98 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



You may diet her now upon "washed meat." This is meat 

 washed in cold water and squeezed dry, so that a part of the 

 nutriment originally contained in it is lost. It is, of course, less 

 palatable and less sustaining. But it should be used in modera- 

 tion. The old falconers seem to have given it much more often 

 than we do now. But for some reason or other the nineteenth 

 century hawk, if at all habitually dieted on this distasteful food, 

 seems to lose pluck and power as well as weight. 



There is another mode of flying hawks to the lure, which 

 is a sort of combination of the first-mentioned process of " call- 

 ing off" and the last-mentioned "waiting on." This is the 

 practice of " stooping to the lure," which is certainly an excellent 

 means of exercising a hawk, although some very good falconers 

 object to it on other grounds. For merlins and kestrels, how- 

 ever, it may be recommended without any reservation. To 

 teach it, begin, as before, by calling your hawk off to the dead 

 lure, and jerking it away from the ground in front of her. But 

 instead of afterwards encouraging her to mount and wait on, 

 produce the lure, and repeat the same trick by jerking it away. 

 In order to make the most of this exercise you should rig up a 

 soft lure, which can be struck in the air. Take a stout bag, 

 padded on the inside, and into it put a smaller bag, with as 

 much sand or shot in it as will three-quarters fill it. Sew up 

 the mouth, and attach to it a strong leash or cord. The whole 

 apparatus must weigh about two- thirds as much as the hawk 

 which is to be flown to it. At the juncture of the leash and the 

 bag attach on each side the wing of a bird, choosing by preference 

 for each hawk a bird of the kind which is to be her particular quarry 

 — a rook for a rook-hawk, a lark for a hobby, and so on. These 

 appendages will have to be often renewed ; and it is well to 

 keep a stock of old ones, pickled or peppered to keep out the 

 moths. There will be strings, of course, as in an ordinary lure, 

 for attaching the food ; and particular care is required in garnish- 

 ing this kind of lure, as with the hard usage to which it is sub- 

 jected, any food which is at all insecurely fastened on may come 

 off; and if the hawk bolts with it a terrible disaster may be the 

 result. 



At this padded lure the hawk may be allowed to strike freely 

 in the air as it is swung. Gers and merlins are all very clever at 

 this work, and often seem to enjoy vastly this opportunity of 

 exercising their muscles and their intelligence. Some of them 

 are amazingly clever in getting hold of the lure. Not only do 

 they foresee exactly where the swing you are giving to the lure 

 will bring it the moment when they pass ; but, if you are in the 



