Product Description

This text on falconry explains the birds of prey to use, their care and daily maintenance, and how to train them to hunt and return. Other topics covered include: bird health, daily management, general health care, housing, diet, the moult, hunting terrain, quarry species and some tall tales from hawking expeditions.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #650400 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04-24
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Customer Reviews

Useful, thorough and highly interesting!!
I found this book a most entertaining, interesting read, especially as a beginner. The book covers the essence of falconry (why it is practiced), birds of prey used, falconry furniture, accommodation and daily maintenance, finding your own hawking ground, buying and training your hawk, quarry (habitats, habits and how to hunt it) and excerpts from a training diary. It contains beautiful colour photographs and amusing stories about his own hawking experiences. One reason I especially liked this book was because Hammond talked about subjects usually left out of beginners books, such as healthcare and information on quarry. I don't think that experienced falconers will find this book more than an amusing library addition, but for beginners, I highly recommend it.

On a wing & a prayer- unfortunately so is the book!
It is unfortunate that someone who is obviously enthusiastic about the sport should write a book of such little real value to the novice falconer
The book contains some rather dubious & /or scant information & advice regarding transportaion of birds, training techniques & falconry in general ( training techniques are skimnmed over to the extent that this topic , which most people probably bought the book for , are covered in similar depth to the clothing one should wear!)
For a light read , by all means buy it , it should take you about two hours , for an authoritative training manual , opt for one of Jemima Parry-Jones offerings. Do not rely on this to equip you to embark & care for a bird of prey!

ON A WING AND A PRAYER
As someone looking to obtain a bird and train to be a falconer (well hopefully anyway), I found this book full of information. It had nice photograghy and was a witty read. The most important aspect was that the author expressed a lot of concern towards the bird's welfare, so the novice would realise the commitment involved in the husbandry, feeding, housing and exercise required. I found this book had good humour and was a joy to read. The only down-side was that there were no photos or illustrations on tying the falconers knot.