30 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



refuses all wild quarry, and it has never been known to persevere 

 in killing any. I am not sure whether a fair attempt has been 

 made to fly her at rats, which would probably afford the best 

 chance. But kestrels can be reclaimed and taught to fly to the 

 lure in exactly the same way as the proudest peregrine or the 

 most majestic ger. They will wait on beautifully, and stoop 

 very prettily at the lure. And while at hack their movements 

 are exceedingly lively and graceful. Thus for a beginner the 

 kestrel is, in my opinion, undoubtedly the most suitable hawk 

 upon which he can try his hand. In the breeding season eyesses 

 may be procured pretty easily, and at an insignificant cost ; and 

 throughout the year many of both sexes are captured in the 

 nets of bird-catchers, who would part with them readily for a 

 few shillings if they were notified beforehand that any amateur 

 would give a fair price for the captives. In reclaiming and 

 manning a kestrel, in learning how to keep her feathers un- 

 broken and clean, how to hood her, bathe her, house her, and 

 weather her, and how to diet her, the tyro can very easily 

 and cheaply acquire all that elementary knowledge of the 

 difficult art of falconry which it is advisable that he should 

 possess before he attempts to succeed in training and flying a 

 valuable hawk. Whereas if, without any preliminary experience, 

 he begins, as so many writers advise him, with an eyess merlin, 

 he is almost certain to meet with a more or less discouraging 

 failure. Far better to observe the old maxim, ''Fiat experi- 

 inentum m corpore vili." Let the young falconer not attempt 

 to run before he can walk fairly well. When he has taught his 

 kestrel to wait on and stoop to the lure, and has either by 

 preventive care or by successful imping got her in perfect 

 plumage, let him feed her up and " whistle her down the wind " 

 to shift for herself, and then consider himself qualified to 

 make a more serious attempt with a sparrow-hawk, merlin, or 

 peregrine. 



II. THE SHORT-WINGED HAWKS 



Regarded from the falconer's point of view, the short-winged 

 hawk differs essentially from her more honourable cousin of the 

 long wings in the following particulars. She cannot be taught 

 to " wait on " in the air. Although she will on occasions stoop 

 from above at her quarry, she does not habitually capture it by 

 a downward stroke or blow, but by following it from behind 

 and " trussing" or " binding " to it. She manifests her readiness 



