136 OTTER HUNTING, FALCONRY, SHOOTING 



if she makes herself look small by closing all her feathers 

 tightly round her." 



The short-winged hawks fly ' from the fist,' as it is 

 called ; in fact, so does the merlin. In other words, they 

 do not ' wait on ' ; any one who knew the goshawk would 

 think the notion that she could do so a very comic one 

 indeed. Carried unhooded, they at once see their quarry 

 and dash after it. 



I have always liked the goshawk ; when she thoroughly 

 knows you she is very friendly. I had one once — my 

 close friend and companion — for more than nine years ; 

 she died on my hand, of aneurism. I have mentioned this, 

 I am sure, in other essays on falconrv, but it may be 

 interesting in this place. She was wonderfully stuffed 

 for me by Mr. Brodrick, and is in this house now, almost 

 as lifelike as when she lived. 



I must now write a few lines about the sparrow-hawk. 

 I don't think that Lord Lilford took much interest in this 

 bird, though he was certainly fond of the goshawk : and 

 indeed the sparrow-hawk is hardly one of the most in- 

 teresting hawks. She requires an immense deal of patient 

 attention, and when she is in flying order she must be 

 flown often. The male (musket), as well as the female, 

 may be made to fly blackbirds well, and blackbird-hawking 

 is really an exciting sport. Two or three people should 

 join in it, for the hedges must be well guarded and beaten, 

 as it is necessary to drive out the quarry as soon as it is 

 ' put in ' by the hawk. The sparrow-hawk, like the 



