224 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



most of the work, cuts in at the finish and secures the quarry. 

 But it is more rare in merlins than in jacks, which seem to me 

 the most prone of any hawks to this vice. A game-hawk has, 

 of course, little or no temptation to indulge in it, and a rook- 

 hawk would spoil her own game by doing so, as she cannot 

 follow into covert. The fault, when once developed, is difficult, 

 or perhaps impossible, to entirely cure. Double flights should 

 be entirely eschewed ; and when the hawk has flown cunning 

 and failed she may be left where she is, unlured and unfed, 

 until later in the day, and then flown again and again until she 

 tries harder. Wild hawks (and trained ones, if long left out) 

 often fall into a habit of picking their flights, i.e. starting at a 

 quarry, and, if they find it a good one, turning back and waiting 

 for an easier chance. On the whole, therefore, if only for this 

 reason, I am averse to leaving out a trained hawk longer than 

 is absolutely unavoidable. 



