264 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING 



from the rick. Then walk to the other side and pick up the 

 bullet. Pulling the string taut, drag it sideways, so that the 

 line scrapes along the top of the rick, and, coming to the hawk's 

 self-chosen dining-place, sweeps the whole affair, dinner, hawk, 

 and all, away. If the line should get entangled in the quarry, 

 so much the better; you can pull it down to the ground. If not, 

 the hawk may, of course, carry to another rick, and recommence 

 the same trick. But after repeated scrapings-off she generally 

 gets sick of the worry, and condescends to go down to the 

 ground. 



A simpler and more unceremonious way of interfering with 

 the offender is to pelt her with clods of earth, or even flints, 

 until one of them either hits her or goes so near that she thinks 

 it advisable to decamp. I have known a hawk sit so stolidly 

 on a rick that though flints went within two inches on either 

 side of her, she took no notice, and went on eating. Others, old 

 offenders, know as well as their master what happens when they 

 go to rick. They would be rather surprised if they did not see 

 him bending down as he makes his way towards them, collect- 

 ing suitable missiles, and if he did not begin at once the familiar 

 sport of hawk-stoning. Such hawks may be called rick-hawks ; 

 and they are about as trying to the temper as anything which 

 the falconer has to contend with. They are, however, not quite 

 so bad as tree-hawks. A falconer who is possessed of one of 

 these last-named treasures must add to his other accomplish- 

 ments that of being a good shot with a small stone. 



What remedy there is for the hawk which carries out of pure 

 caprice it is not easy to say. In the first place, she must be habi- 

 tuated to take some of her food on the ground — tirings anyhow, 

 which hitherto have perhaps been taken on the block or the 

 perch. Let them be fastened down by a peg or a weight, some- 

 times on damp ground, sometimes even in prickly stubbles, so 

 that the over-dainty hawk may learn that eating on the ground 

 is not so bad after all. Then she ought to be flown sharp-set, so 

 that, being in a hurry for her food, she should be glad enough 

 to pluck it quickly and on the first place where she alights. 

 Give this sort of hawk as large a quantity of flying as ever you 

 can. Fly her, if you have the choice, at the most difficult quarry, 

 and in the most difficult places. Never mind so much if she 

 succeeds or not. It is better to lose a few rooks or partridges 

 than to lose your hawk. Fly her, therefore, as often and as hard 

 as you can. Never mind whether her score or her average is 

 bad, It is better to make a poor score than to think your hawk 



