ACCIDENTS AND MALADIES 241 



purge and an emetic should be given before this stage is reached ; 

 and great care must be taken not to overload the crop, or to 

 give anything which will nauseate the hawk. If the malady- 

 has been neglected, it becomes dangerous and very difficult to 

 cure. The hawk wastes away, and it may be a long time before 

 you are able to restore her strength — if you pull her through 

 at all. 



Pantas is an old name given to a malady of the liver, when 

 it becomes hot and dried up. The hawk is costive, and opens 

 her beak often, as if gasping for more air. The mutes are 

 blackish, thick, and scanty. Amongst numerous remedies in 

 vogue are olive oil, oil of sweet almonds, and sugar-candy, with 

 butter or lard, washed in rose-water. Of course no heating food 

 should be given, such as sparrows, rats, or old pigeons. Pow- 

 dered cloves and cubebes may be given in a casting every three 

 or four days. The liver is almost as apt to get out of order in 

 trained hawks as it is in untrained men. Green mutes, as well 

 as black ones, betray the mischief, and warn the falconer. A 

 purgative, such as those last mentioned, will be the first remedy ; 

 but it must be followed by great care in the subsequent feeding. 

 A more fanciful remedy consists of snails steeped in asses' 

 milk, and used as a washing for sheep's heart, which is soaked 

 in it. 



Megrim, or palsy, is denoted by a shaking of the hawk's 

 head. Pepper, aloes, and cloves may be given, with a little 

 washed lard. 



When a hawk is troubled with worms she is fidgety, and has 

 startings and twitchings of the body, and falls away in con- 

 dition. Mustard -seed, aloes, and agaric are prescribed, and 

 cayenne pepper may be given with her food. Filanders are a 

 sort of worm more difficult to suspect, and more difficult to get 

 rid of. One remedy is garlic, long steeped in oil ; and if this fails, 

 iron filings, with oil of bitter almonds, may be tried. 



Hawks, if kept clean and frequently encouraged to bathe, are 

 not much troubled with parasites. Young merlins from the nest 

 are often infected with a flying tick, which does them no particular 

 harm, and usually disappears when the little hawks begin to bathe. 

 The way to get rid of them is to paint the body with a decoc- 

 tion of tobacco mixed with brandy. This is also the remedy for 

 lice, which peregrines will sometimes get from a rook which they 

 have killed. The same wash is to be applied to the nares and 

 forehead of a hawk when troubled with mites. These very 

 minute insects — otherwise called acarus or formica — sometimes 

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