EYESSES AND HACK HAWKS GO 



It seemed as if the latter could have given him ten yards in a 

 hundred. In straight-ahead flying, in mounting, and in throw- 

 ing up, the kestrel was completely outpaced. Yet before now 

 trained merlins, as I have heard tell, have been outflown and 

 chased by a wild kestrel. I should not like, and do not ever 

 expect, to own such a trained merlin. 



The day comes — all too soon — when the falconer dares to 

 keep the hack hawks out no longer. The decree goes out for 

 one to be taken up. If this one has been hacked to the fist 

 the proceeding is simple enough. As she stands complacently 

 breakfasting on the fist, the jesses are grasped in the fingers of 

 the left hand. A couple of snips with a sharp pair of strong 

 nail-scissors make a slit in the two jesses. And through these 

 a spring swivel is deftly slipped. Attached to the swivel is a 

 leash, the end of which is wound round the little finger, while 

 the button of it is grasped in the palm of the left hand. As the 

 hawk proceeds with her meal she is taken quietly to a darkened 

 room, where a rufter hood is slipped on her head. Five minutes' 

 carrying, and she is placed on a mound of turf, food and all, 

 while the leash, unwound from the little finger, is fastened to a 

 peg strongly planted in the ground. If the hawk has been 

 hacked to the lure or to the board, the process is a little more 

 complicated, but presents no real difficulty. A bow-net must 

 then be used. This instrument is more fully described in the 

 next chapter. It consists of a hoop of metal on which a light 

 net is stitched. The ends are fixed down ; and the hoop is 

 so set that a pull on a long string wull bring the rim up and 

 over any object which may be near it on the near side. The 

 object, of course, in this case will be the lure, or the piece of 

 food with which the hack board is garnished. When the hawk 

 is feeding, the string is pulled. The net swings over, encom- 

 passing both meat and hawk. Up runs the falconer, to secure 

 the captive, who is made fast, hooded, and taken home. 



Even if a hawk has begun to prey for herself, she can still 

 often be captured with a live lure, that is, a live bird attached 

 to a light cord. Once find the hawk, and let the live lure fly, 

 and she is pretty sure to take it. Then she may be snared in 

 one of the ways described in the chapter on Lost Hawks. 



A hack hawk, once taken up, is treated in very much the 

 same way as a wild-caught hawk. The process of reclamation 

 begins at once. And this process will be found described at 

 length in the succeeding chapter. 



