THE HAEE 63 



it an economical way of securing game for the market. Its chief draw- 

 back is the time and trouble which must be expended in training the 

 hawks. These must be thoroughly tamed and require attention night 

 and day. The training takes place at night in a quiet place, where 

 there are no noises and sights to disturb the birds. 



The gerfalcon is the best bird for the pursuit of the hare, though 

 the goshawk and peregrine falcon may also be used. 



When the bird, or birds, are thoroughly trained, a party of half 

 a dozen beaters, including the owners of the hawks, sally forth) into the 

 fields and drive through the scrub and brush. As soon as a hare 

 breaks cover one of the hawks is released and thrown into the air. 

 It has already caught sight of the quarry and with rapid wing-beats 

 soon overtakes it. Swooping down it deals a blow with its talons (not, 

 as popularly supposed, with its beak). If this proves insufficient to stun 

 the hare, it repeats the manoeuvre, or else grasps it and pins it to the 

 earth. A good hawk, however, usually kills its quarry at the first 

 stroke. Then the beaters hurry up in order to prevent the hare's being 

 torn up, for the hawk has been kept in a state of hunger previous 

 to being used. 



Some hunters use their hawks to chase pheasants and partridges 

 as well. In these cases the peregrine is the best bird to use. 



Hares are prevalent everywhere in North China, though, of course, 

 they are more plentiful in some places than others. South Mongolia 

 simply swarms with them, chiefly round the encampments. Some 

 travellers have put this down to the fact that the camp dogs keep 

 away wolves and foxes. In my travels in that country I have noticed 

 that the camps are always pitched, if possible, near streams or lakes 

 of sweet water. It so happens that these spots afford the only really 

 good cover in the form of tall thickly growing sedgegrass. It is my 

 opinion that the hares seek the shelter of this cover rather than 

 the protection of the camp dogs. Hares are not found round campa 

 pitched in the open, where there is none of this cover; 

 while where there is ciover of this nature hares are always 

 present in large numbers — camp or no camp. Of course 

 additional protection is added by the presence of the camp dogs, which 

 are usually much too slow to catch the hares themselves. 



In the Ordos Desert we also found hares extremely plentiful, and 

 aho in North Shansi and Eastern Kansu. They are very numerous 

 on the plains of Northern and Western Shansi. 



The hare does not live in burrows, though in China it may seek 

 sheltor from pursuit in the burrows of badgers and holes in graves. 



