HAWKING. 
make Tip her mind, and, springing from her perch, sncceeded 
in fastening her claws on the head and neck of the heron, who 
was at once brought to the ground. 
“ The contest was now virtually ended, and the fate of the 
heron decided. In spite of his superior size and strength he 
could by no exertion shake off the terrible claws that were 
clasped round his throat. He struck wildly with his wings as 
he flapped across the room and endeavoured to kick away his 
foe with his powerful feet ; but all his efforts were vain, and in 
a very short time the heron lay dead on the ground. The 
falcon was so rapid in its movements, that the heron had 
hardly lain prostrate before his foe had nearly severed his 
head from his body. She then regaled herself on the head 
and neck of her vanquished enemy.” 
As is truly observed in the above account, the hawk, from 
its inability to mount above the heron’s head, was at a disad- 
vantage. The heron, however, had its difficulties, which liberty 
would have removed and perhaps turned the tide in its favour. 
It is a common trick with the heron, when the hawk is over 
him. and about to swoop down, to turn swiftly on to its back, 
and, drawing back its neck, present its bayonet-like beak for 
its foe’s reception. The hawk is thus sometimes speared 
through, and instances have occurred where both birds have 
fallen dead to the ground, — the one through the spear- stroke, 
and the other with a dislocated neck obtained in the concussion 
of the same. 
One of the best accounts of a modern day’s hawking is fur- 
nished by Jules Gerard, especially that account translated and 
pruned of its excessive verbiage by J. F. "Wood. After de- 
scribing, in his peculiar manner, the gradual arrival and mag- 
nificence of the company, the French sportsman writer pro- 
ceeds : — 
“ As soon as a hare starts up, the man who first spies it 
gives the alarm, and the company spread themselves so as to 
form a circle. In the meantime the falcons are unhooded, and 
the best-trained birds loosed first. Directly it is free, the bird 
rises and flies over the circle formed by the horsemen ; the 
falconer gallops in the direction of the hare, and calls his 
falcon according as he sees it stoop or hover. The falcon 
stoops upon a hare that runs, and hovers over one that 
squats. 
“ When the plains offer a little shelter, the hares are usually 
so terrified at the sight of the falcon that they squat on the 
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