PRACTICAL FALCONRY. 31 
steadily. I also want force, and the perfection of health. My 
friends tell me that I could not fly such fat birds were it not for my 
live hack, and I believe them. 
Wood pigeons are somewhat of a nuisance where they abound, 
but a good game hawk will soon leave them alone, unless they come 
very daringly near; in a partridge country, where they are often 
common, they soon save themselves in a wood, and the hawk returns 
to “waiting on.’ In a very open country they afford excellent 
sport; they come sometimes to the moors for bilberries. I will 
dismiss them here, as there is not anything very special to say about 
the mode of flying them; either falcon or tiercel’will kill them. 
House pigeons may of course be flown from the hand, and the place 
of flying selected for its open country. Two hawks after a blue 
rock make no despicable sport ; it is the coursing of the air. 
But I must leave other flights and some other matters for the 
next chapter. Grouse and partridge hawking I shall once more 
notice, but only in a few paragraphs, and:‘that when I speak of the 
haggard. 
