Hunting in Russia - Hunting Birds

Hunting Birds

Orthodox martyr Saint Trifon is often depicted with a white merlin on his hand. Particularly the name of Moscow's Sokolniki Park refers to the rapid spread of falconry-related slobodas in Tsarist Russia. As indicated by English diplomat Jerome Horsey, Boris Godunov used to be a hawker. Meanwhile the use of hunting birds was already popular among Russian nobility in the times of the Golden Horde. There were several hundred such birds in possession of Ivan IV, and even the road tax was collected in pigeons for falcons. However, the first famous hawker was Alexis I, who created the falconry statute book (Урядник сокольничья пути). The white, red or speckled merlins were also in common usage in those days. The merlin cocks were called cheligi (челиги). The places where the birds were caught were called pomchishcha (помчища) and the catchers - pomytchiki (помытчики). Before the reign of Feodor I each pomytchik community annually delivered three living falcons to the prince's falcon loft. In the time of Feodor I it became necessary to obtain two red merlins, three speckled and thirty-five grey.

There were two state merlin lofts, in Semyonovskoye and Kolomenskoye. An Italian ambassador, Horatio Calvucci, had been trying to get in and sketch at least one bird for six months; the embassy finally gained an access on February 13, 1662. In 1805 there were only fifteen hunting birds left in Semyonovskoye. The last event with hunting birds occurred during the coronation of Alexander II. The golden eagles were taken from Orenburg Governorate to hunt for wolves and foxes at that time.