PASSAGE HAWKS 75 



Into that open heel is pushed the head of the captured hawk. 

 The sock itself is then drawn bodily on to and over the 

 hawk's shoulders. The beak, being hooked downwards, will 

 not interfere with the operation. The soft covering is pulled 

 down right over the back, chest, and thighs of the victim, until 

 nothing but the tail and the tips of the wings protrude. If it 

 fits tolerably, the hawk will be effectually strait-waistcoated, 

 and may be laid down on its back like an overturned turtle. 

 A man's sock, big or little, fits a falcon or tiercel fairly ; and 

 a boy's or child's sock may be used for the smaller hawks. 

 Before the sock is used a couple of tapes may be sewn across 

 it, one three or four inches from the toe, and another five or six 

 inches farther back, so that when it is on the ends of one tape 

 may be tied — not tightly, of course — round the throat of the 

 captive hawk just in front of the shoulders, and the ends of the 

 other tape round the back, just above the tail. The toe of the 

 sock may then be cut off, so that the hawk's head is left free. 



The first captive, once reduced to quiescence for the time 

 being, will be laid out on the floor of the hut or near it, while 

 the falconer returns to his watch-place. For there is no reason 

 why he should not effect another, or even more captures, in the 

 same day. Climatic influences or mere chance may have 

 ordained that for a week or more he should have had no chance, 

 and yet now the hawks should come fast and furiously to the 

 decoy. Long-winged hawks, unlike woodcocks and many other 

 migratory birds, travel with the wind in their faces ; and they 

 by no means hurry on their way, pausing, sometimes for some 

 days at a time, at any place where quarry is abundant, where 

 the bathing is good, and where, perhaps, there are other 

 attractions which we dull, earth-treading mortals cannot under- 

 stand or appreciate. As night comes on, the captives are carried 

 home in their socks, and a rufter hood is put on, after which the 

 socks are cut off, and they are set down on a hillock of soft 

 turf, or, if they show no signs of violent uneasiness, on the 

 screen-perch, the leash having, of course, in either case been 

 attached and made fast. From this moment the person for 

 whom the hawk is intended should by rights assume the 

 ownership and charge of her. It would be absurd to suppose 

 that the hawk-catcher, however good a falconer he may be, 

 should act as trainer too, when he has to go out on the morrow, 

 and perhaps for many days afterwards, to entrap other hawks. 



Before bedtime, in the long evening of late autumn, a grand 

 attempt should be made to induce the newly-caught hawk to 

 eat. If she was caught early in the day, and had not already 



