HAWKS IN THE FIELD 203 



reach. I have known a merlin fly her best at a mounting lark, 

 take it after a hard flight, and descend with it to a heap of 

 stones. Lighting a cigar, and sitting down beside a neighbour- 

 ing rick to wait for her to break in, I have seen her presently 

 go off unconcernedly to another resting-place with nothing in 

 her feet, and, walking up to the heap of stones, have found the 

 lark lying there, dead and unplucked. The hawk must have 

 been flying almost uniquely out of love for the sport, and not 

 with a view to satisfying any hunger which she felt at the time ; 

 nor is this the only time that I have known such a thing occur. 



As a rule, however, trained hawks in high fettle are very far 

 from preferring a journey to the fist or the lure to devoting their 

 attention to wild quarry. Much more often the difficulty is to 

 persuade them that for the moment they must return to their 

 place on the hand in order that they may be provided with 

 what they are hankering after — another flight. Almost all 

 hawks which are in the habit of constantly killing and being 

 fed up upon wild birds develop a passion for sport, and will, 

 not easily, when once they have been thrown off, abandon the 

 idea that they are to kill something before they come back. 

 It is for this reason that I have advocated the frequent practice 

 of flying merlins to the lure and sparrow-hawks to the fist, not 

 only when the hawk is not to be used in the field, but when she 

 is. Few things are more vexatious than the delay which occurs 

 when a hawk, however good in other respects, is bad at the 

 lure, and keeps the whole field waiting until it is her good 

 pleasure to come down. Such performers as Queen and Sis, 

 and the famous rook-hawk Bois-le-Duc, which fly for a week or 

 more, killing daily without any miss, are in danger of quite for- 

 getting what a lure is like, unless they are exercised to it for 

 mere practice from time to time. Here, again, the question of 

 dieting will be found to be of much importance. A hawk may 

 be ready enough to fly wild quarry long before she is ready to 

 come to the lure. An extra hour of fasting on the one hand, or 

 an extra ounce of food on the other, may make all the difference 

 in the alacrity of the hawk when required to come down. 



In spite of all the falconer's care, there will be times when 

 a hawk stands obstinately at perch, refusing contemptuously 

 to come, or perhaps even to look, at the dead lure. On such 

 occasions, if time is valuable, it may sometimes be expedient 

 to resort to the live lure. This, however, should always be 

 regarded as a last resource. If reserved for special occasions 

 it will never fail to bring down the most disobedient offender, 



