FALCONRY. 



wandering off in search of it. As soon as they begin to chase other birds it is time 

 their taming was begun, and they must now be caught and hooded, and taught in 

 nearly the same manner as older birds ; but this is much easier and more quickly accom- 

 plished. In order to make good hunters they must always be kept in good condition, 

 fed just enough to keep them up to full strength, yet always with good appetites when 

 brought to the field. Their food, also, when not hunting, should consist, as largely as 

 possible of game, and they must be allowed to eat naturally, swallowing bones, hair, 

 and feathers, and ejecting from the mouth the ' castings ' a few hours afterwards, in 

 the same manner as wild hawks. In general, the more exercise they get the better. 



As most falcons become much attached to particular breeding-places, it is easy for 

 those who are conveniently situated to obtain the young in successive years from the 

 same eyries. 



Hawks were also always to be bought at reasonable prices before the beginning of 

 the 'hawking season,' and thus in many cases owners were accustomed to set their 

 birds at liberty at the close of the season, replacing them the next year with new ones, 

 and thus avoiding the care of them through the greater part of the year. But gyrfal- 

 cons were too expensive to be thus released, and as they also retained their powers 

 longer than others, and could be used for many years in succession, they were carefully 

 kept for indefinite periods, occasionally doing good service for even fifteen or twenty 

 years. 



The taking of wild hawks, usually known as passage-hawks, from their abundance 

 during the vernal and autumnal migrations, was usually effected by means of a net 

 baited with a live bird, though frequently a decoy-falcon was used, being made to 

 flutter as if killing game whenever a passage-hawk was seen in the distance. An 

 owl was often the surest attraction for a hawk, the antipathy existing between the two 

 seeming always to render it impossible for a hawk to pass over by daylight without 

 one or two dashes at his nocturnal rival. 



In training hawks the falconer had always to bear in mind not only the kinds of game 

 which the bird was best fitted to take, but also the kinds which could conveniently 

 be hunted in his immediate neighborhood. For the same individual was rarelv trained, 



o j 



especially at first, for more than a single class of game : one for grouse, partridges, 

 and, perhaps, pheasants; another for hares or rabbits; and others, still, for herons and 

 waterfowl. Thus, to insure a good day's sport in the field, it was often necessary to be 

 provided with a dozen or more of hawks, from which to select according to the game 

 which presented itself. In its native state a hungry falcon would attack almost any 

 bird which presented itself, and such, when captured and trained, Avould necessarily 

 have to be flown with care at difficult game, and it Avas not uncommon, though of 

 course very annoying, to have a falcon forsake the pursuit of a fine heron which was 

 mounting skyward, and dart off after some luckless magpie or crow which chanced to 

 cross his path. And this was the more vexatious because one of these ' small fry ' 

 would frequently evade the falcon by diving into thick shrubbery, whence the 'noble* 

 hawk, baffled and angry himself, was not easily recalled by his master. 



The heron was always a favorite with falconers on account of the good exhibition 

 which the flight afforded. The best place for this kind of sport was on open, treeless 

 ground, over which the herons were accustomed to fly at a considerable height in 

 passing between their feeding-grounds arid their nests or roost ing-places. When 

 attacked by a falcon under such circumstances, the heron seeks safety by rising high 

 in the air, and so long as she can keep above her pursuer she has nothing to fear. 



