200 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



at each end. Then take out a merlin and beat the field, driving 

 towards the hurdles. When a lark gets up, if the hawk presses 

 him hard, he will go to the shelter which is so inviting. Then 

 taking down your merlin, and giving her a tiring to amuse her, 

 go and pick out the lark from the straw near one end of the 

 hurdles. 



I am aware that some writers — and those of the highest 

 authority — have recommended the use of bagged larks after 

 ringing flights when the quarry has put in and cannot quickly be 

 got out ; and that the plan is advocated especially in the case of 

 merlins flown at larks. I venture to think, however, that it is a 

 plan which must be resorted to with very great discretion, and 

 only in extreme cases. The idea, of course, is that the bagged 

 bird, let loose at the place where the wild one was seen to put 

 in, is mistaken for the latter by the hawk, which consequently 

 supposes when she has killed that her victim is the one at which 

 she first started. But does the hawk ever make this mistake ? 

 A lark, for instance, which has flown a ringing flight is neces- 

 sarily a good one, whereas the bagged one — unless by a rare 

 accident you have picked one up just before — is necessarily a poor 

 one and generally a bad one ; especially if he has been dragged 

 about in a bag or box for an hour or more. Will the merlin 

 believe that this third- or fourth-rate performer is the same bird 

 which a few minutes ago took her up after him into the clouds ? 

 Would you yourself, if you had chased a pickpocket or a 

 welsher for half a mile, mistake his identity five minutes 

 afterwards ? And the difference between a good and a bad 

 lark is much greater than the difference between a good and a 

 bad pickpocket ! 



There are several other objections to letting bagged quarry 

 go as personating the real. For instance, a bad lark is generally 

 taken in the air, and taken easily ; and with a lark so taken 

 merlins almost alv/aj's fly a good way before coming down with 

 them to the ground. There is then the risk of not being able 

 to find them ; and at anyrate the hawk has learnt how easy it is 

 to carry her quarry, — a species of knowledge which it is a main 

 object of the falconer not to let her acquire. Of course a light 

 creance may be attached to the bagged bird, and the carrying 

 prevented, but this aggravates the dissimilarity between the 

 sham quarry and the one which was put in. On the whole, 

 considering the difficulties of carrying bagged quarry about, 

 and producing them at the right moment in the right place, 

 I doubt if, in the moulting season at all events, it is wise to 



