16 PRACTICAL FALCONRY. 
CHAPTER III. 
CASTINGS—-HOODING—FLOWN TO THE LURE— WAITING ON”— 
USE AND ABUSE OF PIGEONS. 
Tue hawks are now taken out of the net and hooded. Let them 
be placed hooded on their blocks for an hour or two; when, if 
their crops are empty, as they are pretty sure to be, they may 
be carried, the hood being rapidly replaced the moment it is 
taken off, and this continued for some little time. Take the hoods off, 
the first night, in case of any castings being, in the bird; for no 
hawk can cast through an ordinary hood fairly drawn, unless the 
beak-hole is cut as no man ought to cut it. 
I do not wish to pass by any term which may not be understood, 
as though it were understood ; and when I have occasion to use any 
such terms, I shall generally pause to explain them, knowing that 
the educated falconer—if he should read this—or even the half- 
educated falconer, will not be disgusted at finding all the rudiments 
set down here for the benefit of those who are not falconers at all. 
Castings are the egg-shaped masses of fur or feather which a hawk 
ejects from the mouth several hours after he has finished his meal. 
They are of avery considerable size, and are supposed to take from 
the stomachs anything improper; certainly they are very moist, and 
often rather slimy when new. They are, however, necessities, 
because some feathers or fur must be eaten; and, whatever a fox 
may do in another “quarter” (and I have seen Wool in the High- 
lands in his excrement), a hawk can only get rid of such things 
through the throat. A hawk in a good state of health should throw 
castings that have scarcely any smell, and they should be well and 
firmly wrapped, not loose and of no shape. 
