104 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



long before they can be approached within what a beginner 

 would consider a reasonable distance. The result is that in 

 order to get within reach of such quarry it has sometimes been 

 found necessary to resort to stratagem. Rooks have been 

 stalked by a falconer on foot creeping along behind the shelter 

 of a waggon, or actually disguised as a farm labourer. Some- 

 times the hawking party will lie concealed under the lee of a 

 rick, waiting for a distant rook to cross within range, or to be 

 driven by mounted beaters in "the direction of the ambush. 

 And after all precautions have been taken it is often useless to 

 wait for a short slip. The distance at which good passage hawks 

 are now thrown off at Wiltshire rooks will astonish a person who 

 has never seen anything better than a moderate eyess. A 

 quarter of a mile is not considered at all too long a start when 

 a hawk is a fast one and in good flying order. But the longer 

 the start the better the country must be if you are to score a kill. 

 A falconer on the look-out for rooks will often have to get 

 over a good deal of ground in the day. Twenty miles — with- 

 out counting in the flights — is probably rather under than over 

 the average distance when any considerable number of hawks 

 are to be flown. It is, of course, almost a necessity to be 

 mounted ; and it is well to have a horse under you which is not 

 new to the business, especially if you are to carry a hawk your- 

 self, or may be called upon to take one up. A horse which has 

 never been out with the hawks before is likely to be very much 

 put out by the ringing of the hawk's bell, and still more if she 

 also flutters her wings in a high wind. While following a 

 ringing flight your eyes will naturally be directed more towards 

 the realms above than to the ground over which you are 

 galloping ; and, as many of the downs on which this sport 

 is most often pursued abound in ant-hills, if your animal 

 stumbles over one of these obstacles you are likely to pay for 

 your inattention by a severe cropper. If it falls to your lot to 

 take up the hawk after she has killed, you must, of course, 

 dismount. To enable you to do this and devote your whole 

 attention to it, a special apparatus is provided. To the outside 

 of your saddle will be attached a pocket, within which can be 

 fitted a leaden weight secured by a leather, the other end of 

 which can be attached to the horse's head, so that by merely 

 throwing the weight on the ground he is at once tethered. No 

 one of course presumes to take up another man's hawk unless 

 it has been so arranged beforehand, or in case of urgent 

 necessity, as for instance if the owner is not in sight, and 

 there is danger that the hawk may be attacked on the ground 



