Peregrine advice please..

[nightwalker uk]

Didn't know where else to put this query, but I am sure somebody will be able to give me the answer on this forum.

At a recent quizz the question was posed as to why a musket is called a musket?

Apparently the answer was that it was named after a male peregrine falcon as this was the fastest thing known at the time to compare with the speed the shot/projectile leaves the muzzle?

Is this right??? Or not, old terminology is fastenating but I have never heard of this...

[London Birder]

male Peregrine is usually known as teircel, the female being the falcon ... though there's undoubtedly many colloquials

[Keith Reeder]

Is "musket" an archaic name for a male pere?

The only old name I've heard for a male falcon (not specifically peregrine?) is "tercel/tiercel", relating to the fact that males tend to be about 1/3 smaller than females of their species.

[Goes a-Googling...]

Well well: according to this page http://www.hawk-conservancy.org/faq.shtml a musket is in fact a male sparrowhawk.

Also:
the male Peregrine is generally known as a Tiercel or Tercel, the male Merlin is known as Jack and the male Hobby as Robin (but not by everyone). Further afield, the male Lanner Falcon is a Lanneret, and the male Saker Falcon a Sakeret or Sakret.

You live and learn...

[Woody]

Didn't know where else to put this query, but I am sure somebody will be able to give me the answer on this forum.

At a recent quizz the question was posed as to why a musket is called a musket?

Apparently the answer was that it was named after a male peregrine falcon as this was the fastest thing known at the time to compare with the speed the shot/projectile leaves the muzzle?

Is this right??? Or not, old terminology is fastenating but I have never heard of this...
Not a peregrine actually, musket is still used to refer to a male sparrowhawk. Male peregrines are referred to as tiercels, this has to do with the fact that generally the males are about a third smaller than the females, a phenomenon known as sexual dimorphism.

Demand a recount on the scores!

Woody

[Woody]

Got there three minutes before me Keith!

Woody

[London Birder]

most bops have quite interesting names for each sex within each species (often used by falconers, at least formerly) ... think male Merlin is a jack (?)



edit: oops, see that's already been posted

[Ranger James]

A male hobby is called a robin. Confusingly.
Jim

[robinm]

A male hobby is called a robin. Confusingly.
Jim
I feel a change of avatar coming on ;)

[barry potter]

rick i personaly would love to see the photos if you can dig them out cheers barry :D

[saluki]

...or so says my dictionary. All the falconers I used to know used it for any male hawk or falcon. All females are hens, although the female peregrine is correctly referred to as "falcon". And, yes, the girls are much bigger than the boys, the assumtion being that Mom and Dad being so different can secure a broader range of prey for the kids at the nest, and that Dad, being quicker and a more agile hunter, can bring more meals back to the nest, and Mom, being bigger and fiercer, can protect the kids better at the nest, although parents will bail completely (to live to breed another day) if the threat is too great (unless they great horned owls - then all bets are off - they ain't afraid of anything! And yes - carry around a hen red-tail for a few hours, or a tiercel, and you quickly know that the the 3 1/2 lb. hen is way heavier. For the past 20 years my little sister has been carrying around a female golden eagle who weighs 14 lbs. - and she has arthritis in her left shoulder (I'll dig out some photos if anyone is interested).
Rick

Bit different in the UK Rick - many falconers over here act as if they still live in the middle ages!

In falconry most males have a name:

Peregrine - Tiercel
Merlin - Jack
Hobby - Robin
Gyr - Jerkin
Saker - Charghela or Sakeret
Lanner - Lanneret

As for the word Musket, I seem to remember reading that it was derived from a French word - but I can't remember what that word was! The firearm was named after the bird.

I still find myself using falconry terms, simply because I like them. I still use musket, tiercel and eyass; 'passage hawk' and 'haggard' are far more evocotive terms than first year juvenile and adult falcon respectively; and the word 'spar' for a female Sparrowhawk rather than the awful birding equivalent, 'sprawk' or 'spawk'! Hell will freeze over before I use such horrible terminology to describe such an exquisit bird . . .

saluki

[ed keeble]

As for the word Musket, I seem to remember reading that it was derived from a French word - but I can't remember what that word was! The firearm was named after the bird.



mousquette - old Fr word for sparrowhawk- which in turn derives from mosca (small brown fly, mosquito etc.)

isn't the internet grand! but not always correct...

[saluki]

mousquette - old Fr word for sparrowhawk- which in turn derives from mosca (small brown fly, mosquito etc.)

isn't the internet grand! but not always correct...

Thanks for that WB - knew it was some old French word or other!

saluki

[Rick Volkmar]

rick i personaly would love to see the photos if you can dig them out cheers barry :D

Apparently, everything I've got is way too big to post.
800x800 is a fraction of most of what I have.
And I thought Yahoo was restrictive with their 1000KB limit.....
Rick

[Keith Reeder]

Rick,

35,000+ people on here are happy enough with the 800px size limit.

You've posted five times, and you've complained about the forum (primarily about "unreasonable" image size limitations) in three of those posts.

It's a (free!) birding forum when all's said and done, and the ability to post images is a bonus, not the site's raison d'etre.

You're coming across as the kind of guy who could find a $10 bill and then spend the rest of the day complaining that it wasn't a 20...

[John M]

Didn't know where else to put this query, but I am sure somebody will be able to give me the answer on this forum.

At a recent quizz the question was posed as to why a musket is called a musket?

Apparently the answer was that it was named after a male peregrine falcon as this was the fastest thing known at the time to compare with the speed the shot/projectile leaves the muzzle?

Is this right??? Or not, old terminology is fastenating but I have never heard of this...


Hi Nightwalker,
If you like old terminology you may be interested in other words.
You have already been told, correctly, that a Musket was called after a male Sparrowhawk. There are other terms used daily that originate from Falconry.
Cadger and Boozer.-They both come from Falconry terminology.
Just in case you are at another pub quiz.!!
Cheers,
John.