HAWKS IN THE FIELD 199 



his inferiority, as he is sure to do, — for all wild birds are very 

 good judges of such a matter, — will flop down in front of the 

 hawk — or just behind her, if the first stoop has been avoided — 

 in some place where there is just enough covert for the hawk to 

 be unable to espy and jump upon him. Then, when you come 

 up, the lark, which knows as well as you do what fate awaits 

 him if he gets up again, will be very likely indeed to let you 

 seize him in your hand. Will you, then, let that bad lark go 

 before that good merlin ? Not if you have any wish to keep up 

 or improve the excellence of the latter. If you have in the 

 background an inferior hawk to enter, or to encourage after an 

 unsuccessful flight, you may start her at the captured lark, 

 taking great care that she does not know that he has ever been 

 captured. Or you may consign him to a safe place where he 

 will not be damaged, and save him for a time when a bagged 

 lark may be of invaluable service to you as a live lure for a 

 lost hawk. Or what you will probably like best will be to let 

 him go when no merlin is by. Similar cases will occur with 

 other quarry and other hawks ; but they are pretty frequent in 

 the case of larks, which at moulting-time differ more than any 

 other birds in their pluck and powers of flying. 



When a hawk is new to the work of taking wild quarry she 

 should be allowed to kill it and to break in and eat at least 

 some part of it. But when she is au fait at the business the 

 humane man will often be glad if he can save the victim's life, 

 and this he will not unfrequently be able to do. Unless the 

 quarry has been struck on the head or has a wing broken, no 

 real damage is at all likely to have been done except in cases 

 where the particular hawk has a specially hard stoop of her 

 own, and is fond of cutting down her quarry instead of binding 

 to it. For herons, gulls, rooks, and larks, after they have 

 been taken, it is often pretty easy for the falconer, if he is up in 

 reasonable time, to substitute the pelt of another bird which has 

 been killed before. As I write this page I hear the singing of a 

 lark in a cage before me which was captured by Jubilee after a 

 long ringing flight, and saved from him while he was recover- 

 ing his wind. 



When it is found necessary to get bagged larks for entering 

 a hobby — I have sometimes used one for entering merlins — they 

 may be obtained in this way. Stick two wattled hurdles into 

 the ground three inches apart and side by side in the middle 

 of a very big field where there are larks. Stuff up the space 

 between the two hurdles with loose straw, all except about a foot 



