now TO MAXAGE THE FALCOX. 241 



hounds, and the numbers of young grouse or other game 

 annually destroyed in t^ie process of dog-breaking be- 

 fore the shooting season. 



As soon as a young goshawk will take rabbits treated 

 as above described, it may be considered ready for the 

 field. Should it be a strong female bird and intended 

 for hares, it must first be entered at rabbits as just 

 described, and then at leverets found in the field ; it 

 should afterwards be kept at hares alone, if it be ex- 

 l^ected to take them well. The male birds are not 

 strong enough to hold a hare ; in fact, it is only a few 

 of them that will take rabbits. Colonel Thornton was 

 accustomed to make use of the goshawk along with 

 spaniels for taking pheasants. This the bird was trained 

 to do, either from the perch or upon the wing ; for the 

 former mode a bagged cock pheasant in a creance was 

 placed upon the bough of a tree, and the hawk allowed 

 to seize it, when both were lowered to the ground 

 amongst the dogs. The male bird is more suited to 

 this game than the female. In former days wild ducks 

 were taken with this hawk ; this could only have been 

 done by coming suddenly upon them in a brook with 

 deep banks, or old marl pits filled with water, as, when 

 fairly upon the wing, these birds can easily outfly the 

 goshawk. Water-hens and coots it can take easily. 

 "When flying the female goshawk at hares, the nearer 

 she is brought to the seat the better will her chance be, 

 though she may come upon them from a tree. For 

 taking rabbits these birds are perfect, and from eight to 

 a dozen of these animals may be killed during the day 

 with one hawk. They show the best sport in a rough 

 rocky country, where the rabbits may be found sitting 

 out at some distance from their holes, with the assist- 



