HOME LIFE 179 



there is such a thing as a garnished lure in the foreground. 

 But suppose a passage peregrine, after stretching her wings for 

 five minutes at a height of a thousand feet, to catch sight of a 

 wood-pigeon crossing the open down. It would be almost too 

 much to expect that she should resist the temptation. In the 

 cool of the day, morning and evening, hawks very seldom soar 

 if they are sharp-set, and have had the chance of a bath most 

 fine days. It is from nine to four o'clock in summer that there 

 is the most risk of it ; and hobbies, which are greatly addicted 

 to the habit, should not be flown during these hours in fine 

 weather, unless the owner is prepared to wait twenty minutes, 

 or even longer, for my lord or my lady to finish airing her- 

 self in the sky. Very special care must be taken of all hawks 

 during the migration season — that is, for some weeks after the 

 latter part of September and the beginning of April. At the 

 former period, indeed, it is barely safe to let hobbies wait on 

 at all; and the steadiest peregrines and merlins are apt to 

 feel more or less strongly the restlessness born of migratory 

 instincts. Many favourite hawks which seemed a few days 

 ago to be as safe as tame cats, have been known at migrating 

 time to develop quite suddenly an ungovernable wish to travel, 

 and have cleared for foreign parts when they had an oppor- 

 tunity, without a moment's warning or a word of leave-taking. 



Each hawk, after flying to the lure, will be immediately 

 fed up, usually on the way back to the hawk-house or the lawn. 

 As a rule, the earlier a hawk can be fed up the better, for she 

 will be the sooner ready for the field on the next day. More- 

 over, she will fly better, probably, to the lure if she is aware that 

 that ordeal is often the precursor of a solid meal. The rather 

 common practice of feeding all the hawks at about the same 

 hour — generally late in the day — has nothing that I ever heard 

 of to recommend it. How can a hawk which habitually dines 

 at six o'clock or later be expected to be keen or to fly well 

 when thrown off at her quarry at three or four o'clock? If a 

 peregrine, when it has been finally decided not to fly her in the 

 field that day, is fed at about eleven o'clock, she will be fit to 

 fly on the morrow at any time after noon. The falconer should 

 note in what order his hawks are fed, so that on the next day, 

 unless any special circumstances prevent it, those which have 

 been fasting the longest should be flown the first. 



No hawk, after being fed up, should be disturbed, frightened, 

 or shaken about. If the return journey from the field or exer- 

 cise-ground is long, and the hawk inclined to bate off the fist, 



