HAWKING. 143 



this bird must probably have escaped from England or 

 Ireland, from the nearest point of which it was, when 

 taken, about 700 miles. Knowing, as we do, the speed 

 of a bird's flight, this distance appears less extraordinary, 

 and might have occupied but a short time in its accom- 

 plishment. For instance, the bird might have taken its 

 departure from the nearest land, and with ease, and by 

 no means at its extreme speed, have reached the vessel 

 in six or seven hours, and as it lived for twenty days on 

 board, we have no grounds for believing that it had 

 suffered from excessive fatigue or hunger during its flight. 



In the above cases of hawking for Herons, and some 

 other birds, it is observable that the Hawk's object is to 

 disable its prey in the air, and force it to fall to the 

 ground, by the infliction of a severe wound ; and it is 

 remarkable, that well-trained Hawks, and probably all, 

 from natural instinct, aim at the back, and for this curious 

 reason, that the Heron frequently, indeed, whenever it 

 can, on finding the Hawk above it, and ready to pounce 

 down, turns itself on its back, with an intention of pierc- 

 ing its assailant through with its long sharp beak ; and 

 in ancient pictures of hawking, the Heron is often re- 

 presented falling with its back downwards, and occasion- 

 ally with the Hawk transfixed by its beak, in the moment 

 of descent. 



All Hawks, however, do not fly at their game with an 

 intention of taking it in the air, while others, so far 

 from avoiding the head, make it their particular point of 

 attack, as the Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), which was 

 invariably observed, by a person who kept one for some 

 time, to crush the head of the animal given it for food, 

 with its beak, before it began to devour it. 



Those who are in the habit of catching Hawks, avail 

 themselves of their knowledge of the different ways in 

 which they provide themselves with food, in order to 

 capture them; a description of a few of these modes 

 may be useful to some of our readers. The manner of 

 catching the celebrated Icelandic Falcons was thus. So 



