Peter Ballantyne Last of the old Scottish Falconers Peter was a falconer in the 19th century.  My great, great grandfather Richard Ballantyne, came from the British Isles around 1840.  I found Peter in a old book - "The Art of Falconry" by the Hon Gerald Lascelles.  I've tried to see if I could tie him to Richard but have not had luck to date.  If you happen to have any information that could help in this search, please let me know (Todd Ballantyne - Webmaster of the Raptors Nest at ToddB@RaptorsNest.com.)  I have provided excerpts from "The Art of Falconry" below to provide all the clues I currently have.  Things like, where he was born, married, etc, His parents, siblings or children's names, birth dates, death dates, marriage dates etc. all would help.   Thanks for the help with this puzzle.

Peter Ballantyne was born in 1798.  His father was a great friend of John Anderson the Great Scotch falconer, who was born in 1745 and died in 1833.  He was a steward at Lord Bute's residence, Dumfries House, in Ayrshire, and who had at one time acted as falconer to Earl of Eglinton.  Peter was trained to carry a hawk as soon as he could stand erect.  At the age of twenty he apprenticed to this fathers friend, John Anderson, who was at that time falconer to the Renfrewshire Subscription Hawks.  Mr. Fleming was the manager of this club till his death, and the head-quarters of the hawks was at his seat, Barochan castle.  For some years after Mr. Fleming's death, Anderson and the hawks, with Peter's father to assist him, continued at Barochan; but for the last two years of his professional life he was in the service of the Earl of Morton at Dalmahoy.  It was during the time of peter Ballantyne's apprenticeship to him that he visited London in a fancy dress of the period of James I., on the occasion of the coronation of George IV., in order to present the king a cast of falcons on behalf of the Duke of Athol, who held the Isle of Man on that ancient feudal tenure.  Very quaint indeed was Ballantyne's description of his master's appearance in this 'get up', and the old picture at Barochan, which has been engraved (though impressions are scarce), fully justifies the language applied to  it by Anderson himself.

After Andersons's retirement in 1832, Ballantyne entered the service of Lord Carmarthen under John Pells, senior, at Huntly Lodge, Aberdeenshire. Both passage hawks and eyesses were kept, and great sport was obtained both at herons and at game. The finest flight was that at the woodcock, which could then be obtained in perfection among the young plantations on Deeside. From Pells, Ballantyne learned the Dutch Method of training hawks, of making hoods, and of using the swivel and jesses in lieu of the old heavy varvels, and by combining both systems was able to become the successful falconer that, so far as game hawking is concerned, he undoubtedly was. After leaving Lord Carmarthen's service Ballantyne entered that of Sir James Boswell, where he had charge of grey hounds as well as hawks. At Sir James's death he was employed by Mr. Ewen of Ewenfield, Ayr, and it was in that gentleman's service that he was most successful, and showed the great sport that is recorded in a previous chapter on game hawking. On Mr. Ewen's death he became falconer to Mr. Oswald of Auchincruive, in whose service he died in 1884, a falconer to the last, at the age of eighty-six. Though he failed a little for the last year or two of his life, so lately as 1880 he was able to show good sport, and probably never flew a better hawk than the falcon 'Pearl,' which was then in fine form; but even at the time of his death he had one hawk in training, which died on the same day as himself.

The following is how Peter raised eyas falcons to avoid screaming:

The method of rearing hawks which was adopted by Peter Ballantyne, one of the most successful of Scotch falconers, was to place them in an open loft or old pigeon-house, along the front of which was nailed a wide board of shelf at such a height that a man standing underneath it could just reach up high enough to place food on the shelf. On this board the young hawks spent most of their time in fine weather, their food being placed before them twice or three times a day without their catching sight of a living creature near enough to alarm them. Gradually they extended their flight to the roof of the house and the adjoining trees, and soon were on the wing and taking long trips into the adjoining country, regularly returning to the board, where they never failed to find their food at regular intervals. This was an excellent method of rearing nestlings, and its principle should be followed as nearly as possible. Where the hawks are reared in an ordinary loft, the window should be set open as the hawks get stronger, and they should be allowed gradually to come out, care being taken to set their food, when they have done so, on a large board called the hack-board, in a conspicuous place just outside the loft; for, when once in the open air, they will not re-enter the house.