174 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



who have become accustomed to each other, may 

 be started together. In such a case, when the 

 quarry has been struck, the male will give way 

 to his more potent helpmate, and she will keep 

 possession of the bird until the arrival of the fal- 

 coner ; but the result may be very different when 

 two hawks of the same sex join in the pur- 

 suit : they may occasionally be found fighting 

 desperately for the prize, even when it has 

 effected its escape, after leaving nothing but a 

 handful of feathers to reward the successful 

 combatant. 



Colonel Bonham found that no bird was so 

 easily killed by the falcon as the common wild- 

 duck, which he attributed to its direct and uni- 

 form flight, unvaried by those sudden shifts and 

 dodges which are so frequently practised by the 

 grouse and the woodcock. It was his custom to 

 mark down a party of ducks at some turn or 

 angle of the river, where the banks were suffi- 

 ciently steep to admit of his near approach with 

 the hawks. When the alarm was given they 

 sprang from a moderate distance, and a good 

 falcon not unfrequently killed a mallard at the 

 very first blow. He had previously observed 

 that the old male black-cock often contrived to 

 escape after having been struck, and would 

 then take refuge in a thick bush or cover, into 



