HOW I BECAME A FALCONER. 77 
the falcon eating it close to her own block, so that anyone passing 
would have thought she was fastened by her leash in the ordinary 
way. The end of another flight with another hawk, was, I knew, 
somewhere near a farmhouse; and, after some search, an old man 
came out to say that the falcon was eating a pigeon on the table in 
the “parlour.” And so she was. The two birds must have flown 
close together up the narrow entrance-passage, turned through an 
open door to the left, and got into this unused room. And unused 
many of these “parlours” are, except on very grand occasions. 
Some of us ramember Albert Smith’s description of the same sort 
of rooms in Broek, into which the mistress of the house went every 
Saturday, when she rubbed, polished, dusted, washed, and cleaned. 
in every possible way, then put the key into her pocket, and never 
opened the door till that day week. 
The grouse I spoke of simply dashed into a room of this house, 
through an open window, and was taken. I saw the flight, and was 
afraid the falcon would strike the house inher rapid progress; both 
birds were making for the middle of it, and the hawk escaped injury 
by adroitly shooting up the side when she was within a few yards of 
the stones. 
I once took up afaleon which I found, at the end of a flight, with 
@ pigeon in each foot. This, like many other things, would be won- 
derfal indeed without the explanation, and, like them, very simple 
when it is given. The flight ended in my coach house, into which 
the dovecote pigeons, seeing the hawk coming, had dashed together 
with the proper quarry; all, therefore, were no doubt huddled 
together in acorner, and the hawk’s second foot was hardly intended 
to grasp the second pigeon. 
It is not uncommon with some few falcons to knock your hat off, 
or to strike the dog, if game is not found soon enough ; and I once 
had my wideawake carried from my head by a female sparrowhawk, 
who began to dig her claws into it when she got it on the ground. 
