194 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



if the quarry is down-wind when the hawk is thrown off. On the 

 other hand, in game-hawking, the pursuer has a much better 

 chance if the first stoop is made down-wind. Consequently, in 

 beating for grouse or partridges, the falconer will start pro- 

 ceedings from the windward edge of his country, and keep the 

 game, as far as he can, always down-wind of his line of beaters ; 

 whereas in the other cases the hawking party will begin to lee- 

 ward, and proceed as nearly as possible with their faces to the 

 wind. In other words, a hawk flown from the fist should be 

 flown up-wind at her quarry, and one which waits on should 

 start down-wind at it. So well established is this principle that 

 when a rook is espied on the ground to leeward, a whole party 

 of mounted men will sometimes make a circuit of a mile in 

 length, in order to make sure of getting the wind of him and 

 giving the falcon a fair chance. When there is anything of a 

 wind, it is advisable for a lark-hawker, after making a beat to 

 windward, to return on his own tracks, with what is called a 

 dead beat, and start afresh on another march parallel to the 

 first, so as to avoid putting up a lark while walking in the wrong 

 direction, and being reduced to the alternative of either letting 

 the merlin go on a sort of fool's errand, or disappointing and 

 vexing her by holding on to the jesses when she jumps off. 



The posting of markers is a matter requiring some skill and 

 care, even in the case where the falconer is well acquainted with 

 his country. It will be found of the greatest possible advantage 

 to have plenty of markers, especially where, as is often the 

 case in game-hawking, all or most of the men are unmounted. 

 Before beginning to try the ground, the falconer should detach 

 men or boys to post themselves down-wind in positions where 

 they can command the most extensive view, and, as it were, 

 guard the approaches to any covert for which the quarry is likely 

 to make. Often it can be predicted with tolerable certainty 

 which plantation a rook or lark will choose as his place of 

 refuge, or at which thick hedge or piece of tall roots or of standing 

 crops a partridge will try to put in. Often, of course, there are 

 two or more spinnies or sheltering-places, either of which may 

 attract the fugitive. If these places are within sight of any 

 marker with a good pair of eyes, he will be able to tell the first 

 comer-up whether the flight ended in either of them, or went on 

 in another direction. Without such information much valuable 

 time may be wasted in searching a covert where neither hawk 

 nor quarry is to be found. Markers are more useful down-wind 

 than up. For in all long flights where the quarry takes the air, 



