The Taming of Genghis

The second book by acclaimed falconer Ronald Stevens, first published in 1956, is a fascinating, utterly absorbing story. Genghis is a gyrfalcon, perhaps the noblest and greatest of falcons, and Ronald Stevens an expert and passionate falconer. This is the story of the creation of that strange, tense, absorbed relationship between man and bird that is the very heart of a sport as immemorially ancient as it is almost unbearably exciting. Captured in Iceland, brought back to Mr. Stevens' home in the solitude of the Welsh Marches, slowly, with an agony of patience, Genghis is weaned from his first instinctive distrust and terror to acceptance, to understanding, at last to exhilarating co-operation in the high delights of falconry. Taut, concentrated, personal, evocative, Stevens' prose is the distilled essence of one of the most exciting sports in the world.