THE BIRDS USED IN HAWKING 31 



to fly by a condition of body which is called by the quaint, and 

 apparently Oriental, name of" yarak," in which she shows evident 

 signs of eagerness and excitement, and is obviously on the qui 

 vive — attentive to every sight and sound which she may suppose 

 to indicate the presence of quarry or the hope of a flight. She 

 kills her quarry, when taken, by crushing it in her strong foot 

 and piercing it with her long and sharp claws, or pounces. She 

 follows her quarry, when it is possible, into covert ; and when 

 this is not possible she takes stand readily on some convenient 

 resting-place, such as the branch of a tree, the top of a wall, or 

 on her trainer's fist. As a general rule she does not need to be 

 kept to any one particular quarry, or flown at any particular 

 time of day, but may be thrown off at anything, w^iether fur 

 or feather, which she thinks she can take, and will do almost 

 any amount of work at almost any hour. 



It will thus be seen that though, from the purely artistic 

 and sporting standpoint, the long-winged hawk deserves the 

 more honourable place which has always been accorded to her 

 in the most civilised countries, yet, taking the more material 

 and matter-of-fact view of the matter, and regarded as a " pot- 

 hunter," the short-winged is at least equal to her in merit. 

 There is, it is true, in the flight of the latter little of the 

 grandeur and dramatic excitement which so often attend the 

 efforts of the former. No silent pause while the pointer stands 

 and the hawk mounts steadily to her lofty pride of place above 

 him. No spiral climbing of quarry and hawk into the distant 

 blue sky. No lightning descent, which in a second or two 

 brings down the hawk from hundreds of yards high to within a 

 few feet of her trainer's head. But there is plenty of excite- 

 ment of a different and not less healthy kind. The wary 

 stalking of a shy quarry while the well-trained hawk on the 

 fist trembles with eagerness for the chase. The rush and bustle 

 of the start ; the quick burst of riding or running to keep the 

 chase in view ; the hurry and scurry when the quarry has to be 

 routed out from his place of refuge ; the tussle for mastery 

 when he has once been seized ; and, last but not least, the 

 abundance and variety of the bag which on a successful day is 

 carried home. 



One very great advantage attached to the short-winged 

 hawk is that she can be flown in an enclosed country, or at 

 least in places which are only very moderately open. Woods 

 and forests are of course tabooed ; and any land w^hich is very 

 undulating or very steep should be avoided. But the grass land 

 and arable land which is commonly found in some four-fifths of 



