284 FALCONRY 



the falconer steadily draws the line till it checks at the head of 

 the iron pin in the centre of the net. One pull of the net line 

 and the hawk is safely caught. As rapidly as possible she is 

 taken out of the net, a rufter hood is placed on her head — that is 

 to say, a light, comfortable hood, open at the back, and easy for 

 a hawk to feed through— she is then placed in a ' sock,' which 

 is simply the leg of an old stocking, which pins her wings to her 

 sides and acts as a strait-waistcoat, making it impossible for her 

 • to move or to struggle. Jesses are placed on her legs, the points 

 'are taken off her beak and claws, and she is left to lie quiet until 

 I the time arrives for leaving the hut and going home. 

 — ^ Two hawks in one day is -unusually good fortune. More 

 often the falconer sits day after day without any luck at all. 

 Sometimes it happens that from something going wrong with 

 his tackle, or from some such cause, he misses the .hawk. 

 ""This is a serious reverse, for he will not easily get the chance 

 ' to catch' the same bird again. Such a mishap occurred to 

 ' MoUen, senior, in 1872. He had just caught a falcon, and 

 ^was taking her out of the net when there came up, attracted by 

 ^the pigeon, an exceedingly fine dark falcon. It was too late 

 ^ hide ; but when, an hour or so afterwards, she again appeared 

 ''on the scene, and he pulled out the lure pigeon, all that resulted 

 was, that after a shy stoop the falcon followed the line at the 

 j|<eight of a yard or two right from the net to the hut, spread 

 I her wings, and sailed away. There were many wild fowl on the 

 heath at the time, and he could see this grand hawk day after 

 day chasing and killing them in the finest style, till his mouth 

 ''fairly watered to catch her. In vain did he try all his arts ; 

 every time he showed his lure the crafty bird would sail along 

 the extended string, as if to show how well she understood the 

 game, and then would bid him good-bye. Worst of all, she 

 would brook no intruder on her hunting grounds, and day after 

 day as other falcons passed and began to stoop to the pigeon, 

 she would descend upon them from the clouds, and after a 

 buffeting match would drive them away. Mollen was in de- 

 spair, the season was slipping away, and his business being lost. 



