TAMING THE GOLDEN EAGLE.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 42, 17 August 1895, Page 1 (Supplement)

TAMING THE GOLDEN EAGLE.

Captain H. Bower, in the Geographical Journal, recently gave an interesting account of Iris trip to Turkistan. In the course of the article he describes a visit which he paid to a camp called Shahidulia, where he cajne upon an unexpected find, in the shape of a golden eagle tamed and nsed as a falcon by one of the natives:— At the place where we camped after decending from the pass, a shepherd resided, who owned a fine golden eagle. These eagles are much used for hunting gazelles, loxes, and hares in the flat country through which the Kasbgar and Yarkand rivers flow. It is capital sport, and during the time I was in that country, I was fortunate in seeing some of it The eagle, on being released, does not go off nearly as quickly as a hawk, but takes some little time overtaking the quarry ; and, in the meantime, if the quarry is a gazelle, the hunters must ride as hard as their horses can go, as the eagle, on overtaking it, simply settles on its quarters and turns it over. If no one is up to come to the eagle's assistance, the gazelle gets free, while the eagle sits still on the ground, refusing to rise. Tho authorities have decided to close the gainblingcasinoat Aii-los-Boins, whioh had become a formidable rival to Monte Carlo.