DONORS:

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Adkins, Roger and Linda Bain, Robert Barter Trust, Lee

Bass, Louise Bernhard, Marga BiJler, Elisabeth Bittner Joung, Mr. and Mrs.

Christopher Boland, Kara Boudreau and Richard Hurd, Robert Brach, Dr.

and Mrs. WiUiam Burnham, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Callahan III, Mr. and

Mrs. James Clark, George and Helen Cornell, Mr. and Mrs. Christopher

Cox, Delta Interest Inc., Martha Lyn Dippell, Roger Eisinger Family Trust,

George Esherick, Herbert Fletcher, Cina Forgason, Stephen Gordon, George

Gould, Lyle Gramley, Robert Griffin, John Grimm, Gilbert and Margot

Hahn, Steve and Joan Harlan, Helen Hellmuth, Mary Howes, George

Huguely III, International Swimming Pools Inc., Floyd Jennings Jr., Violet

Jollymore, Catherine Jones, John Marvin Jones II, Ruth Kemp, Patricia

Korbel, William Lane, Mr. and Mrs. J. Richard Leaman Jr., Bettlu Hines

Lynn, Mr. and Mrs. John Manfuso Jr., Forbes and Elizabeth Mann, Mr. and

Mrs. J. Willard Marriot Jr., Mrs. Harry Martins Jr., Samuel and Frances

Maury, The Monitor Group Inc., Elizabeth Muskey,. Brian and Ruth Mutch,

Philip and Jane Neal, John Ourisman, Mandell Ourisman, Mr. and Mrs.

Sam Pickard, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Pusey, Margaret Ritch, Joseph and Ellen

Sanford, Jim and Linda Shad, Molly Ann Silver, Mr. and Mrs. John Smoot,

Amal Elias Van Wagenberg, William Von Bargen Jr.

Halter Cunningham. began his

involvement with raptors in the

1920s and '30s as a teenager in

Chevy Chase, MD. He became a longtime

friend, supporter and board member of The

Peregrine Fund.

Halter was a neighborhood friend of legendary falconers, authors and

naturalists, Frank and John Craighead. They loved peregrines. Peregrines

migrated along the Atlantic coast. Assateague Island was a favorite

trapping spot of falconers. They buried themselves in the sand, holding a

pigeon to bait passing falcons.

Halter had homemade perches for his trained falcons in the back yard.

He hunted with them in nearby open fields. He released them when it

was time to migrate again. In later years, he and friend Brian McDonald

developed the pigeon harness, a leather harness with several slipknots of

fishing line sewn on. Once the pigeon was harnessed, it was released with

a long cord attached. When a falcon snatched the pigeon, its talons were

caught in the slip knots and the falconer could then capture the falcon and

train it. One of Halter's pigeon harnesses was bestowed to The Archives of

Falconry along with numerous other artifacts by his son, Tom.

In an article co-authored with William F. Turner in the September 1947

issue of Hunting and Fishing magazine, Halter (aka. "Dusty") explained falconry

and falcons to the layman, caJling the Peregrine Falcon "the finest thing that wears

feathers."

"To look in on [the nest of)

one of these rare birds:" he

continued, "requires the

following: a strong pair of

legs, a broad back, a long

rope, and not too much

regard for your future."

Halter possessed all those

traits. He applied them in

other areas besides falconry.

The day after Pearl Harbor

was attacked, Halter enlisted

in the Marines. He was in

the first wave to land on

Guadalcanal. He was awarded

the Purple Heart for battle wounds he received there.

He worked as a game warden on the Chesapeake Bay after the war. Later he took

over the family's business, Lanman Engraving Company. With Halter at the helm,

the company became the largest privately owned pre-press and commercial printing

business in the eastern U.S. Clients included major entities such as Smithsonian

Magazine, National Geographic, and Disney.

Among his lifelong passions, Halter included polo, fishing, duck hunting. To the

benefit of wildlife conservation, his passion for raptors never waned. Even in his mid-

70s, Halter accompanied fellow board members of The Peregrine Fund on peregrine

monitoring expeditions at South Padre Island, Texas.