142 HAWKING. 



croak, and the two young Falcons, not so experienced 

 as the two first older birds, would not attack the Heron, 

 but after flying about for some time left him. Upon 

 this one of the falconers set up a peculiar call, to which 

 the birds were accustomed, when one of them, from a 

 great height in the air, immediately closed his wings, 

 and darting down to the man who called him, was taken 

 in hand. The other Falcon, however, was not so well 

 trained and obedient, but continued to sail about in the air. 



At length a Heron approached, and she attacked it, 

 but without success, and soon left it ; at last a third 

 Heron crossed, which she attacked, and, after a short 

 struggle, succeeded in bringing to the ground, in the 

 same manner as in the first case. This last Heron had 

 its wing broken, and the falconer killed it, but the other 

 was taken alive, and afterwards turned out before a 

 single Falcon, which struck it down in a minute. It 

 was said, that if a Heron had been once taken by a 

 Falcon, it would never afterwards show sport by soaring 

 and endeavouring to escape. It was the case with this 

 one, for as soon as it saw its enemy approaching, it 

 appeared to lose all its powers, and merely made a 

 trifling and awkward defence on the ground, where the 

 Falcon would speedily have killed him, if the lure had 

 not been thrown in her way*. 



It will be observed that in the above instances, the 

 Hawks either obeyed the call, or were secured by their 

 keepers, on the capture of the game, but this does not 

 always follow, and they are occasionally lost, of which 

 there is a curious proof, in a Hawk having been taken, 

 a few years ago, in the month of August, with bells on 

 its thighs, and a silver ring to its leg, with the owner's 

 name engraved thereon ; it flew on board a vessel bound 

 from North Shields to Quebec, in latitude 44, longi- 

 tude 25 west, nearly midway between the coasts of 

 Europe and America, and died after being on board 

 twenty days. From the inscription on its silver ring, 



* Naturalist* Magazine. 



