56 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



rooted objection to this plan, and prefer to muddle about with 

 the hawks themselves, not sending them off to the purchaser 

 until they have already unwittingly done them more or less 

 injury, in one way or another. They either are, or pretend to 

 be, unable to understand or to believe that an eyess delivered 

 immediately into the trainer's hand is worth at least 25 per 

 cent, more to him than one which has been messed about by 

 unskilled hands, and racketed about in a train for several hours. 

 This stupid prejudice of the captors and vendors is often pro- 

 ductive of the deplorable blemish called hunger-streaks, which 

 weakens every important feather in the hawk's body, and to 

 some extent checks and stunts her whole bodily growth and 

 energy, just at the time when it is most desirable that they 

 should be steadily maintained and developed. A hunger-streak 

 is caused whenever a young hawk has been allowed to grow 

 unreasonably hungry. The result is that that part of the whole 

 web and shaft of each feather which is growing out of the body 

 at the time is deformed through want of proper nourishment, 

 and bears on it ever afterwards a cross line like a blight, so that 

 the feather looks as if a sharp razor had been passed lightly 

 across it. As the feather grows down this line comes down 

 with it, and may be seen in all its hideousness, after the hawk 

 is summed, if any big feather is examined carefully. A fast of 

 more than fifteen hours — in the daytime — will generally cause 

 a slight hunger-streak ; but the night hours do not count for 

 much ; so that hawks which have to travel far before getting 

 into the trainer's hands should be taken late in the day and 

 started at once, so that they may be met as soon as they arrive 

 on the following day. 



If the falconer cannot attend personally at the capture of 

 the eyesses, he should at least send to the captor a suitable 

 hamper in which to pack and send them. This should be 

 roomy and round in shape, having its sides and top lined inside 

 with sacking, matting, or other soft material. In the bottom of 

 it a good thick layer of straw should be lightly strewed, for the 

 hawks to rest upon ; and the lining should fit well enough to 

 exclude almost all light. Even with all these precautions there 

 is some risk of breaking feathers, and still more of bending 

 them and deforming them with dirt. On railways the guards 

 may generally be cajoled into taking special care that the 

 hamper is not turned upside down or banged about. But I 

 have more than once known of valuable hawks arriving dead 

 from a short sea voyage — killed by the evident ill-treatment to 

 which the padded hamper has been subjected on the way. 



