HAWKS IN THE FIELD 195 



he is pretty sure, when hard pressed, to turn in that direction, 

 whilst in game-hawking it is always the object of the beaters to 

 drive the birds down-wind. Any marker, upon seeing a kill or a 

 put-in, should note as accurately as he can the exact spot, and 

 then stand still at his post until he can communicate with one 

 of the field. In open country all markers should remain at a 

 distance of about half a mile from the man carrying the hawk 

 to be flown, and should shift their position rapidly to another 

 vantage-ground whenever the space between them and the 

 hawking party is much diminished or increased. 



In rook-hawking the lookers-on must be mounted; and their 

 horses ought either to be very sure-footed or else well acquainted 

 with the ground on which the flights take place, which is often 

 covered with ant-hills, and in places bored by rabbit burrows. 

 If the rider is to see anything of the longest and best flights, 

 his horse must be able to step out in a gallop of a mile or 

 so. In game- and lark-hawking it is less necessary, and often 

 impossible, for the men to be mounted ; but in these cases also 

 it is of very great advantage for at least one man to ride, so 

 that he may follow a very long flight with a better chance 

 of keeping the hawk in view. The horseman has a double 

 advantage when the country is uneven. He can go faster, and 

 he can also from his place in the saddle see farther over the 

 brow of a hill or undulation. But ground which undulates in 

 long ridges and valleys is to be mistrusted by falconers. When 

 a flight, commenced in one valley, goes over the ridge which 

 separates it from the next, it is impossible, unless there is a 

 marker on that ridge, to know where it may have ended. Here 

 the falconer, for once in his life, may hope that the ground on 

 the other side is not too open, and that there may be some 

 small covert not far off" in which the quarry is pretty sure to 

 have stopped if he got so far. When a hawk goes out of sight 

 over a ridge, the men following on horseback should begin to 

 spread out like a fan, and ride on, keeping a good look-out for 

 anything that may indicate the direction which the flight has 

 taken. 



When a flight ends successfully, every person in the field 

 should halt at a hundred yards or so from the place where the 

 hawk is on the ground with the quarry in her foot. The 

 falconer, or whoever it was that threw off the hawk, will use his 

 own judgment as to when he will make in and take her up, and 

 must go alone about this business, which, as we have seen, is 

 sometimes delicate enough. Although it is an unpardonable 



