154 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



may be degraded to water-hens and the like. The bagged 

 quarry for entering should, in the one case, be a rabbit, and in 

 the other, a partridge or house-pigeon. When a rabbit is used, 

 a short, tough cane may be attached crosswise to the end of a 

 very short creance, which will serve to prevent the quarry from 

 disappearing bodily down a burrow. The partridge or pigeon 

 should not, of course, be a first-rate flier ; or, at least, he may 

 have a longer creance to carry. Let the hawk take her pleasure 

 on the first live quarry killed ; and next day give a very 

 light feed, not later than noon. On the third day she may be 

 flown either at a better bagged quarry or at a wild one. She 

 should have a very good start for her first real flight, and in a 

 country free from burrows or impenetrable covert. Then, if she 

 only starts, she ought to kill in the case of a rabbit. Nothing 

 is more bloodthirsty than a young goshawk in yarak; nor, 

 in proportion to its size, has so much strength in its grasp. 

 When once the four long daggers with which each of her feet 

 is armed are imbedded in the head or neck of a rabbit or leveret, 

 it is generally all up with that unlucky beast. He may jump 

 and kick and roll over in his frantic efforts to escape. He may 

 by the latter tactics force the hawk to let go for a time, though 

 this is by no means always the result even of a complete somer- 

 sault. But if the grip is thrown off, the respite is short. Before 

 the quarry can make use of what wits are left to him, the pur- 

 suer is on him again — this time probably with a still firmer hold 

 than before. Though a rabbit is fast for a quadruped, and the 

 goshawk slow for a hawk, yet the advantage in pace is always 

 with the latter ; and though she may be thrown out again and 

 again by the doubles of the quarry, yet in an open space speed 

 must tell, if the pursuer is in condition. 



Nevertheless, as it is often difficult and sometimes impossible 

 to find rabbits in open places, it is advisable to let the first flight 

 for your beginner be as easy as you can. When she has taken 

 an undersized rabbit or leveret, she may be advanced to a full- 

 grown rabbit, and thence, after a few kills, to a full-grown hare, 

 if your ambition is to fly hares. Very possibly it may be neces- 

 sary to throw her off at the quarry and not expect her to start 

 of her own accord. She may also refuse more than once, and 

 yet be in the mind — that capricious and wayward mind of hers 

 — to fly. I have seen a young goshawk, only just trained, 

 taken out and thrown off at three or four hares in inviting 

 places, and have seen her refuse them all ; and yet, ten minutes 

 later, I have seen her go at one like a whirlwind, and have it 

 down and helpless within sixty yards from the start. The flight 



