Rye is a swelling in the head, which is said to be produced by keeping the hawk without hot meat, and is cured in the way which may be conjectured. Prynne is a malady of the eyes, for which it is recommended to bathe them with the juice of daisy leaves, or a decoction of powdered egg-shell, yolk of hard-boiled egg, and a quarter as much rock alum. For a bruise Bert advises clarified honey, boiled with half as much stone pitch. Some old writers declare that a hawk's appetite may be improved by steeping her meat in claret and the yolk of an egg; that when she is slow at casting, or in digesting her food, she should have a mustard-seed made up with honey into a pill. In such cases she should certainly have plenty of tirings; and fresh water should be kept within her reach, so that she may sip it at any time if so inclined. Sweet things are good for a goshawk, which is something of a sweet-tooth. A good scouring for a sparrow-hawk is pounded sugar-candy and butter mixed with beef. Sugar-candy and olive oil are both good purgatives for getting rid of the internal fat or grease. For giving a tone to the stomach, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger are beneficial. And the most celebrated of all ingredients for compounding hawk medicines is "mummy." One very distinguished modern falconer, having read in the ancient books endless references to this medicament, wrote to another equally distinguished authority to ask, "What is mummy?" The answer, which is too good not to be repeated here, was, "Mummy is mummy." That is perhaps as much as the greatest Egyptologist can say! CHAPTER XVII Moulting