172 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



demonstrative. We have — wrongly, 1 think — almost abandoned 

 the use of calls and cheers to animate our winged friends in the 

 air. But even now a loud voice is a merit in a falconer, if only 

 as enabling him from afar to warn the field and any chance 

 intruders not to meddle with a flight or run in to a hawk that 

 has killed. Those few who still make a practice of "giving 

 their voice" to their hawks are, I think, well repaid for their 

 trouble. For no one can doubt how attentive hawks are to 

 sounds, especially of the human voice, or how thoroughly they 

 become convinced, when well handled, that they and their 

 followers on foot or horseback, and the dogs, when there are 

 any, are all friends and 'comrades engaged, each in his different 

 way, in the same campaign against the same quarry. 



As the huntsman in his kennels, and the trainer in his 

 stables, so the good falconer should take a pride in his mews, 

 or in the place, whatever he calls it, where his hawks are 

 lodged. We have abandoned for the most part the old name 

 of mews — long ago degraded to a new signification — and with 

 it the fashion of building proper quarters for the accommodation 

 of our feathered friends. The modern hawk-house is often 

 a poor substitute for the substantial buildings which our 

 ancestors called mews. Nowadays almost any outhouse seems 

 to be thought good enough for the purpose ; and the trained 

 hawks of several amateurs who are justly reputed good falconers 

 are housed in what are little more than shanties, barely able to 

 keep out the rain and wind, and not at all proof against that 

 insidious enemy, the damp. There can be no doubt that the 

 excessive prevalence in our times of the horrible disorder called 

 "croaks" is largely due to the want of care with which our 

 hawks are housed in winter. 



A hawk-house should have solid walls, and a floor well 

 raised above the ground, so as to be impervious to damp. It 

 should have a loft or room above it, which will help to save it 

 from extreme variations of temperature by day and by night. 

 In such a place all hawks, except merlins and those which have 

 come from any hot climate, may be kept through all ordinary 

 weathers, care being taken, of course, that the ventilation is 

 sufficient, but in winter not excessive. In times of severe frost 

 or excessive damp a very moderate amount of artificial heat 

 should be introduced. A very good arrangement, when it can 

 be adopted, is for the back wall of the hawk-house to be also 

 the back wall on the other side of a warm conservatory or 

 well-heated room. In such cases it is unnecessary, unless in 



