372 FALCONRY 



Hawks must not be exposed to the full heat of the sun in 

 midsummer. We have known more than one killed in this 

 way. 



As a rule, cats, foxes, &c. will never meddle with hawks 

 on their blocks, but stray dogs must be guarded against. In 

 * Falconry in the British Isles ' it is stated that turkeys and 

 peacocks will attack hawks that are tied ; they may possibly be 

 dangerous, but we have never known a case of the kind, and 

 have kept hawks on a lawn with peacocks and turkeys running 

 among them for a long time. But we have known these birds, 

 and very many others, to attack a hawk that had brought down 

 her quarry close to them and was busily engaged in killing, and 

 no time must be lost by the falconer in * making in ' to his 

 hawk under these circumstances. 1 



A bath should be offered to each hawk every fine day in 

 summer, and twice or thrice a week in winter. Some hawks, 

 especially eyesses, will not fly at all till after they have bathed. 

 A large tin milk-pan makes a very fair bath, but a shallow 

 round tub of wood about two feet six inches in diameter and 

 four inches deep is better, especially if the edge be wide 

 enough for the hawks to perch on before they enter the 

 water. It is a good plan to sink the bath in the ground. 



When travelling, flower-pots inverted make capital blocks, 

 and the falconer will have a store of stout iron pins with a ring 

 in the head to which he can tie his hawks down. These pins 

 should be at least ten inches long and five-eighths of an inch in 

 thickness. Hawks travel on the ' box cadge ' described it 

 Chapter I., and if brailed they can be carried about by rail or 

 otherwise with no more trouble than a hamperful of pigeons. 

 A temporary perch can generally be rigged up in some stable, 

 and it is a good plan to have canvas ready prepared, in short 

 lengths, and with a strap and buckle to fasten it to the perch, 



1 Carrion crows, where several are collected in one place, will often make 

 a determined and combined attack upon a falcon, that has killed in their 

 vicinity, in order to drive her from her quarry. We have once seen magpies 

 attempt to do the same. 



