Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/102

80 pass, through the impossibility of getting young hawks "hacked"—i.e., flown at liberty for a month—without which full strength of wing is usually unattainable. I had at last to remove the difficulty by purchasing a small Lodge for this purpose in an open part of the County Limerick; but, so far as I am concerned, I might almost have spared myself the trouble, as I now seldom use any but "passage" i.e. wild-caught—hawks.

Ten years ago the supply of hawks fit for Falconry was so scanty and uncertain, that if a would-be falconer on a small scale chanced to lose a hawk, he had little prospect of being able to replace it during the same season; and, if he kept reserve hawks for fear of accidents, they required so much exercise as to add seriously to his work. This difficulty, scanty supply, was especially the case with regard to Goshawks; and this was particularly unfortunate, since the Goshawk is, par excellence, the country gentleman's hawk. The Peregrine is easily lost, and can only be used in a suitable unenclosed country, of which we have but little left, though in some districts, especially Oxfordshire, high farming is again unenclosing the country, and obliterating the hedgerows. The Goshawk can be used anywhere, even in the thickest woods, and cannot be lost without extreme mismanagement. Moreover, one bird (of this species) will do all the work required; fourteen or fifteen rabbits or seven or eight Pheasants, in a day, is a performance quite within the powers of this noble bird. Hares try it more severely; in fact, it is not every Goshawk that will hold a hare at all. True, the exquisite beauty of the Peregrine's flight is wanting. The flight is a comparatively straight one, though I have had Goshawks that would stoop almost like falcons; but to make up for this there is an amount of intelligence and affectionate attachment that we look for in vain in the Peregrine. It is most interesting to notice the sharp, excited, knowing way in which a Goshawk will watch every movement of its assistant spaniels in rabbit-hawking. The bird, properly treated, is as companionable as any dog; in fact, in moral qualities, it is simply a winged terrier, and if properly trained will follow its master for miles through the thickest woods. Unlike most other species, its affection is not cupboard-love; for I have known a Goshawk, after catching a rabbit, to fly to my empty fist, bringing the rabbit with her, and the same hawk would equally come to my fist when called after being completely gorged!