210 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



Though not a fast hawk he has persevered and bested all his 

 larks in the air, though he has put them in so far off that it was 

 difficult to find them. But now he is to disgrace himself by 

 showing the white feather. He starts at a good ringer, but, 

 finding it too fast for him, comes back humbly to the lure. 

 The little (a), which is a mark of honour when seen under a 

 kill, is a terrible blemish to a score when found under a " duck's 

 egg" — showing that not the quarry but the hawk has been 

 beaten in the air. After this sad exhibition Diamond is fed 

 up, and examined to see whether by some mistake he has 

 perchance been allowed to get thin. If he has, there is an 

 excuse for his poltroonery. Anyhow he will be well fed now, 

 and if he does not fly better to-morrow physicking may be 

 advisable. A medical council must be held over his case. On 

 the next day, however, he re-establishes his character. Light- 

 ing at the first trial upon a ringer, he sticks to it like a man, 

 puts it in, and then takes it cleverly enough. Of course after 

 this success, following upon the fiasco of yesterday, he is at 

 once fed up. Peeping a little behind the scenes we may, it is 

 true, suspect that the ringer, though quite properly marked so 

 in the score-sheet, would not have figured as such if Pearl had 

 had to deal with him instead of Diamond. He would have 

 tried to take the air, certainly, and mounted as if intending to 

 go up in circles. But Pearl would have been up to him before 

 he completed the first ring, and from that moment, keeping the 

 upper hand of him, she would have given him trouble enough to 

 shift from her stoops without nursing any such ambition as to 

 fly right away from her. 



A score-sheet thus kept gives at a glance an excellent idea 

 of the performances of the hawks referred to. As their several 

 scores are usually kept on the same page in successive lines, a 

 comparison between them can be readily made at any time ; 

 and if a period of two or three weeks is taken, the best average 

 made in the time will usually belong to the best hawk. If only 

 a week or less is brought into the account, it may easily be 

 that a very good hawk by a run of bad luck scores fewer kills 

 and makes a lower average than a more moderate performer. 

 The true test of merit is the ringing flights ; and if these alone 

 are considered, the result of an analysis will infallibly settle the 

 question which is the better hawk. Thus in the score last 

 above given, there is no difficulty in perceiving that Pearl, who 

 killed three ringers out of five, and put in the other two, was a 

 much better hawk during the short period under notice than 



