Many of the different kinds of hawk were used in olden times for a sport called hawking. That is, they were trained to fly at game and return with it to their masters. Large gay parties of ladies and gentlemen used then to go out on horseback with their hawks for a day's sport, just as now they go for a pic-nic, or a day in the woods. This was before guns were used. But to this day hawking is practised in China, where the emperor goes on "sporting excursions with his grand falconer and a thousand of inferior rank; every bird having a silver plate fastened to its foot, with the name of the falconer who has the charge of it." The bird used on these occasions is the species known as the Gos-hawk, which was always with us most highly esteemed in falconry. These birds were carried on the wrist, bells were hung to their legs, and their heads were hooded or covered until the moment came for letting them fly at the game. Whilst under training a string was fastened to them that they might be "reclaimed," as it was called, at the pleasure of their owners. The person, who carried the hawk, wore gloves to protect his hand from the sharp talons of the bird. The kestrel migrates in autumn, going away at the same time with the larks, which are its favourite food.
The Sparrow-hawk is a larger and fiercer bird, and the one that preys most frequently on chickens. A gentleman once missed a great many chickens from his poultry yard, and, after a little careful watching, he found the plunderer was none other than a large, hungry Sparrow-hawk. To catch the thief, he ordered a net to be hung up in such a way that the hawk in his next visit could not fail to be entangled. The net was hung, the thief was caught, and, in order to punish the murderer as he deserved, the gentleman gave him over to the tender mercies of the brood hens whose families he had desolated. That he might be helpless in their hands, his wings and talons were cut, and a cork was put on his beak. The cries and screams of the bereaved mothers were said, by Mr. White, the charming naturalist of Selborne, to be wonderfully expressive of rage, fear, and revenge; they flew upon him in a body, they "upbraided—they execrated—they insulted—they triumphed—in a word they never desisted from buffeting their adversary until they had torn him in a hundred pieces."
The Hawk is very bold. Mr. P. John tells of one that he found calmly plucking the feathers of a large pigeon on the drawing-room floor, having followed the poor bird through the open window into the room and there killed it. And another actually chased a pigeon through the glass of his "drawing-room window, out at the other end of the house through another window, not at all scared by the clattering of the broken glass."
THE VULTURE.
THE VULTURE.
This strange looking bird is also a bird of prey; but it feeds generally on dead carcases or offal. There are several kinds of vulture. The largest of all birds of prey is the Condor, a South American species. There is also the King Vulture, a native of the same country, called so not from its size, for it is the smallest of the race, but from its elegant plumage. Mr. Waterton, the naturalist, relates a little story of a King Vulture, which seems to show that, though so much smaller, this bird is regarded with some degree of reverence by the common vultures. He says that "the carcase of a large snake, which he had killed in the forest, becoming putrid, about twenty of the common vultures came and perched in the neighbouring trees; amongst them came also the King of the Vultures; and he observed that none of the common ones seemed inclined to begin breakfast till his majesty had finished. When he had consumed as much snake as nature informed him would do him good, he retired to the top of a high mora-tree, and then all the common vultures fell to, and made a hearty meal." Mr. Waterton also observed that the day after the planter had burnt the trash in a cane-field, the King Vulture might be seen feeding on the snakes, lizards, and frogs, which had suffered in the conflagration. Indeed the vulture is of real service in this respect, for he clears the carrion away from the hot countries he inhabits, which would otherwise putrify and infect the air. In some places, as at Paramaribo, the value of these birds, on this account, is so fully recognized, that they are protected by law, a fine being imposed on him who kills one.