Evening star., 1935-12-15

the center. Occasionally there was the
CLEAN of baleful eye.
On the way home. Heating told me
the encouraging news that these young
hawks might die. We had taken them
far too young.
After all had gone through. de-
termined that the little falcons should
not die. made a bed of hay for them
in the loft of the barn, and tried to
arrange with local farmer for plenty
of freshly killed chickens. The farmer
regarded anyone who planned to
nurture Chicken hawks" as a lunatic.
So got pigeons instead.
1t then appeared the young would
have to be fed every four hours every
day. l was on the point of regretfully
leaving college. when the son Of the
farmer was thoughtful enough to
sprain his ankle. / hired him to sit in
the loft and feed pigeons to the young
hawks.
AS soon as they were old enough to
take trial fights about the loft -
pardon me - NEW Il let them out
to fly ''at hack" Hawks at hack are
simply allowed to go free, and being
used to eating in the new, they re-
turn morning and evening to be fed.
Then began to see my hawks only
twice day, at morning and evening
feedings. i fed at six AM. and six PM.
to the dot. Ten minutes before meals,
there was not hawk in the sky. Then
the two tiercels would come racing up
and land on the blackboard (feeding
board with the feathers on their
throats quivering as they sat and
painted. Then, just before six, speck
would appear in the sky. The female
was returning post haste. Almost to
the second, she would shoot down and
scream loudly for food.
At last, one day the female was not
there for the evening feeding. The
next day she came for both meals, but
soon began to miss her supper regu-
larly. This could mean only one thing;
she was killing for herself. The time
had come to take her up" re
capture her and IMAM" her. I lured her
inside the new and tried to attach a
swivel and leash to her jesses.
The ensuing engagement was one
that would have reminded Sinbad the
Sailor of the good old days with the
Roc. The falcon did not use her beak,
which was something to be thankful
for, but what she did with her power
full claws would have interested wild
cat. At last managed to wrap an old
shirt about her body to keep her
sails" down, and then slipped on a
hood. Almost instantly she grew calm,
and allowed me to carry her out to a
block in the yard.
The next day began her education.
For nearly a week l carried her con-
stantly on my fist. At first Won
Richthofen. (as l had named her,
regardless OF sex), ''bated off, - flew
the length of her leash desperately,
whenever l picked her up; but after
few days she grew more quiet and
learned to eat through the hood quite
comfortably.
Then | tried unhooding her late
one afternoon. 1t was nearly a fatal
mistake; she seemed to go raging mad
after seeing the light again. A falcon,
learned, must never be unhooded in
daylight for the first time. During
meal, in darkness except for a dim
candle, the hood is slipped off for
moment. l rubbed salve on Von's legs,
which had been injured during the
fracas, and waited.
By dint of sitting up with her for
three nights, l trained Won to allow
herself to be hooded and unhooded.
This cost me SIS in hospital billsl
Now both of US had rest, while
Won rode about bareheaded on my
wrist. Meanwhile, after carefully