33 6 FALCONRY 



tempers of individual hawks differ so much. It is easy for the 

 falconer who is constantly carrying his hawk, and calling her to 

 his fist, to judge if she be keen and fit to fly or not. If she be 

 slack-mettled or sullen, he can judge of the cause and govern 

 himself accordingly. It is useless to fly a hawk unless she be 

 in perfect ' yarak.' If not in good order, even the best of them 

 will take perch and sulk, appearing absolutely unconscious of 

 live rabbits, pigeons, or other lures, a few feet below her. 

 This sulkiness is a great drawback to the use of goshawks, but 

 it is the effect of imperfect or insufficient training ; and the 

 same hawk which one day spoils an afternoon by her sulky 

 refusals to fly will, two days afterwards, behave to perfection, 

 and perhaps continue to do so for weeks, if properly handled. 

 Nay, even at the height of their ' sulks,' we have seen them 

 leave their perch, with live and dead lures below them, and 

 follow their master who has made as though he were leaving 

 them ! When in true ' yarak ' the feathers are set up, as if the 

 hawk were cold, the crest is erect, the hawk immovable, gripping 

 the fist with a grasp of iron, yet noticing the movement of every 

 living thing and ready to dash at it. When not fit to fly her 

 feathers lie close to the body, she constantly utters a chirp or 

 twittering cry, and will bate from the fist, but not at everything 

 that moves. When in this condition it is hopeless to fly her. 



Even when in good ' yarak ' a goshawk must be carried for 

 an hour or two to get her into flying order on every day that 

 she is wanted. If left idle for a day or two, more work will be 

 wanted. An hour or two of carriage will work a transformation 

 in a hawk that obviously was not fit to fly in the morning. 

 Thus a goshawk will require more time to be expended on her 

 than a team of four or five peregrines when once they are in 

 condition, and two goshawks are as much as any one man can 

 manage if he be required to keep both in flying order. 



Goshawks can be kept in-doors upon the screen and out- 

 of-doors on the bow-perch (see Chapter VII.) They are 

 dangerous brutes with other hawks, and must be kept well away 

 from them at all times. If convenience admit of it, they should 



