THE PASSAGE FALCON. By Bob Dalton.

2015 1st edition. Large 8vo (178 x 250mm). Pp175. Colour and b/w photographs, colour paintings and line drawings by Carl Bass. Brown cloth, spine titled in gilt.

"This book is an important work chronicling ...the way things were and the path forward for those wishing to fly what many consider to be the ultimate hunting falcon, the passage peregrine falcon, known more correctly to falconers as simply, The Passage Falcon." Passage Falcons are those wild birds trapped during migration, and trained for falconry. "At last, a treatise on training and flying the passage falcon in modern falconry. As well as covering the use of the passager [Bob Dalton] takes a look back at the place of the passage falcon held in the true pinnacle of falconry, 'le haut vol.' These were flights at kite, heron and then rooks on passage, all ...more or less consigned to the history books ...certainly within the UK. [But] then so is the use of the passage falcon itself within Britain unless a brief partnership is formed between falcon and falconer ...where a wildlife casualty is rehabilitated." Trapping birds of passage is common practice in the USA, and is also legal in a number of other countries. Chapters include: Life stages of a falcon; Equipment; Housing and weathering; General husbandry and the moult; The Passage Falcon: Obtaining the passenger; Hooding; Manning and taming; The lure, introduction and calling off; Fitness training and entering; Out of the hood flights; Waiting on flights; In the field; Tailpiece.