CHAPTER XV 



Lost Hawks 



AFTER a day of unsuccessful flights the falconer returning 

 sadly with his discouraged hawks may derive some con- 

 solation from the thought that he has at least brought them all 

 safe back. On the other hand, the triumphs of the most success- 

 ful afternoon are a good deal marred when one of the best 

 performers has been left out, and the quarry-book has to be 

 noted up, opposite her name, with the unpleasant word " lost." 

 Foremost amongst the dangers and difficulties which beset the 

 falconer, more plentifully than any other sportsman, is the risk 

 which constantly hangs over him of losing the faithful ally upon 

 whose service he depends for carrying on his sport. Every time 

 that he puts a hawk upon the wing he has to face this con- 

 tingency, which is more or less probable according to the nature 

 of the flight which is attempted. No questions are more often 

 addressed by the uninitiated to a falconer than these : " How do 

 you get your hawks back ? " and " Do they always come to 

 you?" If he is rash enough to answer the last query in the 

 affirmative he may be utterly confounded by having to confess 

 that the very next time he flew his hawk she did not come 

 back ! Of course, in exercising an obedient hawk when she is 

 sharp-set the risk run is infinitesimally small. But it would be 

 wrong even then to say that it does not exist. And unfor- 

 tunately the harder the flight undertaken, and the better the 

 hawk, the greater is the danger which her owner has to face. 



It is unnecessary to enumerate the many causes which may 

 lead to the loss of a hawk. They have been mentioned in- 

 cidentally in many of the foregoing pages. But it is well to 

 remember that a very large percentage of the losses which 

 annually occur is due to mere carelessness on the part of the 

 falconer. As long as you make no mistake, and give your 

 hawks a fair chance, the danger of an out-and-out loss is 



