PASSAGE HAWKS 71 



But, as a rule, the full-grown hawks which come into the 

 market are captives which have been taken on the autumnal 

 passage by the professional hawk-catchers of Valkenswaard, in 

 North Brabant. The sons of Adrian Molten, formerly falconer 

 to the famous Loo Club, still carry on this business of snaring 

 peregrines on the great open heath, which for many centuries 

 has been resorted to for a like purpose, and which, of course, 

 takes its name from its renown as a place over which the 

 migrants must often pass. Anyone who wants a wild-caught 

 peregrine should write beforehand to one of these gentlemen, 

 who will probably not fail to send him what he requires. They 

 go out every year, in the months of October and November, 

 and lie in wait daily in their cunningly-constructed huts until 

 they have secured as many captives as have been ordered in 

 various places. A dozen or more are annually required for 

 England, and sometimes a few for France. The variety most 

 in demand is the red falcon, that is to say, the female peregrine 

 in the nestling plumage, not yet moulted. But blue falcons are 

 also sometimes wanted, and of late years there has been some 

 considerable demand for tiercels, both red and blue. Merlins, 

 sparrow-hawks, and an occasional goshawk may be taken, 

 and, still more rarely, a ger. The price for a falcon is four to 

 five pounds, and of a tiercel from three to four. But a special 

 apparatus is required for catching the smaller hawks, which will 

 not usually come to the same lure as a peregrine. If the 

 captured hawk has to be kept for any length of time in the 

 captor's hands before being fetched or sent away, an extra 

 charge is made for her maintenance. 



The device whereby the wild hawk is caught in Holland is 

 somewhat elaborate. It has more than once been described in 

 print, and may be briefly noticed here. A hut is first built up 

 with sods of turf in an open part of the plain. It looks from 

 outside like a mere knoll or rising in the ground. A nearer 

 inspection shows a small opening in front, through which a 

 man, or at a pinch two men, can crawl. It is fitted with a low 

 seat inside, and at the back, behind and above the seat, is an 

 aperture something like the small port-hole of a cabin, which 

 can be opened by pulling out a sod of turf, and closed by 

 replacing the same. This is to enable the hawk-catcher to spy 

 out at a hawk which is coming up from behind his back. 

 Outside the hut and in front of it is a sort of small altar or 

 table of turf, on the flat top of which is pegged down, by means 

 of a short creance and jesses, a butcher-bird or shrike. Scraps 

 of meat are set out for the delectation of this feathered watch- 



