TRAINING AND ENTERING 99 



habit of interrupting that swing by giving it a particular jerk or 

 twist in another direction, they will discount, as it were, this 

 trick, and anticipate your Httle plan. Considerable adroitness 

 is required on the part of the falconer also. By the employment 

 of some cunning, he can encourage his hawk to great exertions, 

 and can very greatly increase both her speed and her footing 

 powers. If the stoop is very narrowly eluded by this dead lure, 

 working under your guidance, the hawk is not unlikely to think 

 that it was her own slowness of flight which made her too late. 

 If you can encourage this idea, she will strive to improve her 

 pace, and fly to the lure almost as hard as she would at a wild 

 quarry. I have repeatedly seen merlins with their mouths open 

 after five minutes of this work. The best plan is to let the 

 hawk touch the lure whenever she specially distinguishes her- 

 self, whether by a very hard down stoop, or a high throw-up, or 

 as it may be. Let the lure be as small as it can be, consistently 

 with sufficient weight and softness, and whenever the hawk 

 touches it, whether by your leave or without it, immediately let 

 it fall on the ground ; and let the hawk come down to it, if 

 she did not bind when she touched. This is a very important 

 particular in the case of ey esses. It teaches them that a swift 

 stoop which even grazes the quarry is better than all the slow 

 ones which miss it. As for passage hawks, they need not to be 

 taught this. But for them, in consideration of the hardness of 

 their stoop, I have sometimes found it well to use a modification 

 of the soft lure. I have diminished its weight and bulk, so that 

 it can be struck without any fear at all of hurting the hawk's 

 feet ; and at the end of the cord or leash to which it is attached, 

 I have fastened the solid weight which is necessary to prevent 

 carrying. This weight may be held in the left hand, while the 

 lure is swung by the right ; and when the successful stoop has 

 been made, both can be allowed to fall on the ground. 



I have said that some great authorities disapprove of this 

 method of exercising hawks. They say that in the case of 

 game-hawks it spoils them for waiting on, and that in the case 

 of rook-hawks and gull-hawks, the habit of looking for the lure 

 makes them less keen at sighting their wild quarry. There is a 

 great deal in these objections ; and I shall not presume to 

 decide between the advocates and opponents of the practice. 

 As regards game-hawks, however, where a hawk has once taken 

 to mounting well, I should certainly not advise any stooping to 

 the lure, for fear of spoiling her pitch. As regards other hawks, 

 I think some part of the force of the objections is removed if 

 the place where the hawks are stooped to the lure is altogether 



