CHAPTER IV 



Eyesses and Hack Hawks 



EYESSES, or young hawks taken from the nest, should 

 not be taken until the latest possible day. If the captor 

 can defer the moment until they are able to fly a little, so much 

 the better. He may then possibly snare them by some means 

 or another. But this is an exceedingly difficult job, as the 

 newly-fledged hawk is for a considerable time fed by her 

 parents, and does not prey for herself Consequently, she will 

 not come to any live lure or baited trap, and, being very dis- 

 trustful of men, cannot easily even be approached. Thus it is 

 rarely that even an experienced falconer can lay hands on a 

 wild hawk after it has once left the eyrie. The next best thing 

 to be done is to catch the eyesses when they are branchers, 

 that is to say, when they are able to run and jump about on 

 the branches of a tree, though not yet able to rise on the wing 

 from the ground. In short, the longer they can be left in the 

 natural nursery under the care of their natural guardians, the 

 better they are likely to turn out, not only in their bodily con- 

 dition, but in temper and disposition. Very often, however, 

 the young birds will come to their trainer when there is a good 

 deal of the white down of their infancy still clothing their 

 unwieldy bodies, and only partially replaced by the brown 

 feathers of their first plumage. At any rate the flight feathers 

 of the wing will not be nearly down to their full length. The 

 outer ones will still have some inches to grow ; and those of 

 the tail will be short soft things, with flabby shafts, and not 

 much shape or strength. 



It is for many reasons desirable that the trainer should go 

 personally to the place where the eyrie is, and either himself 

 assist in taking the young birds, or at least be ready to receive 

 them within a few hours, and give them their first feed. Un- 

 fortunately, most hawk-dealers and many gamekeepers have a 



