206 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



her master's sight, she is being reminded more and more of 

 her old life at large. Then, if even she does not go soaring or 

 prowling about in the deliberate search for quarry, she may- 

 espy some passing wood-pigeon or other too tempting bird, and 

 be off in pursuit before any of the hawking party are near 

 enough to keep her in sight. And a passage hawk which has 

 flown and fed herself on her own account is, of course, much 

 less likely- to be recovered than an eyess, to which real liberty 

 is a blessing hitherto unknowh. With the latter the balance of 

 danger lies often on the side of making them too fond of the 

 lure. 



The falconer should have with him in the field a pencil and 

 small notebook, or at the least a card, upon which he can jot 

 down a brief note or record of each flight, so that on his return 

 home he can enter in his quarry-book a summary of the day's 

 sport. The performances of each hawk should also be recorded 

 in this book, as it is only by reference to this authentic volume, 

 correctly kept day after day, that it can be known and remem- 

 bered how she has acquitted herself. On the chance that it 

 may be useful as a specimen, I give here an extract from the 

 quarry-book which I keep, and which has been found to record 

 pretty fully and in an exceedingly small space the chief points 

 of interest in every day's proceedings. The first column gives 

 the month and the name of each hawk, the second and following 

 columns give the numbers of the days of the month and the 

 scores made by each hawk. The units mean that a flight was 

 successful, the zeros that it was not. When a fraction, such as |, 

 occurs it signifies that the hawk flew double, in company with 

 another, and that the flight ended in a kill. The sign % stands 

 for a double flight in which the quarry escaped. L means that 

 a hawk was lost or left out, and c that she was recovered. At 

 the foot may be a short note as to the day's weather. 



