HAWKS IN THE FIELD 211 



Diamond, who killed two out of four and failed once to put his 

 ringer in. The mere number of quarry killed in a season is not 

 a conclusive test of merit ; for it is more creditable to a hawk 

 to kill one ringer than half a dozen ground larks. The greatest 

 number of larks I have killed in one season with any hawk in 

 single flights is io6. But Jubilee, who accomplished this feat, 

 was certainly not so good as his sister, Queen, who killed 95 in 

 the same time. Nor was the latter — I think — as good as Eva, 

 who killed only about 65. 



The same method of scoring might be, with some adapta- 

 tion, used for rook-hawks, and possibly for game-hawks. The 

 short-winged varieties are usually flown at such a number of 

 different quarry that another system would have to be employed. 

 But in all cases the quarry-book should be a sort of diary in 

 which may be traced the history of each hawk as she improved 

 from time to time or fell off in merit. The less experience the 

 falconer has the fuller he should make his notes. Both in 

 making them and in referring to them questions will arise about 

 which he is in doubt ; and practice alone, or timely hints from 

 a master in the art, will solve the difficulties. Any falconer 

 who has kept diaries for any long period will find that at 

 the end of it he has altered several of the methods which he 

 practised at the beginning. It requires some time and trouble, 

 no doubt, to write up the notes every day. But, as it has been 

 before observed, no one can expect without a good deal of toil 

 to become a successful falconer. 



It will be seen by a look at the score-sheet, as well as by 

 perusing any falconer's notes, that first-rate results are arrived 

 at partly by the excellence of the hawks flown and partly by 

 the activity and diligence of the falconer and his assistants. It 

 is no use for a falcon to bring down her ringing rook from the 

 clouds, or a merlin her lark from out of sight in the sky, if when 

 the quarry has put in there is no man forthcoming to drive it out 

 again. The sparrow-hawk will make but a poor shov/ unless she 

 is backed up energetically by an excited field of beaters ; and 

 tiercels will soon give up flying magpies with any zest if they 

 find that their friends down below are slack or incompetent in 

 playing their part of the game. You think yourself entitled to 

 grumble at your hawk, and perhaps call her ugly names, if just 

 at the moment you call upon her she does not fly her best. Do 

 you not think that she also is aggrieved if you at the same time, 

 chosen as it is by you, do not give her the necessary amount of 

 help? Incapacity or laziness on the part of a man or a dog 



