MOULTING 253 



of aloes : for the pilles drive downward and scowre more strongly 

 and with greater effect." 



It was an almost invariable rule with the old falconers to give 

 washed meat to a hawk after the moult. Many of them, indeed, 

 began to do so for about ten or fifteen days before the end of 

 the moult ; and in the case of hawks which are now intended 

 to be flown as soon as possible, some preliminary steps of the 

 kind should be taken while the last feathers are growing fully 

 down. Washed meat is better than short rations in such a 

 case as this, where if you reduce the hawk's strength a little it 

 is no great matter as long as she does not get thin withal. But 

 the grand desideratum for a newly-moulted hawk is plenty of 

 carrying. The effect of this discipline upon a wild-caught hawk 

 has been already described; it is quite as magical, and still 

 more speedy in its results in the case of one which has become 

 wild in the mews. This is one of the good things of which one 

 cannot have too much. It is more than one man's work to 

 carry a single hawk as much as she ought to be carried when 

 fresh from the moult. If, therefore, there is not a man avail- 

 able for each, let the one which is not being carried be pegged 

 down at her block if it is fine, or confined to the perch if it is 

 not, and provided with a tiring until there is someone who 

 can take her again on his fist. Tirings must be kept going 

 assiduously for the sake of the exercise, and for the first few 

 days all food that is not tirings should be given on the fist. In 

 short, the trainer must go through, with a moulted hawk, most 

 of the same processes, more or less modified according to the 

 character of the hawk, as he went through when first reclaiming 

 and making her to the lure. 



Long-winged hawks are, of course, less troublesome to 

 reduce to orderly habits after the moult than sparrow-hawks 

 or goshawks. But then they require longer to get into wind. 

 For this purpose they must be called off to longer and longer 

 distances, and made to stoop hard at the lure. At first their 

 flight will be very heavy, and their desire to mount non- 

 existent. After a minute's stooping at the lure they will have 

 their mouths open. It will perhaps be quite difficult to keep 

 them on the wing. But they must not be excused ; and the 

 much-enduring trainer must have the patience to wait, swinging 

 the lure until it pleases my lady to come to it, and be keen in 

 the cause. It is altogether impossible to say how long it will 

 be from the time when she is taken out of the moulting-room 

 to the day when she can take the field once more. A haggard, 



