EYESSES AND HACK HAWKS 59 



moderately warm but airy place, away from all draughts. Very 

 young sparrow-hawks must be kept in a specially warm and well- 

 sheltered place, or they are pretty sure to develop a fatal attack 

 of cramp. Whenever it may be necessary to move a young 

 hawk or meddle with her, the room should be made as nearly 

 dark as possible. 



After a few feeds, administered quietly and patiently, the 

 young hawks will begin to lose their distrust of their new sur- 

 roundings ; and first one and then the others will begin to take 

 their meat eagerly, stretching their necks out, and perhaps 

 pushing their way towards the feeder's hand. When this is the 

 case they may be indulged with a few tit-bits on the fist or on 

 the lure. If the lure is used, the pieces of meat should be 

 merely laid upon it, so that at first the hawk may pick them off 

 quite easily ; and by degrees they may be made to walk towards 

 it from their artificial nest along a causeway roughly constructed 

 for that purpose. If it is preferred to get them to feed on the 

 fist, as it probably will in the case of short-winged hawks, they 

 must first be made to pick pieces off the gloved hand. Then 

 hold in the gloved fist, between the outer part of the thumb 

 and the end of the forefinger, a very tender piece of meat or wing 

 of a small bird. As the hawk takes hold of it, and finds that it 

 cannot be taken up without a pull, she will, at once or after a 

 while, give a tug at it, and afterwards probably put out a foot and 

 seize the glove, using her foot as a leverage, just as an oarsman 

 uses his stretcher. A little encouragement will make this easy 

 for her; and by a little management it can be so arranged that 

 she gets both feet upon the fist. Thus by degrees she will be 

 induced to stand on the back of the hand, and in that posi- 

 tion tear up her food. The next step is to raise her slowly 

 up on the fist, while busy at her meal. In like manner, when 

 pulling at the lure, she may be lifted bodily on it, and thence 

 shifted adroitly on to the fist, while the garnished part of the 

 lure is still kept under her. 



With a little luck this stage of the young bird's education 

 may have been reached at almost the same time when the 

 feathers are nearly down and they are ready to fly. In such 

 case the sooner they are turned out to hack the better. When 

 they have grown so accustomed to feeding on the lure or on 

 hand that the)^ will run to it as soon as they see it, they may be 

 let loose in the hack field, with a man to watch them, having a 

 lure with him to entice them if they stray away. Most of the 

 popular books dealing with hawking complacently assume that 

 here no difficulty arises. Unfortunately for the beginner, such 



