Surely
this is based on the magpie in UK, which is quite different from our
magpie. I think ours is far more skilled an aerialist than the European Magpie
and probably more capable of avoiding danger from most raptors. Also the word
hawk & falcon is used almost interchangeably. The falconer might have been
using both, or presumably two Peregrine Falcons.
Philip
Denis Wilson advised that
'You've never been really swooped till you've been swooped (or technically
"stooped") by a Peregrine Falcon...'.
Attached is more on
hawks-a-stooping, a key part of the 'sport' of Magpie Hawking, not so common
today as in the past, I believe.
Source: The Field Book, Or, Sports
and Pastimes of the United Kingdom; Comp. from the Best Authorities, Ancient
and Modern, published 1833, free online, scanned by Google from the Harvard Univ
Library.
Good birding for 2015!
David
--
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