372 FALCONRY 



Hawks must not be exposed to the full heat of the sun in 

 midsummer. We have known more than one killed in this 

 way. 



As a rule, cats, foxes, &c. will never meddle with hawks 



•on their blocks, but stray dogs must be guarded against. In 



' Falconry in the British Isles ' it is stated that turkeys and 



peacocks will attack hawks that are tied ; they may possibly be 



dangerous, but we have never known a case of the kind, and 



have kept hawks on a lawn with peacocks and turkeys running 



among them for a long time. But we have known these birds, 



and very many others, to attack a hawk that had brought down 



her quarry close to them and was busily engaged in killing, and 



no time must be lost by the falconer in ' making in ' to his 



hawk under these circumstances.' 



)« A bath should be offered to each hawk every fine day in 



jjsummer, and twice or thrice a week in winter. Some hawks, 



k especially eyesses, will not fly at all till after they have bathed. 



i,A large tin milk-pan makes a very fair bath, , but a shallow 



Jfround tub of wood about two feet six inches in diameter and 



. four inches deep is better, especially if the edge be wide 



♦enough for the hawks to perch on before they enter the 



^water. It is a good plan to sink the bath in the ground. 



When travelling, flower-pots inverted make capital blocks, 

 and the falconer will have a store of stout iron pins with a ring 

 in the head to which he can tie his hawks down. These pins 

 should be at least ten inches long and five-eighths of an inch in 

 thickness. Hawks travel on the ' box cadge ' described it 

 Chapter I., and if brailed they can be carried about by rail or 

 otherwise with no more trouble than a hamperful of pigeons. 

 A temporary perch can generally be rigged up in some stable, 

 ■and it is a good plan to have canvas ready prepared, in short 

 lengths, and with a strap and buckle to fasten it to the perch, 



1 Carrion crows, where several are collected in one place, will often make 

 a. determined and combined attack upon a falcon, that has killed in their 

 vicinity, in order to drive her from her quarry. We have once seen magpies 

 attempt to do the same. 



