“In the East,” continued Uncle Thomas, “Hawking is still practised. In Persia, Sir John Malcolm saw the mode in which it is conducted in hunting Deer and smaller game. The hunters proceed with Hawks and Greyhounds to the places frequented by these animals. When the Antelope is seen, they endeavour to get as near it as possible, but the timid animal, the moment it sees its enemies approach, darts off at a rate swifter than the wind. The horsemen, having slipped the Dogs, follow at full speed. If it is a single Deer they at the same time fly the Hawk; but if a herd, they wait till the Dogs have selected a particular animal. Skimming along the ground, the Hawk soon overtakes the Deer, and as it is trained, pounces upon its head, and either stops it altogether by pecking out its eyes, or retards it so much that it is soon overtaken by the dogs. When he was at Shiraz, Sir John was presented with a very fine Royal Falcon. ‘Before going out,’ says he, ‘I had been amused at seeing Nuttee Beg, our head Falconer, a man of great experience in his department, put upon his bird a pair of leathers, which he fitted to its thighs, with as much care as if he had been the tailor of a fashionable horseman. I enquired the reason for so unusual a proceeding. ‘You will learn that,’ said the consequential master of the Hawks, ‘when you see our sport,’ and I was convinced, at the period he predicted, of the old fellow’s knowledge of his business. The first Hare seized by the Falcon was very strong, and the ground rough. While the bird kept the claws of one foot fastened in the back of its prey, the other was dragged along the ground, till it had an opportunity to lay hold of a tuft of grass, by which it was enabled to stop the course of the Hare, whose efforts to escape would, I do think, have torn the Hawk asunder, if it had not been so provided’. [Illustration: “The Hawk soon overtakes the Deer, pounces upon its head, and pecks out its eyes.” Page 96. ] “These,” said Uncle Thomas, “are nearly all the stories which I recollect about Hawks and Hawking, so I must stop for the night. I must not, however, omit to mention, as a curious fact in the natural history of these animals, that though in confinement Hawks do not retain their vigour more than a few years, it is probably a very long-lived bird. One is said to have been caught in Southern Africa, in the year 1793, wearing a gold collar, dated 1610, and known at that time to have belonged to James I. Though more than 180 years old, it was still in complete vigour.” His little auditors then bid him good bye. CHAPTER V. UNCLE THOMAS TELLS ABOUT OWLS, AND OF THE CURIOUS PECULIARITIES IN THEIR STRUCTURE WHICH ENABLE THEM TO SEEK FOR AND SECURE THEIR PREY DURING THE NIGHT.