JESSES



About a year ago I did the Americanism "Give 'em Jessie!" No book seems

to record this "jesses." This is from the American Turf Register and

Sporting Magazine, "Falconry," March 1831, pg. 336:



"A cap of leather, called a _hood_, is to be put on the hawk's head the

moment he is taken. It is so constructed as to prevent him from seeing, but

allows him to feed, and may be put on or taken off at pleasure; but to _hood_

a hawk (we are told) requires a degree of manual dexterity that is not easily

acquired. Slips of light leather, seven or eight inches long and a quarter

of an inch wide, are to be made fast to each of his legs. These are called

_jesses_ (Plural? Is "jesse" singular?--ed.), and are to be fastened to a

small swivel fixed to the end of a thong of leather three or four feet long,

called a _leash_, so as easily to be detached from the swivel when the hawk

is required to fly. The _jesses_ always remain on his legs.



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