HAWKS AND OWLS. 13 



near, then rushes out, and seizing the victim places a hood 

 on its head, after which he carries it about with perfect 

 safety on his shoulder. As long as deprived of sight it will 

 make no attempt to escape ; and when after some months of 

 careful and skilful training it is flown again at game, it 

 exhibits the greatest fondness for and faithfulness to its 

 captor. 



Hawks are caught in an ingenious but cruel manner in 

 the Deccan. A stick, about a foot in length, is thickly- 

 daubed with bird-lime, and some small bird, generally a dove, 

 is tied to its centre. When the hawk is seen the unhappy 

 captive has its eyes sewed up to make it soar, and is released. 

 The enemy pounces upon it ; its wings strike the limed twig 

 and it falls to the ground. Hawking in India is not practised 

 to anything like the extent it might be. A cast of falcons 

 should be in the compound of every Englishman's bungalow, 

 and there is ample scope for the spread of a delightful 

 pastime in many of the Indian stations where other sport is 

 distant or hard to obtain. Natives take kindly to the 

 amusement, and become good falconers. This is the manner 

 in which one native "mew's man," purveyed his hawk's 

 daily food. " Having distilled some extraordinarily sticky 

 brown- coloured bird-lime, called * goolur,' from juice of the 

 burr, or great Indian fig-tree, he would endue with this 

 adhesive compound the end of a long thin stick, exactly 

 resembling a full-sized fishing-rod. With this weapon over 

 his shoulder Mahomed would go forth till he met with some 

 sparrows chattering on the eaves of a low-tiled roof. At 

 once he would hold the rod so as to be fore-shortened towards 

 them, and then, having got within range, he made a sudden 

 lunge, when one or more unfortunates would infallibly be 

 seen adhering to the end of the stick. These were removed 

 without being killed, and their heads inserted between his 

 fingers, with their bodies outward, till his hands looked as 

 though he had large boxing gloves on. I learnt how to do 

 this myself well enough to catch birds out of the hedges, 



