The Art and Practice of Hawking

by E. B. Michell

Ague, or a low fever nearly resembling it, attacks hawks much in the same way as human beings. There are shivering fits and alternations of hot and cold, which may be discovered by feeling the body with the hand. The cause is often exposure to cold after becoming heated by flying or standing in the sun, or confinement in a draughty or cold place. The sufferer droops her wings, and looks miserable generally. She should be put in a sheltered place, rather warm than cold, and fed often, sparingly, on the best light food that is to be had. When the hot or cold fit is on she should be left as quiet as possible, but when it goes off she should be carried, and even flown a little, if she will; and she should by no means be left alone in any dismal place without company. When her attention is occupied she will have less inclination to mope or give way to the malady, and is much more likely to improve. If the affection is obstinate and the hot fits frequent, about two scruples of rhubarb may be given (for a falcon) in a casting of cotton wool, followed after two or three hours by a moderate meal of something freshly killed and light. If, however, the shivering fits predominate, or the hawk has become low in condition and has a poor appetite, the dose must be administered with caution and in moderation, and the patient should be coaxed and induced to take as much as she will, up to half a crop, of some heating food, such as freshly-killed sparrows, which are best of all, pigeons, or, in case of a goshawk, young rats; and if at a subsequent meal a sheep’s heart is given (which such hawks can very easily pick at) it may be washed in wine in which has been boiled sage, mint, cinnamon, cloves, or some such aromatic herb. In all cases the invalid must be petted and made much of until she has regained her robust health and appetite.

Apoplexy is no doubt the disorder most commonly fatal to trained hawks of the short-winged varieties. It was called by the ancients the falling evil, and it has carried off quite suddenly many a first-rate goshawk almost without any warning at all. And it is probably more to be feared in these days when the use of washed meat has been so generally abandoned. The cause of this effusion of blood on the brain is over-fulness of body or an accumulation of internal fat; and in order to guard against it care should be taken to avoid overfeeding a hawk with strong, heating, or fattening viands. Merlins are also very subject to apoplexy when short of exercise, and peregrines are by no means exempt from it. When any hawk is fat or full-blooded, any exposure to a hot sun, or any violent or unaccustomed exercise, or bating off and hanging head downwards, may cause a determination of blood to the brain; and death will follow without the chance of even attempting a cure. It is well, therefore, especially when any hawk is not taking daily exercise, and plenty of it, not only to avoid overfeeding, but also from time to time to give a purge and an emetic. One of the simplest prescriptions is lard or butter, well washed, and then steeped in rose-water, and given with a little powdered sugar.

Apostume of the head is called by Turbervile a “monstrous accident,” and a “very grievous evil,” and said by him to be infectious. “It is discerned by y^e swelling of y^e hawke’s eyes, by the moysture which sundrie tymes issueth and distilleth from the eares, and often eake by evyll savoure and smell of the apostume.” The invalid is inert, and cares little for her food, and will not pull at her tirings. The remedies he recommends are exceptionally commonplace. First, butter, well washed in rose-water, with honey of roses and powdered sugar. Then afterwards, for the relief of her poor head, rue, 4 grains; Aloes Epatie, 2 drams; saffron, 1 scruple, to be finely powdered and made into a pill with honey of roses. If the ear is stopped up, clear it with lint on a silver bodkin or needle, and, having infused warm oil of sweet almonds, stop it with another piece of lint. Which failing of success, he gives directions for cauterising, for which the original, or some surgeon, should be consulted.

Another sort of swelling in the head which affects the nares as well as the eyes, and is nothing else but a catarrh, may, it seems, often be cured by a pill made of agaric, 2 scruples; cinnamon, 1; liquorice, 1, powdered and mixed with honey of roses. The sufferer should be made to sneeze by giving her—not snuff, as one might expect, but pepper, cloves, and mustard-seed, powdered, and blown into the nares through a quill, or rubbed on to the nares and palate. After these, or indeed any doses have been administered, it is well to carry the hawk on the fist till they have taken effect.

For suffusion of the eye a purge of aloes or agaric is recommended, and local treatment by blowing the powder of aloes and sugar-candy into the eye.

Frounce is a malady which will pronounce itself sometimes without much apparent cause. The mucous membrane of the mouth and throat is inflamed, and the tongue swelled and coated with a brownish white matter. This coating should be scraped off with a quill or silver knife, and the mouth dressed with burnt alum and vinegar, or a weak solution of nitrate of silver. The dressing may be done with a piece of lint on a small stick. Another lotion is made by taking the leaves of woodbine, with sage, honey, and alum, and seething them till the leaves are quite soft, and straining the decoction through a cloth.

Inflammation of the crop may be the result of bad food or neglect to give proper castings. The first signs of it will be in the castings themselves, which may be discoloured or misshapen, and sometimes charged with undigested food. In aggravated cases the mutes may be reddish, and the hawk may often throw up her food, and be unable to keep anything down. A purge and an emetic should be given before this stage is reached; and great care must be taken not to overload the crop, or to give anything which will nauseate the hawk. If the malady has been neglected, it becomes dangerous and very difficult to cure. The hawk wastes away, and it may be a long time before you are able to restore her strength—if you pull her through at all.

Pantas is an old name given to a malady of the liver, when it becomes hot and dried up. The hawk is costive, and opens her beak often, as if gasping for more air. The mutes are blackish, thick, and scanty. Amongst numerous remedies in vogue are olive oil, oil of sweet almonds, and sugar-candy, with butter or lard, washed in rose-water. Of course no heating food should be given, such as sparrows, rats, or old pigeons. Powdered cloves and cubebes may be given in a casting every three or four days. The liver is almost as apt to get out of order in trained hawks as it is in untrained men. Green mutes, as well as black ones, betray the mischief, and warn the falconer. A purgative, such as those last mentioned, will be the first remedy; but it must be followed by great care in the subsequent feeding. A more fanciful remedy consists of snails steeped in asses' milk, and used as a washing for sheep’s heart, which is soaked in it.

Megrim, or palsy, is denoted by a shaking of the hawk’s head. Pepper, aloes, and cloves may be given, with a little washed lard.

When a hawk is troubled with worms she is fidgety, and has startings and twitchings of the body, and falls away in condition. Mustard-seed, aloes, and agaric are prescribed, and cayenne pepper may be given with her food. Filanders are a sort of worm more difficult to suspect, and more difficult to get rid of. One remedy is garlic, long steeped in oil; and if this fails, iron filings, with oil of bitter almonds, may be tried.