CONDITION 375 



bad weather or scarcity of quarry she is unable to kill, for 

 a day or two at a time, and consequently has to put up with 

 short commons. 



But when a wild hawk kills and is hungry she will always eat 

 as much as ever she can, and for this reason not only must the 

 gorge never be neglected, but also no hawk must be kept on 

 small feeds for many days together, however intractable she 

 may be, or she will certainly lose her powers of digestion and 

 with them her health. It is in a difficulty of this sort that ' washed 

 meat ' proves to be an aid so valuable to falconers. Washed 

 meat is simply fresh meat that has been soaked in fresh water 

 for from twelve to twenty-four hours according to circum- 

 stances. Before use it is taken out of the water and thoroughly 

 squeezed till all the juices are extracted from the meat. The 

 object of this is that the falconer may be able to give his hawk 

 a full crop of food which she shall digest very rapidly and 

 which shall at the same time add but little to her condition. 

 By this means the powerful digestive organs are kept at work, 

 but the hawk gains no flesh, and is in fact reduced more and 

 more in condition without being starved. Washed meat is very 

 valuable in the case of a hawk that has been flying well for a 

 long time, and is fed highly, but needs a little discipline to render 

 her obedient ; it is also useful in entering a hawk to a quarry 

 which she does not readily take ; but it is a thing to be used 

 with care and discretion, and only under special circumstances 

 and for a special purpose. 



' Rangk ' or small stones is also a valuable 'conditioner.' 

 For a falcon the stones may be of the size of good large peas ; 

 smooth pebbles off a gravel walk are very good. Four or five 

 may be given at a time, either over hand, to a gentle hawk while 

 sitting on the fist, or else the hawk may be cast and held by an 

 assistant and the stones given by the falconer. If the hawk is 

 fed lightly in the morning and the stones given at night, they 

 will be found in the morning to have been thrown up thickly 

 coated with slime and mucus. Their effect is to cleanse the 

 interior of the hawk, and render her clean and fit to fly, and for 



