Falconry
Falconry is an ancient "sport of kings" which involves using a trained bird of prey to hunt rabbits or other small animals. Widely practised in the Middle Ages, it has fallen out of favor in recent decades, thanks mainly to the expense of maintaining a collection, or mews, of birds. The relentless urbanization of our cities and towns has also led to an overall reduction in the number of predatory birds, and those birds that remain extant have by necessity learned to mistrust mankind.
Falconry in the Middle Ages
Falconry was a popular pastime in medieval England, and in Europe more generally. No nobleman's castle would have been deemed complete without at least one mews, and the office of court falconer was a highly esteemed position. The falconer's responsibilities were to exercise the birds daily, and to tutor young lords and princes in the art of the hunt. A nobleman's son would typically begin his education at age ten or eleven; it might take years to master the sport.
Medieval princes hunted mainly for sport. The procurement of meaty victuals for the banquet table was left to the gamekeepers: professional huntsmen employed by the throne. Venison, of course, would be hunted with bow and arrow on horseback; beef would be supplied by peasant farmers; and fish would be taken from the rivers by hook and line; but the fowls of the air that arrived at the royal dinner table would in all likelihood be the products of the falconer's art. Falcons were as well used to procure rabbits, or conies, and other palatable rodents.