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By Beebe and Webster, Seventh Edition, 1994 It had been many years since I last studied NAF&HH, thirty years to be exact, when I was given the first edition as a birthday gift. Being my first non-fictional falconry book, I was, quite simply, awed. For a youngster just learning how to catch Kestrels, tales of trapping white Gyrs and Peregrines was heady reading indeed. Hal Webster has a way of making the reader feel involved in his experience. This ability he has not lost in all these years. Likewise, Frank Beebe can make the reader feel like you are there in the Northwestern drizzle with a Goshawk. The chapter titled The Nature of Predation by Frank Beebe was, and still is, one of my favorite pieces of falconry writing. It is too bad credit is not given to Mr. Beebe in this latest edition. This whole collaboration between these two old friends is very confusing to me, as a reader of falconry literature. At least in the early edition(s), it was clear who was writing what. Now, Hal extols Frank’s contributions to this work and to modern falconry, then proceeds to leave his name off of his many chapter credits. Frank Beebe’s aura permeates this book as strongly as Hal Webster’s, in spite of a lot of rearranging, paraphrasing, and “new” insight. This association makes me wonder how eminent Peregrine re-introduction scientists such as Tom Cade, Jim Enderson, and Pat Redig were persuaded to contribute to this book. While Hal Webster is an enthusiastic, entertaining sort, Frank Beebe is the original Unafalconer whose Manifesto The Myth of the Vanishing Peregrine pretty much came right out and tried to trash the validity of the Peregrine Fund and Endangered Species classification. The original Future of Falconry chapter was bizarre indeed, quoting supposed prices being paid for native wild raptors, envisioning public exhibitions with flying artificial lures (in case real game hawking becomes impossible!), and other hallucinations. Thank goodness Mr. Webster choose to completely re-write this piece! The excellent contributions to this volume by various capable falconer/authors make this book worth reading, if not owning. They present very credible chapters on a variety of topics, from breeding and medical issues to balloon training, “sky trials,” and falconry dog training. I found the two chapters on the Harris’ hawk a little redundant. One must truly have his head in the sand to not ack-nowledge McElroy’s DESERT HAWKING 2 in any bibliography section of worthwhile references. To ignore the California/Arizona “School” of Parabuteoing is to be ignorant of the origins of this very popular branch of hawking. Beebe and Webster have speculated about raptor biology since the first edition. The latest book continues this tradition, at least in the sections written by these two laymen. Chapter 6, A Few Comparisons, is eight pages of raptorial jibber jabber, as pointless now as it was thirty years ago. Chapter 1, Introduction to North American Falconry, now completely re-written by Webster, is a real doozie, permeated with government, environmentalist, and Golden eagle bashing rhetoric. Beebe’s original chapter should have been retained. At least he probably would not have made the odd comparisons between the “endangered” status of Swallow-tailed and White-tailed kites with Everglades kites and California condors. Come on Hal, get your facts straight. So who would be interested in this book? In its attempt to be everything to every level of falconry interest, NAF&HH manages to be too big, rambling, and unfocused for beginners and veterans alike. Unlike the oft mentioned Observations on Modern Falconry by Ronald Stevens, you just can not curl up on the sofa with this huge, shiny pile of words and feel enlightened by the humble teachings of a master. Mr. Webster is to be com-plimented for enlisting the contributions of his co-authors. It is their insights that make this book valuable. It’s just all the other annoying stuff that keeps getting in the way. Take the term “dirt baggers” for example, in reference to the fliers of Harris’ hawks. How degrading can you get? I am sure it was thought up in good drunken humor by a bunch of good ole boys, but it has no place in a book that tries to be classy. Even this mildly chauvinistic male falconer found offense to the
suggestion in one section that “wives, girlfriends, ex-wives, and
mother-in-laws might be likely candidates for devocalization
surgery!” Anyone who suggests “avoiding wind at all cost with the Goshawk” has not seen game hawking at its very best. I have been to the mountaintop in Nevada with Harry Mc-Elroy some years ago with his eyas female Gos. She rode the ridges, stooping at chuckars and jacks for over an hour. The wind was gusty and strong, averaging about 20 knots. Never say never. I could go on and on, but the curious reader should discover all these goodies and more on their own. Kind of like a literary Easter egg hunt. Chapters 11, 20, 26, 32, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, and 44 are excellent, cutting edge material. The rest can be exciting, interesting, boring, unbelievable, infuriating, thought provoking, and fertility for gardens. Oh yeah, the artwork is OK, especially D. Ron Digby’s Front Endsheet of a Peregrine family. The dust jacket is also very nice. I wish at least a couple of Beebe’s original color plates had been retained. The one chapter I wish had been included was one entitled How I got the Air Force to send me to the Arctic for White Gyrfalcons. Now that would be interesting reading. Hal, you are my hero!
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