THE BLUE HARE— POACHING -HAWKING 105 



ready. A hare that has once been thus netted 

 in a gateway, and handled, will require an extraordin- 

 arily good dog to force her through one again. This 

 plan can be adopted where it is known that many 

 good lurchers exist. It will save scores of hares. It 

 is also a useful plan to paint white the three bottom 

 bars of all gates. But careful watching and general 

 supervision of the ground will do more to prevent 

 poaching than any especially crafty devices, and where 

 a manor has a reputation for being well looked after 

 it will only rarely be troubled by poachers of this 

 class. 



Another, and possibly little known, method of 

 taking; hares is by hawking. It is, however, rather to 

 be regarded as a tour de force in sporting matters than 

 as a means whereby they can be ' readily reduced 

 into possession,' as the lawyers phrase it. The feat 

 has been performed in modern times in two different 

 ways : first, by means of the long-winged gerfalcon ; 

 secondly, of the short-winged goshawk. For the for- 

 mer method a very open country is needed ; the flight 

 is often of long duration, for the falcon, soaring above 

 the fleeting hare, will endeavour to stun and confuse 

 her by repeated blows, ere she will ' bind to ' or finally 

 seize her quarry. In this kind of flight the hare has 

 every chance to make good her escape to some friendly 



