HOME LIFE 191 



very accommodating hawk voluntarily picked up and swallowed 

 some dozen of the stones, which were daily collected, washed, 

 and put down again. When a hawk, after moulting, is taken 

 out, or " drawn," as the old writers call it, from the mews, it is 

 generally beneficial to give her rangle. Hack hawks, when 

 taken up, are often all the better for it ; and when a hawk seems 

 dull, or displays dyspeptic symptoms, she may not unfrequently 

 be cured off-hand by the same simple expedient. 



Every evening the falconer, having fed up all his hawks (and 

 possibly himself) and noted down in his register what has been 

 killed or done by each of them, should collect all the bodies or 

 pelts of the slain which have not been used as food, and bestow 

 them in a separate place in his larder, so that the results of one 

 day's campaigning may not get mixed up with those of a 

 previous day, and it may be known how long each unfortunate 

 has been killed. In hot weather no small bird, and very few 

 other things, are fit to be given to a hawk if they have been 

 dead more than twenty-four hours. In the tropics, of course, 

 meat goes bad still more quickly ; and at about tiffin-time 

 everything which has been killed earlier than on the same day 

 should be cleared out of the hawks' larder. If the falconer 

 can get to roost soon after his charges he will think himself 

 fortunate. For the making up of his diary is, on bu.sy days, 

 quite a business in itself. Then it is possible that some 

 accident has occurred. If there has been a broken feather, the 

 damaged hawk must be imped. If one is amiss, measures 

 must be taken for applying the proper remedies. If a jess is 

 worn, it must be replaced. But the worst trouble is if a hawk 

 has been left out. Then the wretched falconer must make up 

 his mind to set forth before daybreak on a long and weary 

 search. But of these pains and griefs, to which the poor man 

 may always be a victim, we shall have to speak in future 

 chapters. 



