24 PRACTICAL FALCONRY. 
CHAPTER IV. 
PARTRIDGE AND GROUSE HAWKING, WITH SOME COMMENTS ON 
“CARRYING,” MARKERS, WOOD PIGEONS, ETC. 
I ruinx it may be said that every young tiercel, in good health, 
sharp-set, and not utterly wedded to pigeons, will fly partridges 
the first time he sees them. And every falcon, the two first con- 
ditions being kept, and whether she has been flown constantly at 
pigeons or not, will go straight at her first grouse. If she should 
kill, the pigeons will have done her no harm ; if she lose her quarry, 
and that more than once, she will hanker after another -with which 
she managed better. 
It is obvious that young hawks should be put on the wing above 
young birds, when that is possible, the first time they fly game; and 
I must leave it to the falconer’s conscience as to the precise date of 
his hawk’s first introduction to this quarry. For myself I have no 
opportunity of doing anything but adhering strictly to the game 
laws ; indeed, I hardly ever fly my first grouse so soon as the end of 
August. It is necessary too, asI have said, that the hawk should be 
really hungry ; while it is not only unnecessary, but likely to be fatal 
to success, that she shou!d be in a state of famine. She must have 
plenty of flesh and pluck, and be without pangs of hunger, or she 
will keep close to the ground, or hang over your head, looking only 
for the lure. Neither do I object to a moderate wind; so far from 
that, I think it very necessary to have it, especially if it be a warm 
one. Birds like to feel it under them; it gives them courage, and 
makes high flying easy. It is a very good hawk that does not hug 
the ground on a perfectly still day. A bright sun, however, will 
sometimes tempt birds up. 
