CHAPTER XVI 



Accidents and Maladies 



THE care of a hawk's feathers is a very important and 

 elementary part of the falconer's duties. If he is natur- 

 ally clumsy or careless, and yet hopes to do any good in this 

 vocation, he must be continually on his guard against a mishap. 

 Experience and persistent watchfulness will cure him of these 

 defects, or at least deprive them of any very bad effects. But 

 an innate adroitness is certainly much to be desired in any 

 youth whom it is intended to train up as a falconer. The most 

 important of a hawk's feathers are exactly those which are most 

 easily broken. A single vigorous flap of the wing against any 

 hard obstacle within reach of them may very likely knock off 

 the end of one or two of the long flight feathers, or at least 

 fracture the shaft where it is quite thin, so that the end below 

 the injury has to be taken off and the feather mended. Great 

 care must therefore be taken in carrying a hawk that no 

 such hard substance is ever so near to her that by a sudden 

 movement she can strike it with either wing. Narrow door- 

 ways should be avoided entirely, or never entered unless the 

 hawk is hooded and quite quiet on the fist. When walking 

 through a gateway or near an iron railing, stile, post, carriage, 

 or branch of a tree, give it a wide berth. When mounting a 

 horse with a hawk on the hand, get up on the wrong, i.e. the 

 off, side — unless, of course, you carry your hawk habitually on 

 the right hand, like the Indian falconers. Never wear a hat 

 with a hard brim. It is impossible for you to be sure that at 

 some unexpected moment a hawk, hooded or unhooded, will not 

 by a sudden movement just touch the edge with a wing feather. 

 The wing feathers of the short-winged hawks are more 

 yielding and elastic than the straighter ones of the long-winged, 

 and will stand a greater strain. Worst of all are merlins, 

 whose principal feathers are almost brittle, especially when the 



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