184 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



but give a jack-merlin an ounce too much or an ounce too little, 

 and you may very soon find out your mistake in a most prac- 

 tical way. Sometimes a jack will eat more — and need more — 

 than his own sisters or any merlin in the establishment. Some- 

 times, but more rarely, a single merlin will want nearly as much 

 as two jacks. Tiercel peregrines, barbarys, and others, some- 

 times, but rarely, require almost as much as a falcon. A hawk 

 which has throughout her life never known what it is to be thin 

 can generally be kept in high condition on less food than one 

 which has once been below par. Fortunate is the man who has 

 been able to train his hawk without ever putting her on short 

 commons, and has always been able, by skill or luck, or both 

 combined, to fly her just at the time when she was keen enough 

 and yet not over-hungry. Such hawks have the best chance of 

 turning out well ; and among them may probably be numbered 

 many of those whose names are glorious in the annals of the 

 sport. 



A hawk's condition may be tested to a certain limited extent 

 by passing a finger down her breast-bone, and by feeling the 

 broad pectoral muscles on each side of the breast between the 

 forefinger and thumb. Some indications may also be got by 

 gently pinching the muscles of the leg, to ascertain whether 

 they are full and hard. But these are very rough tokens to judge 

 from. One hawk will fly her best when almost as fat as a wild 

 one, and when the sternum is hardly more prominent than it is 

 in a partridge ; whereas others, when fed up to this condition, 

 will do no serious work, but go off soaring on their own account, 

 or take perch in a tree or rick, and stare unconcernedly at the 

 lure as if they had no conception that it had any attractions for 

 them. The experienced falconer will form a better judgment 

 as to the condition of his hawk from the manner in which she 

 flies. There is a power and ease of motion about a full-fleshed 

 hawk, a force in her stoop, and a sort of pride about her every 

 movement, which one looks for in vain in a hawk in poor con- 

 dition. Thin hawks fly in a laboured way against a strong 

 wind, instead of facing it easily and appearing to rejoice in 

 their victory over it, utilising its very opposition to lift them 

 up, and sailing on it like a stiff yacht in a gale. Weak flying 

 may result from overfeeding as well as underfeeding. But in the 

 one case the style appears too heavy ; and in the other, too light. 

 It is, however, very easy to mistake the symptoms, and to 

 imagine that a hawk wants reducing when in fact she wants 

 feeding up. The result, of course, of such faulty diagnosis will 



