112 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



A 



safe refuge. If you send anyone up, the refugee will only shift 

 his quarters to another branch. And all the time while you are 

 trying to get him out, the hawk will be circling above — if, 

 indeed, she does not get tired of waiting, and start after some 

 other quarry. With a passage hawk which has not long been at 

 work, you cannot risk keeping her long in the air on the chance 

 of your routing out a rook that has put in. She may check at 

 a passing pigeon, or at a quite distant flock of rooks, or any 

 other bird which she was once wont to kill, and then, even if 

 you are well mounted, you will have great difficulty in keeping 

 her in sight. If, therefore, you are hawking with a passager, and 

 cannot get your rook out quickly, take her down with the lure, 

 and have a try later on at another rook in the open. 



If the hawk kills, the falconer will get up at once, and " make 

 in" in the manner described in the chapter on Entering. 

 There is not much danger of any attempt to carry when the 

 quarry is as big a bird as a rook. But caution should be 

 observed, nevertheless, as, if you are rough or in a hurry, you 

 may induce in the hawk a disposition to carry, which on some 

 future occasion may cause no end of trouble. Do not even now 

 let your hawk feed upon the rook, unless you are quite sure 

 that she likes such food. Take care that from the first she 

 shall be well pleased with having taken this quarry, which is not 

 the one she is predisposed to fancy. If in doubt about her 

 liking for rook's flesh, substitute a pigeon. And it is as well to 

 be contented with one kill on the first day. A fresh flight 

 might not end so happily, and would then partly annul the good 

 effect of the one that has succeeded. Besides, you want to 

 reward your hawk for her victory by giving her a good feed at 

 once, which of course you could not do if you intended to fly 

 her again. Be well satisfied, therefore, that the first step has 

 been made towards making a good rook-hawk. After a few 

 more flights, if even a moderate percentage of them end well, 

 your pupil will begin to take a delight in the business. Some- 

 times she will become so keen at it that you can freely let her 

 feed upon the last rook she kills in the day. Only do not give 

 her too much of this food. It would be a thousand pities if, 

 after having acquired a liking for this flight, she should, for the 

 sake of a small economy to her owner, be allowed to become 

 disgusted with it. 



Rooks may be flown as soon as the passage hawks are 

 trained. Old peregrines can of course be flown at any time 

 (except when there are young rooks in the nests). But the 

 winter and early part of the year is the best time, as later on 



