142 WOODLAND CREATURES 



and trouble being required to get her fit to fly; 

 and, after all, she is not a big hawk, and can only 

 by flown at comparatively small quarry, black- 

 birds giving the best sport. Besides, as already 

 indicated, she is the most uncertain and capricious 

 of creatures, being liable to fits of sulks and bad 

 temper for the very slightest of reasons, or for 

 no reason at all as far as we can understand. 



Perhaps it was for this reason that when assigning 

 to different persons the hawks considered most 

 suitable for their station in life, the priest was 

 allotted the sparrow hawk, possibly because patience 

 being a priestly virtue he would have need to 

 exercise it ! The peregrine was the nobleman's 

 hawk, the rare and beautiful ger-falcon was reserved 

 for royalty, while the dainty merlin was the lady's 

 hawk, but the poor man was only allowed the useless 

 kestrel. 



The principle involved in training the sparrow 

 hawk, or any other hawk, is simple enough : it is 

 to keep her always with people, and to carry her 

 about on the gloved hand until she pays no attention 

 to men, women, children, and dogs. Round her 

 legs are fastened two small leather straps known as 

 jesses, which are attached in a peculiar way that 

 has been handed down from falconer to falconer 

 through hundreds of years. A metal swivel is 

 passed through the ends of these, and through the 

 swivel a leash, which latter the falconer twists 

 round his hand lest by any accident he should let 

 it go. Thus held, the hawk cannot get away, which 

 she at first tries hard to do, flapping off the fist 



