The Falcons of Old Peking

An interesting photograph of Mongolian falcon sellers in Peking around 1930 (I am afraid the photgrapher is unidentified). Apparently these sellers would come to Peking anually with falcons caught on the Mongolian plains and transported as you see below. The American linguist, missionary and Sinologist Samuel Wells Williams recalled in his 1848 book, The Middle Kingdom: A Survey of the Geography, Government, Education, Social Life, Arts, Religion, Etc. of the Chinese Empire and Its Inhabitants that though used initially to discourage rodents and pests (something falcons do in many major cities still tosah globally) they would eventually come to infest the gates, towers and trees of the city, impudently forgae food in markets and food streets, snatching food from stalls and out of people’s hands in a rather startling fashion (they’re pretty big birds)…..