262 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



devoured than that which she has in her foot. Let the tit-bit 

 be a " mess of pottage " — but not necessarily a big one — for the 

 immediate fruition of which the silly bird (as Turbervile calls 

 her) will barter away all the prospective advantages of a freshly- 

 killed partridge or a dainty pigeon. These latter have to be 

 plucked, mark you, before they can be eaten, whereas the bright 

 red morsel in your hand can be begun at once, without any such 

 trouble and delay. 



In bad cases the vice of carrying may be corrected by a 

 rather strong remedy, which, like all other hawking devices, has 

 long been practised. Before resorting to it, see that the lure 

 which you are going to use, whether live or dead, is quite a light 

 one, but very firmly fixed up, so that no part of it, or no part 

 of the food with which it is garnished, can come away. Then 

 exercise your ill-behaved hawk in whatever way you prefer, and 

 let her ultimately get the lure and have it on the ground in her 

 foot. This lure will have a fairly long creance to it ; and you 

 will keep hold all the time of the end of the line. Now, as your 

 hawk is on the ground with her food, begin to make in as if you 

 were approaching her after a real flight. You may, however, do 

 so much less cautiously. If she bolts with her meal, let her go four 

 or five yards, and then, with a sharp, sudden pull on the string, 

 twitch the whole apparatus out of her foot, and let it come flying 

 back towards you. What with the " way " that the hawk has 

 on her, and the suddenness of your pull on the string, the lure, 

 if properly fixed up, is bound to be jerked away ; and my lady 

 will have to trouble herself to turn round and come back towards 

 you. But, of course, if you so arrange your lure that it will 

 part, and the edible portion of it remain with the hawk, while 

 the inedible comes back to you with the creance, you will have 

 done ten times more harm than you expected to do good. A 

 few lessons of this kind will often cure even a determined car- 

 rier. But I have known merlins which were cunning enough 

 never to carry a light lure, knowing from experience that it would 

 be a mere waste of time, and yet, when they had taken a wild 

 lark, never doubted that they could make off w^ith it if they 

 liked. 



There is a special sort of carrying to which many long-winged 

 hawks are prone, and it is still more difficult to cure than the 

 practice commonly so called. A hawk which is much fed on 

 the fist, and little on the ground — especially on damp or uncom- 

 fortable ground — will, after taking her quarry and killing it, 

 stand still on the ground, looking round with a restless air. And 



