Truss
To seize the quarry in the air, and fly off with it.
Varvels. Small rings of silver formerly attached to the jesses, on which the owner's name was engraved.
Wait on (of the hawk). - To soar above the falconer or dogs waiting for the game to be put up.
Wake or Watch (of the falconer). - To sit up all night with a newly-caught hawk in order to tame her.
Weather (of the falconer). - To place hawks unhooded upon their blocks in the open air.
Yarak. An Indian term, meaning a state of eagerness and expectancy which hawks reach when ready for flying. It is chiefly applied to the short-winged hawks. (Salvin.) Bibliography. - Bibliotheca Accipitraria. A Catalogue of Books, Ancient and Modern, relating to Falconry, with Notes, Glossary, and Vocabulary, J. E. Harting (Quaritch), 1891; Das Erste Buch, &c., the Earliest Printed Book on Falconry in any Language, Anon. (Augsberg), c. 1472; The Boke of St. Albans, containing the Treatises on Hawking, Hunting, and Coat- Armour, printed at St. Alban's, 1486, sm. folio.
Reproduced in facsimile with an introduction by William Blades (Stock), 1881, 4to; The Institution of a Gentleman, anon., 1.555, 2nd edition, printed by Thos. Marshe, 1568; A Perfect Booke for Kepinge of Sparhawkes and Goshawkes, c. 1575, edited from original MS. by J. E. Harting (Quaritch), 1866; The Booke of Falconrie or Hawking, George Turberville, Gentleman, Ist edition (C. Barker), 1575, 2nd edition (T. Purfoot), 1611; Bert's Treatise of Hawks and Hawking, from the Original of 1619, J. E.
Harting (Quaritch), 1891; Faulconry, or the Faulcon's Lure and Cure, Symon Latham, Ist book (R. Jackson), 1615; 2nd book (R. Jackson), 1618; 2nd edition (J. Harrison), 1633; La Fauconnerie de Jean de Franchières, c. 1531, edited by L'Angelin, Paris, 1627; La Conférence des Fauconniers de Ch. D'Arcussia, 1644, Réimprimée avec Notes, &c., par E. Julien (Librairie des Bibliophiles, Paris), 1883; Observations upon Hawking, Sir J. S. Sebright, Bt. (J. Harding), 1826; Traité de Fauconnerie, par H. Schlegel et A. H. Verster de Wolverhorst, illustré par J.
Wolff (Arnz et Cie., Leiden et Düsseldorf), 1844-53; Dictionary of Sports, Harry Harwood the Hints on on India in (Tegg), 1835; An Encyclopædia of Rural Sports, Part VI., pp. 602-718, D. P. Blaine, 2nd edition (Longmans), 1852; Falconry: Its Claims, History, and Practice, Revd. G. E. Freeman and F. H.
Salvin (Longmans), 1859; Practical Falconry, Revd. G. E. Freeman (Cox), 1869; Notes on the Falconida used in India in Falconry, in Falconry, Lieut.-Colonel E. Delme Radcliffe (Kent), 1872; Falconry in the British Isles, F. H.
Salvin and W. Brodrick (J. Van Voorst), 1873; Essays Sport and Natural History, pp. 67 et seq., J. E. Harting (Cox), 1883; the Management of Hawks, J. E.
Harting (Cox), 1884; Falconry, Badminton Library, Hon. E. Lascelles (Longmans), 1899; The Art and Practice of Hawking, E. B. Michell (Methuen), 1900; Reminiscences of a Falconer, Major C. H. Fisher (Nimmo), 1901; La Fauconnerie au Moyen Age et dans les Temps Modernes, L. Magaud d'Aubusson (Paris), 1879; Traité de Fauconnerie et d'Autourserie, suivi d'un Etude sur la Pêche sur la Pêche au Cormoran, A. Belvalette (Hérissey, Evreux), 1903 Falconeria Moderna, Guida Practica per adestrare alla Caccia algune Specie di Falconidi, A. U. Filastori (Roux, Frassati e Ca., Torini), 1908. au FALLOW DEER (Cervus fealo; German, falb, pale yellow.
Colour. The natural colour of the species in a wild state in summer is a bright fawn, with white spots irregularly distributed over the upper parts of the sides and haunches, the spotted tracts being bounded by indefinite white lines. In winter the spots disappear, the coat being changed in May and October.
Distribution. - The Fallow Deer is believed to be not indigenous to England, but to have been introduced in Roman times, though it may have been later, from countries bordering the Mediterranean.
This view is favoured by the fact that no antlers or other remains have been found in the peat of the English fens or Irish bogs.
On the other hand, there are in the British Museum some antlers of the Fallow Deer from Clacton, in Essex, said to have been obtained from a deposit of the polished stone implement period. If this be their true age and the Fallow Deer was not originally a native of this country, its introduction must have been long antecedent to the Roman occupation of Britain. Yet, in support of the view that the animal may have been indigenous, there is the fact that remains of a species of Fallow Deer (Cervus browni) have been discovered in certain superficial deposits on the Essex coast. In a wild state it is found at the present time in Southern Russia, Asia Minor, the island of Rhodes, parts of Greece, Sardinia, Spain, Portugal, the Cevennes Mountains, and the Alps of Dauphiné.
It is reported, on the authority of Cuvier and other French writers, to have formerly O 2 inhabited North Africa and particularly Eastern Algeria, but inquiries made by Sir H. H. Johnston failed to elicit any evidence of the existence there of any truly wild Fallow Deer, at all events during the past century.
Some were kept in a semi-wild state by a former Bey of Tunis by whom they were imported from Sardinia, but they were never indigenous, so far as can be ascertained, and no longer exist either in Tunisia or Algeria.
The Persian Fallow Deer (Cervus mesopotamicus), found also in Asia Minor, is regarded as a distinct species. Both Cervus dama and C. mesopotamicus are conspicuously distinguished from animals of the red deer type by having the antlers considerably [FALLOW DEER usually stands about 3 feet at the shoulder, and measures about 5 feet in length, including the tail of 7 inches, The weight varies according to the feeding in different parks, the bucks averaging from 100 lb. to 120 lb., and the does from 50 lb. to 60 lb.
Exceptionally much higher weights have been noted, as at Newnham Park, Devonshire, where in 1892 the bucks were said to have averaged 21 stone of 8 lb." (that is, 168 lb.), and the does 14 stone (that is, 112 lb.), presumably before gralloching.
Even these weights have been exceeded in Kent, where Mr. Walter Winans in August, 1902, shot a six-year-old black Fallow buck which, after being bled as he fell, weighed a trifle over 222 lb. An article by the 66 FALLOW DEER. palmated, instead of being entirely cylindrical, the palmation in the Persian form extending to the base of the horn, instead of being wholly above the main beam as in our Fallow Deer.
In many parts of England, Fallow Deer formerly ranged in a wild state, unrestrained by any inclosure. This was notably the case in Cranbourne Chase, in the New Forest, and in Epping Forest, where, at the present day, there is a small herd of the dark brown variety, locally known as the "old forest breed." A noticeable peculiarity in this herd is the remarkable attenuation of the palmated portion of the antlers, resulting from isolation and deterioration through breeding in and in. Some interesting remarks by the Hon. G. Lascelles on the change of colour in the Fallow Deer as observed in the New Forest, will be found in the Zoologist for October, 1892.
Measurements. - The Fallow buck present writer on the weight of Fallow Deer selected from five and twenty wellknown deer parks will be found in the Field of October 4th, 1902.
Habits. The rutting season begins in September, and the period of gestation is eight months. Usually one fawn is produced, sometimes two, very rarely three. They are dropped about the end of May or beginning of June, just as the fern is high enough to conceal them. Exceptionally they are dropped in autumn. The horns are shed in the spring, usually in April or beginning of May, the exact time depending upon age and temperature; cold winter and protracted spring causes them to be shed later than would be otherwise the case. The younger animals retain their horns somewhat later than the older bucks. The shed horns are often picked up and eaten by the deer themselves, the saline flavour being relished by them. Bucks, if a FENCE MONTHS] gelded after they have cast their horns, will never grow them again; if while growing, they will never shed them.
Fallow Deer venison is generally preferred to that of the red deer, being usually much fatter, though not so well flavoured.
The bucks are killed in August, the does in January. Buck hunting begins on September 15th.
J. E. HARTING.
FENCE MONTHS. -(See also GAME LAWS.) BRITISH ISLANDS. - Close time or close season for fish is the time during which it is illegal to take, and not only to take, but to sell or have in possession for sale, the fish to which the close time applies.
Close time may be divided into three parts, concerning:- I. Salmon and migratory trout.
II. Trout.
III. Freshwater coarse fish.
I. Salmon. In England and Wales the close time for salmon was fixed, by the Salmon Fishery Act, 1861, from the Ist September to Ist February, both days inclusive, for all modes of fishing but rod and line, and for rod and line from the Ist November to Ist February. By the Salmon Fishery Act, 1873, power was given to Boards of Conservators, with the consent of the central authority, to vary the close time in the districts; and, to the great injury not only of the fisheries in the district, but also of the fisheries generally, this power has been acted on to a considerable extent. In the report of the Inspector of Fisheries for each year, a list of the different close times in force in the different districts is given. If it is not varied, the time is, for rod, Ist October to Ist February, for all other modes, Ist September to Ist February. English salmon may only be legally sold if taken during the open season.
Salmon taken by rod during the open season for rod only cannot be sold. The fish seen in fishmongers' shops during the English close season are said to be Scotch, or foreign, salmon, although often really poached English fish.
In addition to an annual close time, there is also a weekly close time for salmon from noon on Saturday to 6 a.m. on Monday. Power has been given to Fishery Boards to extend this, and in some cases (as on the Christchurch Fishery) it has been done. It only applies to fishing other than with rods.
In Scotland the close time is more variable than in England, and in some cases has been fixed by local acts. On the Tweed the rod fishing is open till the end of November.
In Ireland the close time is also very variable, but there it is fixed for the different districts by the Inspector of Fisheries.
The result is that the law as to salmon close time is in the most hopeless state of confusion, and, except the month of December, there is no time when, in some part of the United Kingdom by some means, salmon cannot be legally taken. 11. Trout. In England and Wales the close time for trout is from the Ist October to the 2nd February (for Thames trout IIth September to 31st March). There is also a power for Fishery Boards to vary this time, and in some cases the power has been exercised, usually by extending the close season to March. In Scotland there is no close time for trout. A great difficulty has arisen in respect of the different kinds of trout imported from America, which it is sought to acclimatise, as their spawning season is in the spring, and in the autumn they are in the best condition.
III. Freshwater (Coarse) Fish. In 1878 a close time from the 15th March to the 15th June was introduced for freshwater fish, which are in effect all fish but trout and salmon. (In Norfolk and Suffolk the close time is Ist March to 30th June.) The close time, however, does not apply to landowners fishing in their own water or to persons to whom they give leave. It has also been altered by statute as to eels, and is now only applied to fishing for or taking eels with a rod and line. Presumably, all persons fishing between March and June are fishing for trout. Fishery Boards have power to except either the whole or part of the district from the close time, or any particular kind or kinds of fish, and orders under both these heads have been made by certain Fishery Boards. But so far there is no power to vary the close time for coarse fish in any district, as thus in the case of salmon or trout.
On the whole, there is no subject which is more confused than that of the close time for fish; and except the general rules that the close time for salmon is from Ist September to 1st February, trout Ist October to Ist February, freshwater fish from 15th March to 15th June, unless locally varied, it is impossible within the limits of an article to state what the law is, or what are the local variations. In some districts where a provisional order has been made under the Salmon Fishing Act, 1907, power has been given to vary the close time for this class of fish, but so far this has been only a partial remedy.
The Fishmongers' Company annually issue a table of the different close times in force, and the appendices to the reports of the inspectors in the three kingdoms contain the official notice of what the close times are in the different places. J. WILLIS BUND.
CANADA, DOMINION OF- Province of Ontario.
Trout Black bass and Mascalonge Salmon Sept. 15th, to May Ist.
April 15th to July 15th.
Province of Quebec.
Aug. 15th to Feb. Ist.
No Sunday fishing.
Oct. Ist to May Ist. (land- Sept. 15th to Dec. Ist.
Trout Ouananiche locked salmon).
FRANCE- Salmon.
Trout Coarse fish Sept. 30th to Jan. 10th.
Oct. 20th to Jan. 31st.
April 15th to June 15th. [If June 15th should fall on a Sunday, or even Monday, it is usual to make the opening day on the Saturday preceding, so as to give the working men an extra Sunday, the chief day for angling in France.] GERMANY. -The fence-months for fish differ considerably in the various provinces, but the general system embraces a winter close time (October 15th to December 14th); a spring close time (Prussia, April 15th to June 14th; other provinces, April 10th to June 9th), and a weekly close time of at least twenty-four hours (from sunset on Saturday to sunset on Sunday). These restrictions, which are subject to local modifications, do not extend to closed waters. The most complicated regulations are those in force in the kingdom of Bavaria, where some nineteen fishes are specified in the act, each with a close time of its own, those for salmon (and sea-trout) and trout being respectively October 1st to December 31st, and October 20th to January 20th.
NORWAY and SWEDEN- Salmon and sea-trout. (a) Rivers, estuaries, and lakes (b) Brooks, or on the sea coast Sept. 14th to Apr. 15th.
Sept. 14th to Feb. 14th.