The art and practice of hawking - Modern Prepper

LOST HAWKS 217
a stray peregrine or goshawk may well cast a hungry glance,
but their shelter is always a tempting haven for any wandering
house-pigeon which may have been chased and bested in the
air. As the falconer proceeds from place to place, swinging his
lure and calling or whistling, if it is his custom to use such
means of bringing up his hawk, he should note the behaviour
of the rooks and other birds within sight. The presence of any
hawk, especially if carrying a bell, causes some excitement
amongst the feathered world. The unwarlike wanderers of the
air, when an armed cruiser comes in sight, exhibit some such
signs of panic as might be expected of a fleet of merchantmen
if a hostile battleship were viewed in the offing. The symptoms
most remarkable are generally those observed in a flight of rooks,
which often begins to whirl about in the air, as if it were composed
of escaped lunatics, shooting up and wheeling suddenly
in unexpected directions, filling the air at the same time with
discordant croaks and screams, and with big black specks, which
hurl themselves about as if driven by impulses which they themselves
cannot understand or control. But many other birds, by
their strange movements and queer attitudes, will betray the
near presence of a hawk to whose visits they are unaccustomed.
When a hawk has killed anything, and is pluming or eating it,
crows, magpies, and jays have a way of sitting on the top of a
neighbouring tree, craning their necks, and peering down with
a morbid curiosity as they watch an operation of which they
strongly disapprove.
Rooks, starlings, and small birds are all fond of mobbing a
strange hawk when they think they can do it with impunity,
and swallows occasionally indulge in the same rather adventurous
amusement. It is therefore often worth while to make a detour
and investigate, whenever any bird seems to be engaged in
eccentric and unusual movements. Of the thousand and one
causes which may have given rise to such vagaries, only the
most practised eye can determine which are likely to be connected
with the appearance of the lost hawk, and which are not.
The safest plan is to go up and make sure that the commotion
is not to be explained in this way. Of course when a hawk
has been in the habit of flying any particular quarry, a disturbance
amongst birds of that species is more likely to arise from
her presence than in other cases. But most peregrines, when
they are at large, are fond of taking occasional shots at lapwings,
though very seldom with success. Merlins, though they are
most partial to skylarks, will make stoops at any bird which