If a feather is broken so high up that the shaft at the place of fracture is hollow, there are at least two ways in which it may be mended. The simplest is to slit the shaft on its under side, and then, cutting off the base of the new feather which is intended to be used, push the latter in bodily to the hollow of the old shaft. When it is far enough in, pass a small needle with strong waxed thread right through both quills, starting from below, and, winding the two ends of the thread round the quills in opposite directions, tie tightly together underneath the feather. When the feather is big enough there may be two such lashings of thread, one a little lower down than the other. A second plan, which is known as plugging, consists in first stuffing up the hollow quill, of the injured feather, above where it has been cut through, with a chunk of some feather which is not hollow, but has a solid pith. The plug thus inserted is firmly fixed in by means of some glutinous compound. When it has had time to become immovably settled in its place the imping can be done with an imping-needle in the ordinary way, the new piece of feather having been plugged also in a similar way, if necessary. If a feather should have been pulled out, base and all, it is advisable to put some solid grease into the place, to keep it from closing up and preventing the new feather from growing down. When only the tip of a wing feather is gone it would of course be only for the sake of appearances that it would be imped. Considering that wild hawks, and some trained ones also, kill quarry while they are moulting, and have four or more of their biggest feathers wanting, or only half-grown, at the same time, it would be a bad hawk which could not fly passably because she was short of an inch square of the sail area she ought to spread. Occasionally, as for instance when you have not long to wait before the moult will begin, you may leave a hawk unimped though she is very ragged. But the worst of allowing any feather to remain with its end off is that the next feathers to it, especially in the tail, are pretty sure to go too. The strain which the tail has to bear is such as it can just resist by the collective strength of all the feathers together; but when one is unable to take its full share of the resistance, the others are unequal to the pressure, and give way. What difference in a hawk's flying power does the loss of a whole feather or half a feather imply? It is, of course, quite impossible to say. But arguing from the analogy of pigeons, the tails of which are sometimes removed in order to increase their speed, it would seem that in mere straight-forward flying the tail is of very small assistance. I once had an eyess jack-merlin sent to me from the nest in a deplorable condition. The tail was clogged at the end with dirt, and so many of the tail feathers were bent and broken that he was at once christened "Tagrag"; and while he was at hack was regarded