August

Introduced into Europe by the Saracens, falconry became one of the Christian gentry's favorite diversions. Here, not far from Paris, a party rides out to hunt near the duke's Chateau d'Etampes. Leading the hunt is the falconer, who carries a decoy at his waist and two hunting hawks on his wrist. His dogs are trained to point the game before the falcons are released. The first gentleman, with the lady riding behind him, is sending his falcon after a pheasant or a hare. In the fields around the chateau, peasants, harvesting the wheat, take time out for cooling dips in the small stream.