrist, and the two together give chase.

The speed of the Houbara is  such that a fleet Arab can scarcely keep up with the pursuit. 

The poor bird runs along, aiding its speed by a perpetual fanning with its wings, its head stretched forward like a corncrake's, and its conspicuous black and white ruff folded close back over its neck.

What a pitiable contrast to the proud fellow who was lately strutting with head erect, elevated crest, and expanded ruff, challenging allcomers. 

The pursuers hang over him only a few yards above him, and at each effort he makes to take wing, swoop down with a feint. 

It is considered the excellency of a falcon to make these feints at the quarry until it is nearly exhausted, when the fatal swoop is made, and the bird instantly drops, struck dead by the hind claw having pierced its vertebrae. 

This manner of hunting is probably practised both to afford more prolonged excitement to the horsemen, but chiefly from the singular mode of self-defence adopted by the Houbara, and which I have had various opportunities of observing myself. 

As the hawk approaches, the Houbara ejects both from the mouth and vent a slimy fluid  (I have experienced, to my annoyance, a similar mode of defence adopted by the water tortoise).

A well-trained bird eludes this shower by repeated feints until the quarry's supply of moisture is exhausted.

An impatient one rushes in and gets his feathers and whole plumage so bedaubed, that his flight is materially impeded, and his swoop, when made, is irresolute. 

I have known three Houbaras and a sand-grouse or two captured in a day, and the chase was terminated merely on account of the fatigue of the horses.

 I was never actually present at the chase of the gazelle, but it is very commonly practised, and I have seen a gazelle brought into camp that had been so taken. 

This sport requires, however, more birds, and is very dangerous
to the falcons who frequently impale themselves on the horns
of their prey. 

It is not uncommon for both pursuer and victim to fall dead at one mutual stroke. 

In the pursuit of the sand-grouse,  no such dallying is allowed as with the Houbara. 

The covey rise, the hawk is thrown off with a jerk, another and another are thrown in rapid succession, and each singles out his own victim and strikes him in mid-air. 

But the same falcon is seldom trained for  both sports. 

The apparatus of Arab falconers seems to be the same as in the olden time among ourselves - the same hoods and gloves, the same care in feeding, and the same quaint remedies and nostrums. 

I never was able to discover the breeding-places of the Saker, though I have seen the young birds in captivity scarcely fledged. 

The price of a well-trained Saker is from 200 to 300 Spanish dollars (£40 to £60), and I repeatedly, but in vain, offered 200 dollars for one. 

The sheik considers a falcon of the same value as a thoroughbred horse and will exchange one for the other. 

No wonder then that I found it impossible to obtain a specimen for my collection. 

Indeed, it would have been a crime of the blackest dye to have
shot one had I had the opportunity. 

Saker Falcon - highly prized for its hunting prowess (photo: Marek Szczepanek via Wikimedia Commons)