72 HOW I BECAME A FALCONER. 
I had not left my room, and scarcely my bed, when she had been out 
nearly six weeks; and this is a long time, especially with a hawk 
lightly belled as she was. Her entire absence for two days was 
reported, and I was determined she should be taken on the first 
opportunity. At four o’clock one morning, in most beautiful 
weather, I looked out of the window, and saw this falcon quietly 
feeding in the bow-net which had been set on the lawn. I put on 
some things, went down, and caught her at once, andI am very glad 
I did, for I took no harm by the imprudence, and the hawk was 
Islay. 
Many hawks, which turn out well in the end, fly low for the first 
few weeks. The Princess rose at once, as did many other hawks of 
mine; but, if I remember rightly, Islay did not get to her pitch just 
at first. She is a full-sized bird, and little hawks, as a rule, get 
up high to begin with. I soon saw, however, what she was made of. 
A windy day, when the wind is soft and warm, generally brings out 
a peregrine intended for game; if she don’t go up then, one begins 
to fear. Islay is w bird whose heart is set on grouse; she throws 
away no chance, and strains every nerve when the time comes. 
Her ordinary pitch is only about eighty yards, though she will 
occasionally rise a quarter of a mile; but she keeps well over the 
heads of the beaters, and is ready, with two or three rapid strokes, 
to put herself into full swing the moment a feather of the right 
sort leaves the ground. Grouse need fly fast to escape such a hawk 
as this; that they do fly very fast I need not tell many of my 
readers; but when they get away from such birds as Islay or the 
Princess, they do not save their lives by speed. They get away very 
often, but they do so by dashing into cover ; there, in a hilly country, 
they are often safe, as it is a difficult thing to mark the exact spot 
of their concealment. 
Islay has her faults ; the other hawks which I have mentioned 
had positively none. She is the only bird ever in my possession, 
