126 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



is a young one, and the dog admonished by the cry of " Ware, 

 hawk ! ware ! " 



If you use no dogs, mark down a bird or a covey, and put 

 your hawk on the wing to windward of the place, then, as she 

 waits on, walk or ride down-wind towards the spot. If the 

 hawk flies wide make a halt till she is coming up, and then go 

 on at full speed again. As long as she is facing the birds, and 

 not down-wind of them, you have a good chance of a kill. 

 When you are quite sure that there are birds on a ground you 

 need not wait to mark any down, but beat the ground down- 

 wind, keeping the men in line, with the hawk in the air. When 

 the birds are wild this is often the only way in which you can 

 get a flight. The worst of it is that the first bird which gets up 

 may get up a quarter of a mile ahead, though there are plenty 

 of nearer ones on the ground. Of course the hawk will go at 

 the first which gets up, and there will be a long stern chase, 

 with small chance of a kill, and perhaps a long delay before 

 the hawk is got back. If you have to go down-wind after her 

 — which ought not to be the case, but often is— you must make 

 a dead beat in coming back so as to get up-wind again, and 

 begin afresh to drive to leeward. 



Such, as far as the aerial part of it is concerned, is game- 

 hawking. A much more complicated affair than rook-hawking, 

 as the hawk has to be trusted all alone to mount to her pitch, 

 and stay there sometimes for many minutes without raking 

 away, and, above all, without checking at other quarry. The 

 hawk, moreover, is not the only actor in the play. You must 

 arrange your beaters and markers properly, even for partridge- 

 hawking, and much more for moor-game. If you intend to 

 hawk over dogs, which you should certainly do if you have the 

 chance, the hawk, while being manned and entered, must be 

 induced to make friends with them and they with her. In the 

 nature of things a hawk mistrusts a dog, even if she does not 

 actively dislike him, and you must get rid of this mistrust. 

 Your pointer or setter, and your retriever too, or whatever dog 

 you intend to use for any purpose, must often be present while 

 her ladyship is being fed and carried. First, of course, at a 

 respectful distance, but by degrees nearer and nearer, until the 

 pair of them are on quite good terms with one another. A few 

 raps over the nose will teach Ponto not to be too familiar ; and 

 a nice wing of chicken offered to Stella within a foot of that 

 same nose will do wonders in reconciling her to its proximity. 

 A long step will have been gained when you can let the dogs 

 play about on the lawn while the hawks sit still on their blocks. 



