Chapter 6: Bending the Eagle, Facing the Crowd, Preparing Food and Cleaning Feather Shafts
Yue Lei nodded: "Okay! The Falconry skill your Grandpa passed down to you hasn't been lost at all!"
That evening, Yue Feng held the Eagle for less than an hour, then tied it up again. He stayed up with the lamp burning until past eleven o'clock before untying the Eagle and tying it to the back of a chair at home.
The Eagle, which had been held in hand and bent all day, quickly relaxed after being put on the perch. Its feathers fluffed up into a soft, fluffy ball. After Yue Feng blew out the lamp and got into bed, it quickly buried its head in its neck and rested on one leg.
The next morning, before dawn, as Mom in the east room just got up, Yue Feng heard the movement, woke up, put on his clothes, and got out of bed. The first thing he did was tie the Northern Goshawk on the back of the chair tightly again.
Next, whether getting up to pee, washing his face, or eating, Yue Feng held the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) in one hand and performed the tasks with the other. The Saker Falcon, which had recovered some of its wildness after a few hours of rest, quickly adapted to yesterday's rhythm again.
For the entire day that followed, Yue Feng mostly stayed at home holding the Eagle. He untied the Eagle twice, at noon and in the evening, letting it perch on his hand for half an hour each time. The rest of the time was almost exactly the same as yesterday.
By the early morning of the third day, Yue Feng took out a Sparrow that had been kept in the cage. After pinching it to death, he skinned and gutted it, then put it directly into water with its feathers.
When it was just getting light, Yue Feng got up early again, tied up the Eagle, took two steamed buns from the large pot and put them in his pocket, and leisurely walked out of the house, heading straight for the Market in the next village.
In the rural Markets of this era, due to certain unspeakable reasons, there was hardly any cash transaction visible on the surface. Most people would take out their limited household resources to the Market to exchange for things they could use.
Yue Feng walked around the Market holding the Eagle, and quickly chose a spot under the large locust tree near the village entrance to sit down.
There were people playing chess here, and many spectators watching the fun. The sounds of talking, arguing, and occasional bursts of laughter created an environment sufficient for facing the crowd with the Eagle.
Seeing this, many people might have a question in their minds: What is facing the crowd?
It's actually very simple. From a scientific perspective, it's socialization adaptation. It allows the Eagle to get used to the stimulation of human activity, making it accustomed to the presence of people and gradually reducing its stress response.
When the Eagle is completely used to facing the crowd, even when facing a group of people in front of it, it won't even lift an eyelid. It will eat and drink as usual, no longer afraid.
Only Eagles that are completely accustomed to facing the crowd can be taken out to hunt. Otherwise, if you let go, the Eagle might get scared and fly away, leaving you with tears in your eyes, looking up at the sky.
The Market started from dawn and lasted until past three in the afternoon. When most people had left, Yue Feng held the young Eagle and headed home.
After a full day of facing the crowd, the Northern Goshawk's gaze towards people was noticeably more relaxed, and its pupils no longer contracted into pinpoints.
Upon arriving home, Yue Feng untied the Eagle, allowing the Eagle, which had been constrained for most of the day, to relieve itself. Then he took the feathered Sparrow that had been soaking all night from the stove.
Counting from when the Eagle was netted, today was the third day. In these three days, besides providing enough water, the young Eagle hadn't eaten a single bite of meat. The droppings produced today were basically just watery.
In Falconry terms, the Eagle was now completely empty.
Between being held and facing the crowd, the Eagle was no longer very afraid of people after a few days, and its belly was very hungry.
Upon seeing the soaked Sparrow in Yue Feng's hand, the young Eagle instantly reacted.
It lunged forward with force, but because the two straps tied to its legs were held in Yue Feng's hand, it ended up hanging upside down.
Yue Feng held the two straps in his right hand and gently swung it. The young Eagle used the momentum to return to his hand and perch properly. Then Yue Feng carefully placed the Sparrow, held in his left hand, under the young Eagle's talons.
Snap! With a crisp sound, the Northern Goshawk's sharp talons, like lightning, quickly grabbed the wet, feathery Sparrow, and then it lowered its head and began to eat frantically.
An Eagle with an empty stomach eats like a wolf, gulping down its food. The Sparrow, after being gutted and soaked in water all night, had its fresh blood soaked out of the meat. It was basically equivalent to white meat soaked in water.
Feeding the Eagle this kind of meat provides much less energy, but the young Eagle, starving at the moment, didn't care about that and just buried its head in a frenzy of tearing.
If it were a live Sparrow, the first thing the Eagle would do after catching it would be to pluck the feathers before starting to eat. But with the soaked Sparrow, the feathers were completely wet, and the Eagle couldn't pick out the small downy feathers while eating, except for the large quills on the wings and tail.
Just like that, in less than three minutes, a soaked Sparrow was swallowed into its belly.
After eating the Sparrow, a small bulge slightly rose in the location of the young Eagle's crop. When the crop has food in it, the Eagle cannot be held bent. Yue Feng directly took a small stool and sat in his courtyard with the Eagle perched on his hand.
It must be said, the Northern Goshawk's temperament was very stable. Even after eating and being carried into the courtyard on his hand, it stood steadily on Yue Feng's hand.
Yue Feng held the Eagle, constantly observing the subtle reactions of the Northern Goshawk. This guy was no longer afraid of people at all. Even when Yue Feng's mother, Meng Yulan, pushed the door open and entered the courtyard from outside, the Northern Goshawk still didn't struggle.
Every once in a while, the Saker Falcon would tilt its head and twist its neck to push the food from the crop down into the lower stomach. As it slowly got used to the feeling of standing on the hand and being held, the short feathers at the base of its tail also slowly fluffed up. The 12 tail feathers closed together like a stick, and every so often it would sway two times, showing that it was quite relaxed.
Seeing that the Eagle was relatively relaxed, Yue Feng would stroke its feathers with his left hand every once in a while. At first, it resisted a little, but as time went on, when Yue Feng stroked its feathers again, the Northern Goshawk no longer tensed up.
By four-thirty in the afternoon, when Jingjing came home from school carrying her backpack, the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) in Yue Feng's hand had completely relaxed.
Its facial feathers had also completely fluffed up. In the jargon, this is called 'opening the face'. Its whole body's feathers were fluffed up into a ball, like an old hen squatting on his hand.
Jingjing knew that the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) Second Brother had caught was the key for her to eat Sand Grouse, so in the past few days, she would come over to her brother and look for the young Eagle to play with whenever she had nothing to do.
However, Yue Feng knew the principle that even a young raptor is still a raptor, and he always prevented his sister from touching the Eagle.
This evening, seeing the Eagle's state, Yue Feng made an exception and let the youngest touch the Northern Goshawk's chest, which made the little girl giggle with laughter.
That evening, Yue Feng ate dinner holding the Eagle with one hand. After finishing dinner around seven o'clock, the food in the Saker Falcon's crop had all been pushed down.
Yue Feng held the Eagle under the oil lamp until eleven o'clock before tying it up and putting out the lamp to go to bed.
He only slept for a little over four hours. It was still dark when Yue Feng heard the first rooster crow in the village, and he got out of bed early.
The Eagle resting on the back of the chair still had its head tucked into its feathers and hadn't looked up. After Yue Feng got up, he took a roll of tire cord from the head of the bed and put it in his pocket, then put on gloves and held the Eagle.
He held it from past four o'clock until five-thirty, and the large Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) finally reacted.
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