132 OTTER HUNTING, FALCONRY, SHOOTING 



is a mystery about the bird ; it might cry, as a certain 

 lady cried : u The curse has come upon me." For, look 

 at the difference between then and now ! We find 

 Latham, whose Falconry was published in 1633, 

 writing of the hobby in terms of enthusiastic praise. 

 He says : " She will show herself a hawk to please a 

 prince, for you may fly her twenty times in the after- 

 noon when no other hawks will fly, but must be waited 

 on." In short, he says that the hobby will fly par- 

 tridges, quails, larks, and all in the most perfect manner. 

 So much for f then ' ; ' now ' the very best merlin 

 trainers can't make a hobby go fifty yards after a lark, 

 nor, indeed, can they make her care for any quarry. Is 

 there yet a chance ? Will some one read up Latham and 

 other old hawking books, try if they can extract a hidden 

 hint, and give their whole mind to practice in the field ? 

 I have now done with the long-winged hawks, except 

 that I ought to add that falconers keep them on 

 blocks, or on the screen, the former, in my opinion, 

 being the better resting-place, as on the screen the 

 feathers not infrequently get damaged. Like all hawks'" 

 they must be often offered a bath. 



II. Short-winged Hawks. 



There are two short-winged hawks, the goshawk and 

 the sparrow-hawk. The goshawk is by far the larger 

 bird, but they resemble each other very much in other 

 respects, except that the goshawk has stout legs and 



