Glossary

Abatement. (173.1) The use of trained raptors to scare, herd, flush, haze and pursue (and in some cases to take) depredating migratory birds or other wildlife where allowed, to mitigate depredation problems, including threats to human health or safety. Master falconers only, with a USFWS permit, using captive-bred birds.

Accipiter. The genus of short-winged hawks: Goshawk, Cooper's Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk. Long tails, short rounded wings, built for pursuit in cover.

Alula. The small 'thumb' tuft of feathers at the bend of the wing.

Anklet. The leather cuff of an Aylmeri jess that goes around the tarsus, carrying the grommet.

Austringer. One who keeps and hunts with accipiters. From the Latin aster, the former generic name for the Goshawk.

Aylmeri. The modern jess system: an anklet, a grommet, and a removable strap that attaches to the swivel. Required equipment under 173.6(a)(4)(i). Safer than a traditional jess because the strap comes off.

Bal-chatri. A small wire cage covered in monofilament nooses and baited with a live animal. The most effective trap for a first Red-tailed Hawk, and for small hawks outside migration.

Bate. To attempt to fly from the fist or perch while tethered.

Bewit. A small leather strip used to fasten a bell to the tarsus, above the jess. A plastic cable tie used as a bewit goes on the Aylmeri jess, never on the leg.

Bind. To seize quarry with the feet and hold it, in the air or on the ground. Desirable.

Block perch. The traditional perch for falcons: a circular block, typically about eight inches across for a large falcon, wide enough that the jesses cannot slip down either side.

Bowsing. Drinking.

Braces. The straps at the back of a hood used to open and close it. To 'strike the braces' is to loosen them.

Brail. A thong once used to bind one wing of a hawk. Rarely if ever used by modern falconers.

Brancher. A young hawk that has left the nest or eyrie but stays in the immediate vicinity. Encountered in New York in June for most falconry species, earlier for Great Horned Owls.

Bumblefoot. Pododermatitis: any inflammatory condition of the foot, which quickly becomes an infection. Caused by poor perches, rough bating, punctures, obesity and lean-beef diets. Severe cases can be fatal.

Buteo. The genus of broad-winged hawks, including the Red-tailed Hawk and the Ferruginous Hawk. Soaring hunters of open country.

Cadge. A frame used to carry several birds to the field.

Cast. Three meanings: to disgorge a pellet; two raptors flown together; and to hold or wrap a bird so it cannot move.

Cast gorge. To vomit the contents of the stomach or crop. Distinct from throwing up, which is a flight manoeuvre.

Casting. The indigestible fur, feather and bone from a meal, compacted and disgorged through the mouth. Also called a pellet. Normal, and found under the perch in the morning.

Capture. (173.1) The act of taking or attempting to take a raptor alive from the wild.

Cere. The waxy skin at the top of the beak in which the nostrils sit. Blue in first-year large falcons, yellow in adults.

Cloaca. The internal chamber into which the excretory, digestive and reproductive tracts pass. Its external opening is the vent.

Coccidiosis. Disease caused by coccidia, protozoan parasites that invade the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, and also the kidneys and liver. Signs progress from red flecks in the mutes to watery black mutes and slimy foul castings.

Conservation education. (173.1) Display of legally held raptors in educational programs in public venues, providing information about the biology, ecological roles and conservation needs of raptors and other migratory birds.

Coping. Cutting back or shortening the beak or talons. A first coping is done with your sponsor.

Coverts. The rows of shorter feathers overlying the bases of the flight feathers.

Crab. A clash or fight between hawks, in the air or on the ground over quarry. Not desirable.

Cramp. Also called rickets or metabolic bone disease: calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D imbalance from a lean-meat diet. A primary cause of death in downy eyases.

Creance. A strong light line used to control a raptor during early training. Attached to slitless field jesses, never to the swivel, and anchored to something light that will drag.

Deck feathers. The central pair of tail feathers.

Dho-gazza. A trapping net of Asia Minor origin using a smaller, heavier gill-net style mesh to funnel and trap birds. Similar in appearance to a mist net but a different concept.

Enseam. To prepare a hawk for flying by removing its reserves of fat, so done when the bird is too fat. Today it may refer to feeding washed meat.

Enter. To introduce a bird to a quarry species it has not hunted before, ideally with an easy chance so it forms a good association and a search image.

Eyas. A nestling raptor, and by extension a trained bird of any age that was obtained as a nestling. A five-year-old bird taken from the nest is still an eyas.

Eyrie. A raptor's nest, particularly a falcon's cliff nest.

Falcon. Any bird of the genus Falco; used strictly, the female Peregrine.

Falconer. (173.1) A person who possesses a valid Apprentice, General or Master Falconry license.

Falconry. (173.1) The sport of hunting by the use of trained raptors, including the training, feeding and handling of such birds and their recapture after release for hunting or training. Falconry does not include the propagation of raptors.

Feak. To wipe the beak against the perch or glove after feeding.

Field jesses. Slitless jesses used when the bird is flown loose, so nothing can catch and hang the bird. Goshawks need longer field jesses than falcons.

First year passage bird. (173.1) A raptor less than one year old which is neither a nestling nor in adult plumage. May be captured September 1 through January 31.

Fret marks. Marks on feathers caused by stress and poor nutrition during their growth.

Frounce. Trichomonas infection of the digestive tract. Cheesy cream-yellow plaques in the mouth, weight loss, food flicking. Usually fatal within seven to ten days if untreated. Contracted mostly from pigeons and doves.

Full summed. Synonymous with hard-penned: the blood has withdrawn from newly grown wing and tail feathers and they have hardened.

Gauntlet. The falconer's glove.

Giant hood. A box that covers the whole bird, used for transport and calming. May be useful for an entire season with a passage hawk.

Gorge. To let a hawk eat all it will until it refuses more.

Hack. (173.1 'Hacking') The temporary release of a raptor held for falconry to the wild so that it may adjust to the wild at an appropriate time of year and location. In practice, complete liberty given to eyases for a few weeks after they can fly. A hacked bird is taken up when it starts hunting.

Hack-board. The platform on which food is put out for birds at hack.

Haggard. A wild adult raptor, in adult plumage. Not taken for falconry: adults are the breeding stock, and a falconer who captures one must release it immediately at the site.

Halsband. An East Indian device: a cord hung loosely across the upper back of an accipiter ahead of the wings, used to launch the bird for a very quick start on quarry. Most useful hunting with a dog and a goshawk.

Hallux. The rear toe, carrying the longest talon.

Hard penned. See full summed. The sign that growth is complete.

Hippoboscid. A flat blood-sucking fly. Dangerous in numbers: causes anaemia and transmits haemoproteus and West Nile Virus.

Hood. A leather cap that covers a bird's eyes to keep it calm. Dutch hoods are made over a block; Indian hoods are lighter and preferred by most North American falconers.

Hybrid. (173.1) Offspring of birds listed as two or more distinct species. All hybrids must carry at least two radio transmitters when free flown, and may never be released to the wild.

Imping. (173.1) Repair of feathers on live birds by replacing a damaged feather with a molted feather. Uses a needle, ideally triangular in cross-section and made of flexible feather shaft rather than metal.

Imprint. A bird that has transferred its identity to humans, thinking it is a person or that people are hawks. Imprinted Red-tailed Hawks develop dangerous aggression at sexual maturity.

Intermewed. A bird that has been kept a full year and molted in captivity. Literally, an interval in the mews.

Jack. A male Merlin.

Jerkin. A male Gyrfalcon. Also gyrkin. On average larger than a female Peregrine.

Jess. A leather strap on the tarsus by which a bird is held or tethered.

Keen. Hungry, sharp-set, ready to kill.

Leash. The line securing a tethered bird, of strong well-oiled leather or strong supple nylon. Never attached directly to the tarsi. A short leash helps prevent bumblefoot.

Lure. A weighted, garnished imitation of quarry, swung to recall or exercise a bird. The one indispensable piece of field equipment. A live lure is for emergencies only.

Malar stripe. The broad dark facial mark running down from the crown across the eye. Best developed on the Peregrine, where it is the definitive field mark.

Man. To accustom a raptor to people, handling and the human world. Tameness is a refinement to be encouraged, not a risk.

Mantle. Two meanings: stretching one wing and one leg on the same side, which shows a relaxed bird; and spreading wings and tail over food or quarry, which is defensive.

Metabolic bone disease. Improper calcification of bone from a calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D imbalance, caused by feeding meat without bone. Prevented by feeding small bones as soon as the young bird can assimilate them.

Mews. The indoor housing facility. Under 173.6, at least eight feet in every inside dimension, with a barred window, a secure door, a drainable floor, an appropriate perch and clean water.

Mist net. A fine-stranded net with bulky pockets, originally made of human hair in Japan and China. Not the same thing as a dho-gazza.

Musket. A male Sparrowhawk, and by extension a male Sharp-shinned Hawk. An accipiter, unlike jack, jerkin and tiercel.

Mute. The combined excrement of the digestive tract and kidneys. Creamy-white urates with a small dark centre is ideal.

Native. (173.1) Any species which spends some portion of its life cycle within New York State, has occurred here regularly for many years, and was not the result of intentional or accidental introduction.

Nestling. (173.1) A young raptor which is still in the nest and is not yet capable of flying. May be captured May 1 through July 31 (Great Horned Owls from February 1), one per nest, and only if another remains.

Parabuteo. The genus of the Harris's Hawk, the one common falconry species that may be hunted in groups.

Passage bird / passager. A raptor captured on its first southward migration, so in immature plumage and of known age. First-year birds caught in non-migratory situations count too.

Pellet. See casting.

Pitch. The height at which a falcon waits on above the falconer.

Preen. To straighten and dress the feathers. A sign of a well-adjusted bird, common after a bath.

Primaries. The outer flight feathers, numbered ornithologically 1 (innermost) to 10 (outermost). Buteos, Parabuteo and accipiters molt from 1 outward; falcons molt from 4 in both directions.

Put over. To move food from the crop into the stomach by movements of the neck and shoulders, just after eating. When the crop is empty it has been 'put away'.

Rake away. A flight at quarry or to the falconer that is aborted, the bird changing course away from the target.

Rangle. Small stones given orally to a hawk. A medieval purge.

Raptors. (173.1) All species and hybrids defined in section 11-1001 of the Environmental Conservation Law. In the manual's usage, all hawks and owls: orders Falconiformes and Strigiformes.

Remige. A flight feather of the wing: a primary or a secondary. Never plucked when broken; imped instead.

Ring perch. The best outdoor tethering perch for a Red-tailed Hawk, and the traditional accipiter perch.

Ringing flight. A flight in which the raptor climbs after quarry in spirals. Characteristic of the Merlin.

Rouse. To slowly erect all the feathers, shake, and let them settle. A sign of tameness and well-being.

Screaming. Persistent food-begging vocalisation, usually in an eyas that has associated the falconer with food. Avoided by taking the hawk to food, not the food to the hawk.

Secondaries. The inner flight feathers of the wing.

Sharp-set. Hungry, keen and alert, ready to kill. The state in which a bird enters the field.

Shock marks. Bands on a feather marking a point where stress halted normal growth. Formerly called hunger streaks. Effectively universal on eyas hawks.

Slice. The forcible discharge of excrement, done by accipiters, buteos and eagles. Falcons drop their mutes straight down.

Slip. A chance at quarry; also the release of a short wing after quarry, and the flight itself.

Sour crop. Crop stasis: food sitting in the crop for 24 hours or more while bacteria flourish. The bird is dull, puffed, with a distended crop and sour breath. A veterinary emergency, not a falconer's fix.

Sponsor. (173.1) A person holding a valid General or Master Falconry license who agrees with the department, in writing, to be responsible for individually instructing and training an Apprentice under direct supervision, to determine eligibility for advancement, and to provide written recommendations on request.

Stargazing. A syndrome of brain inflammation in which the bird stands with its head up or arched back. Most commonly a vitamin D3 deficiency, treated with sunlight and D3; where another dietary deficiency is the cause, vitamin B1.

Stoop. A steep dive at quarry or at the lure.

Strike. The moment of impact with quarry or lure; also striking the braces (loosening a hood) and striking the hood (removing it).

Swivel. The link between jesses and leash, strong enough that the bird cannot break it but light enough not to burden it. Figure-8 or ball-bearing types. Never a dog-leash snap swivel.

Tail-saver perch. A perch developed by Heinz Meng, the best type for protecting the long tail feathers of accipiters.

Tame hack. Fledgling falcons flown free for a few hours a day from a portable perch in a hack field, carrying telemetry and recovered each night, with the falconer serving quarry as wild parents would.

Talon. The claw of a raptor.

Tarsus. The lower leg, from the foot to the first joint. Where jesses and bewits attach.

Telemetry. Radio tracking. A Yagi antenna gives a quarter mile to a mile on the ground, ten miles or more from the air. Required in duplicate for free-flown hybrids.

Throw up. To rise steeply on outstretched wings, particularly after a stoop in which the quarry dodged.

Tiercel. A male Peregrine, or loosely any male longwing. From the male being about a third smaller than the female.

Tiring. Any tough part of a quarry, mostly feather, sinew or fur, given to a bird to tear at rather than for nourishment. A game bird wing is ideal.

Train. The tail.

Trichomonas. The protozoan parasite that causes frounce in raptors and canker in pigeons.

Vent. The external opening of the cloaca.

Waiting on. A falcon holding position at height above the falconer, waiting for quarry to be flushed. The Peregrine's signature flight.

Warble. To stretch both wings up over the back. A comfort behaviour.

Washed meat. Meat soaked in cold water, used to lower a bird's weight or increase hydration.

Weathering area. The outdoor facility, with enough space for a tethered bird to bate without striking the sides or top, enclosed against predators.

Yagi. A sensitive hand-held telemetry antenna with three or more elements mounted at right angles to a central boom.

Yarak. An East Indian word for a savage state of extreme readiness to kill, with a characteristic posture. Only partly a function of hunger.