156 
HAWKING. 
In the above cases of hawking for Herons, and 
some other birds, it is observable that the Hawk's 
object is to disable its prey in the air, and force it 
to fall to the ground, by the infliction of a severe 
wound; and it is remarkable that well-trained 
Hawks, and probably all from natural instinct, aim 
at the back, and for this curious reason, that the 
Heron frequently, indeed whenever it can, on finding 
the Hawk above it, and ready to pounce down, turns 
itself on its back, with an intention of piercing its 
assailant through with its long sharp beak; and in 
ancient pictures of hawking, the Heron is often 
represented falling with its back downwards, and 
occasionally with the Hawk transfixed by its beak, 
in the moment of descent. 
All Hawks, however, do not fly at their game 
with an intention of taking it in the air, while others, 
so far from avoiding the head, make it their parti- 
cular point of attack, as the Kestrel ( Falco tinnun - 
cuius), which was invariably observed, by a person 
who kept one for some time, to crush the head of 
the animal, given it for food, with its beak, before 
it began to devour it. 
Those who are in the habit of catching Hawks, 
avail themselves of their knowledge of the different 
ways in which they provide themselves with food, in 
order to capture them ; a description of a few of these 
modes may be useful to some of our readers. The 
manner of catching the celebrated Icelandic Falcons 
was thus. So anxious were the inhabitants to secure 
them, that almost every nest was known, and the 
Falcon-catchers in the neighbourhood watched them 
with the greatest care. When the old ones had reared 
