PASSAGE HAWKS 79 



merlin. If he can by any means make acquaintance with a 

 graduate in the art of falconry who is known to hood well, let 

 him observe minutely his method and manner, and after each 

 lesson practise on the corpus vile of the " knave's hawk " to 

 acquire the same facility which he has seen his senior to 

 possess. Example in this case is more valuable than pre- 

 cept But do not, by any mistake, become a pupil of a bad 

 hooder ! In the hands of a bungler no hawk can well be good- 

 tempered, whereas in the hands of a first-rate master she will 

 stand to the hood as if she rather liked it. When Adrian 

 Mollen was with the Loo Club in Holland one of the king's 

 brothers came to him for a fortnight, for an hour every day, 

 simply and solely to learn how to hood. There are various 

 manners of putting the hood on. Some hold the base of the 

 plume between the right forefinger and thumb, and, passing it 

 slowly up the breast of the hawk, pop it on quickly over the beak, 

 and with a tap on the forehead push it back into its place. 

 Others hold the hood by the plume between the fore edge of 

 the palm and the inside of the base of the thumb, and, present- 

 ing the palm of the hand right in front of the hawk's face, push 

 it forwards, and cause the beak to pass through the opening, 

 raising the wrist afterwards so as to force the back of the hood 

 down on to the nape. In any case there must be an appear- 

 ance of quiet deliberation about the movements made, com- 

 bined with a certain amount of actual quickness. 



The hood used in learning to hood should be an easy one, 

 very much cut away at the beak opening. And the hawk 

 herself must be first so far manned that she will allow the 

 intending hooder to pass his hand over the crown of her head, 

 and to stroke her on the back without making any objection, 

 or exhibiting any uneasiness. She should be accustomed to 

 the sight of the hood, and have often been allowed to pick 

 nice little morsels of meat from the outside of it. Then she 

 may be allowed to pick a clean piece or two from the inside of 

 it ; and from the beak opening, under which, as the hood lies 

 upside-down in your hand, you hold the seductive morsel. If 

 a hawk is so treated as to become the least afraid of the hood, 

 it will be a work of dire difficulty, and almost impossibility in 

 awkward hands, to break her to it, or cure her of the vice. 

 And hawks are sometimes to be seen so mismanaged by their 

 owners that they get into a " state of mind " at the mere sight 

 of the obnoxious head-dress. A hood-shy hawk is not only a 

 nuisance, but a discredit to her trainer. 



When the hawk has once gone so far as to dip her beak 



