CARRYING TO BE CHECKED 455 



any harder food, young birds and rats, etc., are the 

 best for them. They also require a few mouthfuls of 

 feathers to make them ' cast.' These latter should be 

 given with the meat at the evening or last feed. If 

 feathers are not procurable, any fur or even cotton- 

 wool mixed with their food will answer the purpose. 

 Rabbits are excellent food for young hawks, and raw 

 eggs mixed with the food are also very nutritious. 



The young birds should never be permitted to 

 carry, for if once they acquire the habit it is difficult 

 to cure them of it; and afterwards, when hunting, they 

 carry off their quarry, instead of resting on it until the 

 falconer can take them up. When able to fly they 

 can be fed on food tied to a board or on the ' lure,' 

 the falconer giving them at the same time several 

 pieces out of his hand. 



The best places to fly at hack are barns or old 

 buildings. The birds must be belled on the legs, and 

 notices should be posted up in all the public-houses, 

 blacksmiths' shops, post-offices, etc., in the neighbour- 

 hood, so that the people may be made aware of the 

 presence of tame hawks, which sometimes take long 

 fli^Jfhts before returning- at feed incr- time. The bells 

 used are termed ' hack-bells,' and are larger and louder 

 than those used when flying trained hawks. 



When the birds go too far and begin to kill, they 

 can be taken with a bow-net, or snared with a noose 

 of soft cord. Before being turned out they must be 

 provided with ' jesses ' and bells, and by these means 

 even old hawks may be kept at hack ; but they must 

 be always well fed before they are turned out or they 

 will go off When hungry they will come at once to 

 the lure, and a few days of such practice will suffice lo 



