The art and practice of hawking - Modern Prepper

146 ART AND PRACTICE OF HAWKING
fugitive take to the open, where one of the hawks can get a
fair shot at him. But the latter must be staunch at waiting on,
good footers, and quick to take advantage of the efforts made
by their friends below. There is not much in this business of
what may be called the nobility of the noble sport,—none of
the long dashing stoops out of the clouds which you see in
grouse-hawking, or of the laborious mounting and ringing which
you had with the gull or rook. It rather resembles the hedge-row
driving described later on in the chapter on Sparrow-Hawks.
But for those who like bustle and excitement, and hard exercise
for the legs and voice, few things will beat magpie-hawking.
And few things will demonstrate more clearly the marvellous
adaptability of the peregrine to the exigencies of the case. A
wild hawk would have no chance with a magpie, unless he
caught him unawares, crossing from one bush or plantation to
another. But the trained hawk, knowing that the men are
working with him, joins his efforts with a good will to theirs,
and does exactly that which you want him to do, and which
it is best for him to do. As an example of co-operation
between man and hawk, a magpie-worry is not to be excelled.
Neither of the actors in the scene is any good without the
other ;
and if either fails to do the right thing at the right
moment, the whole play is spoiled, and both players disgusted.
Tiercels, well assisted, and well worked at their quarry, make
very good bags. Mr. St. Quintin and Colonel Brooksbank,
with two tiercels, Meteor and Buccaneer, killed forty-five in one
campaign ; and several other capital scores have been made
within recent years.
The green plover is such a common bird, and so easily
found in open ground, that it is a pity, in one sense, that he
cannot be flown. The unlearned may ask. Why not The
answer is. Because no hawk is good enough to take him. By
which I do not mean that no peewit is ever taken by a peregrine.
The wild peregrines take them not unfrequently ;
and
trained ones have now and then succeeded in cutting one down.
But the attempt to make trained hawks take them regularly,
or even fly them for any length of time, has always failed.
John Barr, amongst others, trained some picked tiercels
specially for this quarry. When I saw him some time after he
had made this experiment, he assured me that to kill peewits
with trained hawks was impossible. Of course plovers of all
kinds are not more exempt than other creatures from the ills
that flesh is heir to. In fact, to judge from the tone of their
cry, and considering the way they have of sitting in wet feet