HOME LIFE 183 



and two hours afterwards be quite fit to fly. Another recom- 

 mends his readers always to feed eyess peregrines twice a day, 

 but of course moderately. The exact amount of food which it 

 is proper to give to each hawk cannot be specified even very 

 approximately. For amongst the same class of hawks, nay, 

 amongst hawks which actually came from the same nest, will 

 be found individuals with quite different sorts of appetites. 

 One of them will grow too thin upon rations that make her 

 sister, or even her brother, too fat. Nevertheless, taking the 

 average of a number of hawks of the same species, it is possible 

 to arrive at a rough estimate of what is usually required. The 

 allowance always prescribed for a peregrine falcon is one-third 

 of a pound of beef. Tiercels, therefore, will require about a 

 quarter of a pound ; and other English hawks must be provided 

 for on about the same scale, i.e. the amount of food, if very solid, 

 should weigh nearly one-seventh of the total weight of the bird 

 fed. The desert-hawks, however, are much smaller feeders. A 

 saker, for instance, looks about as large as a gerfalcon. But it 

 was computed that a trained ger would eat three times as much 

 as a saker. The power of fasting of these hawks is naturally 

 very great ; and they should have great gorges, with intervals of 

 very spare feeding. On the other hand, the small hawks eat a 

 great deal more in proportion to their size than the large ones. 

 A whole skylark, of average dimensions, given freshly killed, 

 with all the blood warm in it, is not quite enough for a merlin's 

 daily ration, but would be about right for most jacks. The 

 ladies, when doing hard work, require about four larks in three 

 days. A starling or blackbird is about the right daily meal for 

 a female hobby, but rather too little for a female sparrow-hawk, 

 and decidedly too much for a " musket " or " robin." A sparrow 

 without its feathers weighs an ounce, as nearly as may be ; and 

 two whole sparrows a day is a very ample allowance for a mer- 

 lin, even when flying both morning and evening. Probably 

 this would be about the fair quantity to keep a female hobby 

 in good condition. A sparrow and a half would be about 

 sufficient for a jack, a robin, or a musket. An ounce of beef is 

 of course a heavier meal than an ounce of sparrow, but it may 

 be doubted whether it will give a small hawk more strength or 

 courage, though it will sustain him longer. 



It is needless to say that the apportionment of food to each 

 individual hawk becomes a more difficult matter in proportion 

 as the hawk is smaller. A mistake of an ounce, one way or 

 the other, is no great matter in the case of a ger or a falcon, 



