GULL HAWKING 303 



into and eat the flesh of the gull, which is very distasteful to 

 them, and likely to sicken them of the flight. A freshly-killed 

 pigeon should be substituted for the gull the moment it is dead, 

 and the hawk fed upon it, on the body of the gull where it has 

 killed. Hawks require to be very ' fit ' for this flight, as the 

 gull's power of shifting from the stoop is marvellous, while he can 

 also ring into the clouds very rapidly, and both hawks will need 

 to work hard and to stoop straight and often before they can 

 master him. Moreover the gull, especially the herring gull, 

 bites very sharply, and the falconer must make every effort to 

 be near enough at the close of the flight to assist his hawk, as, 

 should a hawk be injured at first entering, it is not likely to 

 take well to the quarry ever afterwards. It is, however, placed 

 upon record that the seagull is perfectly within the powers of 

 hawks of the best class, and we are of opinion that it is a flight 

 well worthy the attention of falconers, and likely, if well 

 managed, to afford sport of the highest kind. 



The lapwing or green plover is an exceedingly difficult bird 

 to take, so much so that it may be termed outside the category 

 of ' quarry.' We have, however, taken a few in the spring, 

 when they are strongest, with a very first-rate cast of passage 

 tiercels specially trained to the flight. In August or July, 

 when the old birds are moulting and the young have hardly 

 arrived at their full power, they could perhaps be taken readily, 

 but at any period of the year their powers of high-mounting 

 and of swiftly dashing from the stoop must make them a very 

 difficult bird to catch. 



The Norfolk plover, stone curlew, or thicknee, is compara- 

 tively easy to take, but is very powerful and fights hard on the 

 ground. It is a good quarry at which to fly hawks that are 

 intended to fly the heron later on. It may be flown either out 

 of the hood, or it may be marked down, and a hawk trained for 

 game-hawking may be put up to wait on overhead and to capture 

 it as it rises. In this way they are more easily caught. Yet 

 occasionally a bird is met with that will shift from the first 

 stoop, and fairly ring away into the clouds, beating, as we have 



