

Vol. IV, No. 5.] Note on the Peregrine Falcon. 263 
[N.S.] 
size and appearance, ¢s commonly flown at hare. I have known 
even experienced falconers to mistake a lagar on the wing for. a 
peregrine. 
All hawks should be trained as fat as possible. If trained 
and entered thin, especially if they have been kept thin any time, 
they will, when brought up into condition, take to ‘ soaring’ in 
the jungle, or will misbehave in other ways. Ifa freshly-caught 
hawk reaches you thin, no great harm may be done if she is not 
allowed to remain thin. Gradually but quickly she should be 
There is, however, no difficulty or danger in teaching an ‘ inter- 
mewed ’ hawk to ‘ wait on.’ é; 
a peregrine has not been flown at large quarry for some 
time, itis as well she should be extra keen for the first flight. 
Perhaps you have an excellent young peregrine that has killed, 
say only one or two houbara, and for some reason you have not 
been able to fly her for a fortnight. If she is now not extra keen, 
she will, at her first flight, follow the houbara perhaps for miles, 
hesitating to close and turn it. There is every chance of her 
getting lost. In the Introduction, page viii, to “A Sporting 
Turn” by Colonel T, Thornton, it is stated that, “.... he oc- 
casionally flew his hawks at bustards, the apparent slowness of 
that bird, when seen at a distance, tempting him to the trial, but 
the hawks had no chance. (Birds of Wiltshire, page 345).” Now 
it could not have been that the peregrines were outpaced, but they 
naturally hesitated to close with such a powerful quarry as a big 
bustard. Some hawks require to be skilfully entered by trains to 
even houbara, which on the ground puff themselves out and look 
formidable, and do not hesitate to charge an uncertain hawk, 
Even steady and tried old duck-hawks, if not flown at wild quarry 
for some time, will, on the first day, be successful in only easy 
ground : they will continually miss opportunities. ; 
reeman, in his “ Practical Falconry,” writes:—‘I do not 
‘know how it is, but I have almost always found that good fresh 
doves for choice. If the beginner feeds on one kind of bird only 
he will be able to judge the exact amount of food necessary. © 
Whether the hawk is fed twice a day according to- the 
