32 PRACTICAL FALCONRY. 
CHAPTER V. 
HAGGARDS WITH GAME — CHICKENS AND EYESSES —- HERON- 
HAWKING—ROOK-HAWKING—MAGPIE-HAWKING—PEWITS—WILD 
DUCKS—HOUSE PIGEONS. 
Ar the end of the last chapter I was led for a moment from game 
to the wood pigeon : the truth was, the wood pigeon came necessarily 
in my way as w bird which occasionally leads game hawks from the 
right path, and, having once mentioned him, I thought I would 
dispose of him for ever. I had not, however, as I said, quite done 
with game-hawking. 
The haggard peregrine, so good at herons and rooks, has lately 
been flown with great success at game. Some of these wild-caught 
hawks ‘‘ wait-on” very liigh, and are always, from their long expe- 
rience, good footers. But they are difficult birds to deal with. 
Many of them have to be kept low in flesh, which is certainly a 
misfortune, and their disposition to ‘‘ self-hunting” is annoying. 
But again, like Aurora (a hawk mentioned before), some of them 
show excellent sport with grouse ; and no doubt the great objection 
to them lies in the danger of their being lost. I wrote to Robert 
Barr, the professional falconer, on this matter, not long since, 
and I will give an extract from his letter; after that, I shall 
set down what I said to him in return. The extract is as fol- 
lows: “Do not have haggards for game. I have one here. 
She waits on well and high, and kills grouse first-rate — yes, 
too well, as, if she goes ont of sight, she has killed and eaten the 
grouse before she can be found in these wild deep glens ; and, before 
she is hungry, a grouse getting up under her, she will have it; so 
she is lost.” He means that she will kill for herself without the 
