374 FALCONRY 



and ' Medio tutissimus ibis ' must be the falconer's motto. 

 Hawks are fed but once a day except in the case of merlins or 

 sparrow-hawks, which usually have a light meal given to them 

 in the morning, even before flying. These little hawks must 

 always be kept in high condition, and are too delicate to 

 undergo much discipline. They should also be kept as much 

 as possible on their natural food, i.e. small birds, if plenty of 

 casting be given. We have never known a hawk injured by 

 being fed upon shot birds, but of course one would prefer that 

 a hawk should not swallow lead if it can be avoided. 



For a stud of the larger falcons birds cannot always be 

 procured in sufficient quantities to feed all the hawks, and 

 beef will form the staple diet. Mutton is good when lean 

 enough, as also veal. When hawks are doing but little work, it 

 is a good plan to let them pull hard at a very tough piece of 

 beef, and so, as it were, earn their food by work ; but where a lot 

 of hawks have to be fed, lime is not always available to do this. 

 In such cases the meat should be well chopped up into a 

 mince, and it is a good plan to sprinkle a little fresh water 

 with it, and so mix it all up into a kind of pudding. For 

 young, delicate, or moulting hawks a new-laid egg may be 

 beaten up in lieu of the water. Nothing makes feathers come 

 down broad and strong so well as a diet of egg given occasion- 

 ally ; it also gives to the feet and cere, that rich yellow colour 

 which is always to be seen in wild hawks. Fresh butter will 

 also, to some extent, produce this effect. 



The quantity of this food which is to be given to each hawk 

 must, as we have said above, be regulated entirely by the dis- 

 position of each bird. Speaking generally, about two-thirds of 

 a crop may be given daily. But in every case, whether a hawk is 

 being lowered in condition or not, a ' gorge ' or full crop should 

 be given at least once a week. The gorge should be followed 

 by a very light feed on the next day, and indeed the quantity 

 given to hawks should not always be regular in amount, but 

 may vary according to circumstances or discretion. This state 

 of things is precisely what a wild falcon has to submit to, when 



