OCTOBER. 



PARTRIDGE HAWKING. 



BY J. E. HARTING. 



WE have described on a previous page the art of rabbit hawking 

 with the goshawk. The goshawk is one of the short-winged 

 hawks so called because the tail exceeds the wings in length. 



The modus operandi with a long-winged falcon, like the 

 Peregrine, which is used for partridges and grouse, is very 

 different, and depends upon the different manner in which these 

 two hawks take their prey. A goshawk, as has been shown, flies 

 straight after the quarry from the fist, and overtakes it by 

 superiority of speed ; a falcon, soaring in the air, captures its 

 prey by descending rapidly upon it from a height, and this 

 descent with half-closed wings is technically termed a " stoop." 



To witness the stoop of a well-trained falcon at a fast-flying 

 partridge or grouse, as it goes down wind at the highest speed of 

 which it is capable, is a sight to be for ever remembered. 

 Sportsmen who know what it is to shoot driven birds, and who 

 are wont to estimate the speed of a partridge at forty, fifty or 

 even sixty miles an hour, incline to the belief that a driven 

 partridge must be the fastest bird that flies, and few are prepared 

 to learn that neither a partridge nor a grouse can live long before 



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