about three foot high from the ground Let this Table be covered indifferently thick with great Sand mixt with small Pebbles in the midst whereof place a pyramidal Free-stone about a yard in height unto which tye your Faulcon Gerfaulcon Merlin or Mylion then take a small Cord of the bigness of a Bow-string and put it through a Ring or Swivel and bind it about the Stone in such sort that the Swivel may go round the Stone without let or hindrance and thereunto tye the Lease of your Hawk Here note that if you mew more than one Hawk in one Room you must set your Stones at that distance that when they bate they may not crab one another The reason of placing this Stone is because the Faulcon delights to sit thereon for its coolness sake and the little gravelly stones the Hawk frequently swallows to cool her within The Sand is necessary to preserve their Feathers when they bate and their Mewets are the more easily cleansed The little Gord with the Swivel tyed about the Stone is to keep the Hawk from tangling when she bateth because the Ring will still follow her All day let your Hawk stand hooded onely when you take her on your Fist to feed at night unhood her and lest any accident should happen in the night prejudicial to the Hawk the Faulconer ought to lie in the Mew Of the HOBBY THe Hobby is a Hawk of the Lure and not of the Fist and is a high flier and is in every respect like the Saker but that she is a much lesser Bird. The Hobby hath a blue Beak but the Seer thereof and Legs are yellow the Crinets or little Feathers under her Eye are very black the top of her head is betwixt black and yellow and she hath two white seams on her Neck the Plumes under the Gorge and about the Brows are reddish without spot or drop the Breast-feathers are brown for the most part yet powdered with white spots her Back Train and Wings are black aloft having no great scales upon the Legs unless it be a few beginning behind the three Stretchers and Pounces which are very large in respect of her short Legs her Brail-feathers are engouted betwixt red and black the Pendant-feathers which are those behind the Thigh are of a rusty smoaky complexion The daring Hobby may be well called so for she is nimble and light of Wing and dares encounter Kites Bazzards or Crows and will give souse for souse blow for blow till sometimes they seize and come tumbling down to the ground both together They are chiefly for the Lark which poor little creature so dreads the sight of a Hobby soaring in the Air over her that she will rather chuse to commit her self to the mercy of Man or Dogs or to be trampled on by Horses than venture her self into that Element where she sees her mortal Enemy soaring The Hobby makes excellent sport with Nets and Spaniels which is performed after this manner The Dogs range the field to spring the Fowl and the Hobbies soar over them alost in the Air the silly Birds fearing a Conspiracy between the Hawks and Dogs to their utter destruction dare not commit themselves to their Wings but think it safer to lie close to the ground and so are taken in the Nets This sport is called Daring Of the GOSHAWK THere are several sorts of Goshawks and they are different in goodness force and hardiness according to the diversity of their choice in Cawking at which time when Hawks begin to fall to liking all Birds of Prey do assemble themselves with the Goshawk and flock together The Female is the best and although there be some Goshawks which come from Sclavonia Sardinia Lombardy Russia Puglia Germany Armenia Persia Greece and Africa yet there are none better than those which are bred in the North parts of Ireland as in the Province of Ulster but more especially in the County of Tyrone Take these Rules as to the goodness of her proportion or shape She ought to have a small Head her Face long and straight a large Throat great Eyes deep set the Apple of the Eye black Nares Ears Back and Feet large and blank a black long Beak long Neck big Breast hard flesh long Thighs fleshy the bone of the Leg and Knee short long large Pounces and Talons From the Stern or Train to the Breast forward she ought to grow round the Feathers of the Thighs towards the Train should be large and the Train-feathers short soft and somewhat tending to an Iron Mail. The Brayl-feathers ought to be like those of the Breast and the Covert-feathers of the Train should be spotted and full of black rundles but the extremity of every Train-feather should be black streaked The sign of force in a Goshawk is this Tye divers of them in several places of one Chamber or Mew and that Hawk that doth slise and mewt highest and farthest off from her is without question the strongest Hawk for the high and far mewting argues a strong Back I might tell you the ill shape of a Goshawk but since I have declared the good the bad may be collected from thence Contraria contrariis dignoscunter However take this general rule That Goshawk that hath pendant Plumes over her Eyes the whites whereof are waterish and blank that is red-mail'd or bright tawny hath the most assured tokens of a Hawk that is ill conditioned The Goshawk preyeth on the Pheasant Mallard Wild-goose Hare and Coney nay she will venture to seize on a Kid or Goat which declareth the inestimable courage and valour of this Hawk She ought to be kept with great care because she is very choice and dainty and looks to have a nice hand kept over her How to make the Soar or Haggard Goshawk First trim them with Jesses Bewets and Bells as soon as they come to your hands keep them seeled some time hooding and unhooding them often teaching them to feed on the Fist three or four days or till they have left their Rammageness and become gentle having so done unseel them by Candle-light at night causing them to tire or plume upon a Wing or Leg of a Pullet and be sure to deal gently and mildly with them until you have won and throughly manned them then you may go into some pleasant field and first give them a bit or two hooded on your Fist and the like unhooded cast them down fair and softly on some Pearch and make them come from it to your Fist calling to them with a Faulconer's usual terms and when they come feed them calling all the while in the same manner to make them acquainted with your voice The next day you may call them with a Creance at a farther distance feeding them as before When you have thus called your Goshawk abroad three or four days and that you find her grow cunning then take her on your Fist and mount on Horseback and ride with her an hour or two
and pull out of your Hawking-bag at your conveniency when you find your Hawk apt to go out shew your Pidgeon I would not have you use it often for it draws a Hawk from her place if well flown How to continue and keep a Hawk in her high-flying If your Hawk be a stately high-flying Hawk you ought not to engage her in more flights than one in a morning for often flying brings her off from her stately pitch If she be well made for the River fly her not above twice in a morning yet feed her up though she kill not When a high-flying Hawk being whistled to gathers upwards to a great gate you must continue her therein never flying her but upon broad Waters and open Rivers and when she is at the highest take her down with your Lure where when she hath plumed and broken the Fowl a little then feed her up and by that means you shall maintain your Faulcon high-flying inwards and very fond of the Lure Some will have this high-flying Faulcon seldom to kill and not to stoop yet if she kill every day although she stoop from a high Gate yet if she be not rebuked or hurt therewith she will I can assure you become a higher flier every day than other but she will grow less fond of the Lure Wherefore your high-flying Hawks should be made inwards it being a commendable quality in them to make in and turn head at the second or third toss of the Lure and when she poureth down upon it as if she had killed And as the teaching of a Faulcon or any other Hawk to come readily to and love the Lure is an art highly commendable because it is the effect of great labour and industry so it is the cause of saving many a Hawk which otherways would be lost irrecoverably Mark this by the way that some naturally high-flying Hawks will be long before they be made upwards still fishing and playing the slugs and when they should get up to cover the Fowl they will stoop before the Fowl be put out And this may proceed from two causes In the first place she may be too sharp set and in the next place it may be she is flown untimely either too soon or too late When you see a Hawk use those evil Tatches without any visible cause cast her out a dead Fowl for a dead Quarry and hood her up instantly without Reward to discourage her from practising the like another time half an hour afterwards call her to the Lure and feed her and serve her after this manner as often as she fisheth in that fashion Besides to correct this errour the Faulconer ought to consult the natures and dispositions of his Hawks and should carefully observe which fly high when in good plight and which best when they are kept low which when sharpest set and which on the contrary in a mean between both which early at Sun-rising which when the Sun is but two hours high which sooner and which later in an evening For know that the natures of Hawks are different so are the time to fly each one for to fly a Hawk in her proper times and to fly her out of it is as disagreeable as the flight of a Gerfaulcon and a Buzzard Therefore the Ostrager must fly his Hawks according to their natures and dispositions keeping them always in good order Where by the by take notice all Hawks as well Soar-hawks as Mew'd-hawks and Haggards should be set out in the Evening two or three hours some more some less having respect to their nature as it is stronger or weaker and in the morning also according as they cast hooding them first and then setting them abroad a weathering until you get on Horseback to prosecute your Recreation A Flight for the Hern. This Flight hath less of Art in it than Pleasure to the beholders and to say the truth the Flight is stately and most noble As it is less difficult to teach a Hawk to fly at Fowl than it is to come unto and love the Lure the first being natural and not the last so there is less industry to be used in making a Hawk fly the Hern than Water-fowl To the first she is instigated by a natural propensity and inclination to the latter she is brought with art pains and much diligence At the beginning of March Herns begin to make their Passage if therefore you will adapt your Faulcons for the Hern you must not let them fly longer at the River and withal you must pull them down to make them light which is done by giving them Hearts and flesh of Lambs and Calves also Chickens but give them no wild meats To the intent you may acquaint them one with the other so that they may the better fly the Hern and help one another you must call a cast of them to the Lure at once but have a care they crab not together for so they may endanger one another in their flight When your Hawk is scowred and clean and sharp set you must then get a live Hern upon the upper part of whose long sharp Bill you must place a joynt of a hollow Cane which will prevent her from hurting the Hawk that being done tie the Hern in a Creance then setting her on the ground unhood your Hawk who will fly the Hern as soon as shee sees her If she seize her make in apace to succour her and let her plume and take bloud of the Hern then take the Brains the Marrow of the Bones and the Heart and laying it on your Hawking-glove give it your Faulcon After this rip her Breast and let your Hawk feed thereon till she be well gorged this being done hood her up upon the Hern permitting her to plume at her pleasure then take her on your Fist and let her tire on the Foot or Pinion Because Herns are not very plentiful you may preserve one for a Train three or four times by arming Bill Head and Neck and painting it of the same colour that the Hern is of and when the Faulcon seizeth her you must be very nimble to make in and deceive her by a live Pidgeon clapt under the Wing of the Hern for the Faulcon which must be her Reward The Hawk having thus several times taken her Train without discovery of the delusion you may then let the Hern loose in some fair Field without a Greance or without arming her when she is up of a reasonable height you may cast off your Faulcon who if she bind with the Hern and bring her down then make in apace to rescue her thrusting the Hern's Bill into the ground and breaking his Wings and Legs that the Hawk may with more ease plume and foot him Then reward her as before with the Brains Marrow of the Bones and Heart making thereof an Italian Soppa Thus much of a Train-Hern Now to fly the wild Hern it is thus If you find a wild Hern at Siege win
fall between the starting of the Hare and time of hunting it is not convenient to hunt till the Water be dried up for the drops disperse the scent of the Hare and dry weather collecteth it again The Summer-time also is not for hunting because the heat of the weather consurneth the scent and the night being then but short the Hare travelleth not far feeding onely in the morning and evening besides the fragrancy of Flowers and Herbs then growing obliterates the scent the Hounds are guided by The best time for hunting with these Hounds is in Autumn because then the former Odours are weakned and the Earth barer than at other time These Hounds do not onely chase their Game while it liveth but being dead also by any manner of casualty make recourse to the place where it lieth having in this point an assured and infallible Guide namely the Scent and Savour of the Blood sprinkled here and there upon the ground for whether the Beast being wounded doth notwithstanding enjoy life and escapeth the hands of the Huntsman or whether the said Beast being slain is conveyed cleanly out of the Park so that there be some marks of bloodshed these Dogs with no less facility and easiness than avidity and greediness disclose and bewray the same by Smelling applying to their pursuit agility and nimbleness without tediousness for which consideration of a singular speciality they deserved to be called Sanguinarii Blood-Hounds And although a piece of flesh be subtilly stolen and cunningly conveyed away with such proviso's and precaveats as thereby all appearances of Bloud is thereby prevented or concealed yet these kind of Dogs by certain direction of an inward assured notice and private mark pursue these desperate Deer-stealers through craggy Ways and crooked Meanders till they have found them out yea so effectual is their foresight that they can discover separate and pick them out from an infinite multitude creep they never so far into the thickest throng they will find them out notwithstanding Of the GAZE-HOUND THis Dog is little beholding in Hunting to his Nose or Smelling but to sharpness of Sight altogether by the vertue whereof it makes excellent sport with the Fox and Hare This Dog will chuse and separate from amongst a great Flock or Herd and such a one will it take by election as is not lank or lean but full fat and round If a Beast be wounded and go astray this Dog will seek after it by the sreadfastness of the Eye if it happen to return and be mingled with the residue of the Herd this Dog will soon spy it out leaving the rest untouched and after he hath set sure sight upon it he separateth it from the company and having so done never ceaseth till he hath wearied it to death This Dog is called in Latine Agasaeus because the beams of the Sight are so stedfastly setled and unmoveably fastned These Dogs are much used in the Northern parts of England much more than in the Southern and on Champion ground rather than in bushy and woody places Horsemen use them more than Footmen If it happen so at any time that this Dog take a wrong way the Master making some usual signe and familiar token he returneth forthwith and taketh the right and ready course beginning his Ghase afresh and with a clear Voice and a swift Foot followeth the Game with as much courage and nimbleness as he did at the first Of the GREY-HOUND AMong the divers kinds of Hunting-dogs the Grey-hound by reason of his Swiftness Strength and Sagacity to follow and pursue his Game deserveth the first place for such are the conditions of this Dog as a Philosopher observeth that he is reasonably scented to find out speedy and quick of foot to follow and fierce and strong to take and overcome and yet silent coming upon his Prey at unawares according to the observation of Gratius Sic Canis illa suos taciturna supervenit hostes The best Grey-hound hath a long Body strong and reasonable great not so big as the Wolf-dog in Ireland a neat sharp Head and splendant Eyes a long Mouth and sharp Teeth little Ears and thin Gristles in them a straight Neck and a broad and strong Breast his fore Legs straight and short his hinder Legs long and straight broad Shoulders round Ribs fleshy Buttocks but not fat a long Tail strong and full of Sinews Thus Nemesian eloquently describes the best of Grey-hounds Sit cruribus altis Costarum sub fine decenter prona carinam Renibus ampla satis validis deductaque coras Sit rigid is multamque gerat sub pectore lato Quae sensim rursus ficca se collig at alvo Cuique nimis molles fluitent in cursibus Aures Elige tunc cursu facilem facilemque recursu Dum superant vires dum laeto flore juventus Of this kind that is always the best to be chosen among the Whelps which weigheth lightest for it will be soonest at the Game and so hang upon it hindering its swiftness till the stronger and heavier Dogs come to help and offer their assistance and therefore besides the marks or necessary good parts of a Grey-hound already spoken of it is requisite that he have large sides and a broad midriff that so he may take his breath in and out more easily his Belly must be small if otherwise it will hinder the swiftness of his course likewise he must have long Legs thin and soft Hairs And these must the Huntsman lead on his left hand if he be afoot and on the right if on Horse-back The best time to try them and train them to their Game is at twelve Months old yet some begin sooner with them that is at ten Months if they are Males and at eight if Females yet it is surest not to strain them or permit them to run a long Course till they be twenty Moneths old Keep them also in the Slip while they are abroad until they can see their Course and loosen not a young Dog until the Game have been on foot for a good season lest being over-greedy of the Prey he strain his limbs too much The Grey-hounds which are most in request among the Germans are called Windspil alluding to compare their swiftness with the Wind but the French make most account of those that are bred in the Mountains of Dalmatia or in any other Mountains especially of Turkie for such have hard Feet long Ears and bristle Tails The Grey-hound called by the Latins Leporarius hath his name from the word Gre which word soundeth Gradus in Latine in English Degree because among all Dogs these are the most principal having the chiefest place and being simply and absolutely the best of the gentle kind of Hounds Of the HARRIER and TERRIER THe Harrier in Latine is called Leverarius or Sagax by the Greeks Ichneuten of tracing or chasing by the Foot Nature hath endewed this Creature with an admirable gift of Smelling and is bold and courageous
tire not too much your young Hounds After the Hart hath ran two or three hours and that you find he begins to sink you may then cast off your young Hounds but beware it be not when he is at Bay and his Head full summed for so you may endanger the lives of your Hounds But the best way of entring Hounds is at the Hare for thereby they will learn all Doubles and Turns better know the Hallow will be more tender-nosed and better scented by using the beaten ways and Champion grounds Here note that with whatsoever you first enter your Hounds and therewith reward them they will ever after love that most Wherefore if you intend them for the Hart enter them not first with the Hinde And for the better hunting the Hart enter not your young Hounds within a Toil for there a Hart doth nothing but turn and cast about since he cannot run end-long and so they are always in sight of him If then afterwards you should run him at force out of a Toil and at length and out of sight you will find the Hounds to give him over quickly Lastly enter not your Hounds nor teach them in the Morning for if so you will find them apt to give over in the heat of the day Of COURSING with Grey-Hounds I Need not declare the Excellencies which are contained in the noble and worthy Exercise of Coursing with Grey-hounds since it is so well known to all Gentlemen who take delight in this pleasant and healthy Pastime I shall therefore onely insist upon the breed of Grey-hounds their Shape their Diet and the Laws belonging to the same according as they were commanded allowed and subscribed by the Duke of Norfolk in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth First for the Breeding of Grey-Hounds in this you must have respect to the Country which should be Champain Plain or high Downs The best Valleys are those of Belvoir White-horse and Evesholm or any other where there are no Coverts so that a Hare may stand forth and endure a Course of two or three miles as for high Downs or Heaths the best are about Marlborough Salisbury Cirencester and Lincoln Though these places are very commodious for the breeding and training up of Grey-Hounds yet in my opinion the middle or most part arable grounds are the best and yet those Gentlemen who dwell on Downs or plain grounds to keep up the reputation of their own Dogs affirm that they are more nimble and cunning in turning than the Vale-Dogs are and Mr. Markham confesseth that he hath seen a Vale-Dog so much deceived that upon a turn he hath lost more ground than hath been recoverable in the whole Course after however with a little care in a short time this errour may be rectified and then you will experimentally find The good Dogs upon the Deeps will ever beat the good Dogs upon the Plains It is a received opinion that the Grey-hound-Bitch will beat the Grey-hound-Dog by reason the excelleth him in nimbleness but if you consider that the Dog is longer and stronger you must look upon that opinion no more than as a vulgar errour Here note as to the breeding of your Grey-hounds that the best Dog upon an indifferent Bitch will not get so good a Whelp as an indifferent Dog upon the best Bitch Observe this in general as to breeding let your Dogs and Bitches as near as you can be of an equal age not exceeding four years old however to breed with a young Dog and an old Bitch may be the means of producing excellent Whelps the goodness whereof you shall know by their Shapes in this manner If they are raw-bon'd lean loose-made sickle or crooked-hough'd and generally unknit in every Member these are the proper marks of excellent shape and goodness but if after three or four months they appear round and close-trust fat straight and as it were full summed and knit in every Member they never prove good swift nor comely The goodness of shape in a Grey-hound after a year and a half old is this his Head must be lean and long with a sharp Nose rush-grown from the Eye downward a full clear Eye with long Eye-lids a sharp Ear short and close falling a long Neck a little bending with a loose hanging Weasand a broad Breast straight Fore-legs hollow Side straight Ribs a square slat Back short and strong Fillets a broad space between the Hips a strong Stern or Tail a round Foot and good large Clefts The Dieting of Grey-Hounds consists in these four things Food Exercise Airing and Kennelling Food of a Grey-hound is two fold general that is the maintaining of a Dog in good bodily condition and particular when the Dog is dieted for a Wager or it may be for some Distemper he is afflicted with A Grey-hound's general Food ought to be Chippings Crusts of Bread soft Bones and Gristles Your Chippings ought to be scalded in Beef Mutton Veal or Venison-Broth and when it is indifferent cool then make your Bread onely float with good Milk and give it your Grey-hounds Morning and Evening and this will keep them in good state of body But if your Dog be poor sickly and weak then take Sheeps-heads Wool and all clean wash'd and having broken them to pieces put them into a Pot and when it boils scum the Pot and put therein good store of Oatmeal and such Herbs as Pottage is usually made of boil these till the Flesh be very tender then with the Meat and Broth feed your Dogs Morning and Evening and it will recover them If you designe your Grey-Hound for a Wager then give him this Diet-bread Take half a peck of the finest and driest Oat-meal and a peck of good Wheat having ground them together boult the Meal and scattering an indifferent quantity of Liquorish and Anniseeds well beaten together knead it up with the Whites of Eggs new Ale and Barm mix'd together and bake it in small Loaves indifferent hard then take it and soak it in Beef or any of the aforesaid Broths and half an hour after Sun-rising and half an hour before its setting having first walke and air'd your Grey-hound give it him to eat This will not onely increase his strength but enlarge his Wind. Having thus spoken of a Grey-Hound's Feeding either generally or particularly either for keeping him in health or restoring it when it is lost I shall in the next place proceed to his Exercise and this likewise consists in two things that is Coursing and Airing As to the first he ought to be Coursed thrice a week in such manner that you usually reward him with Blood which will animate and encourage him to prosecute his Game but be not unmindful to give the Hare all just and lawful advantage so that she may stand long before the Grey-hound that thereby he may shew his utmost strength and skill before he reap the benefit of his labour If he kill suffer him not to break the Hare but take her
but the Antients do prefer those of Britain before all others where they are of divers colours These do excel all others in the beauty of Horns which are very high yet do not grow to their Bones or Scalps but to their Skin branching forth into many Speers being solid throughout and as hard as Stones and fall off once a year but if they remain abroad in the Air and that thereby they are sometimes wet and dry they grow as light as any vanishing or other substance as I have proved by experience finding some which have been lost by them in the Woods wherefore I gather that they are of an earthly substance concrete and hardned with a strong heat made like unto Bones They lose these Horns every year in the Spring At one year old they have nothing but Bunches that are small significators of Horns to come at two years they appear more perfectly but straight and simple at three years they grow into two Spears at four into three and so increase every year in their Branches till they be six and above that time their age is not certainly to be discerned by their Head Having lost their Horns in the day-time they hide themselves inhabiting the shades to avoid the annoyance of Flies and feed during that time onely in the night Their new Horns come out at first like Bunches and afterwards as I said before by the increase of the Sun's heat they grow more hard covered with a rough Skin which is called a Velvet-head and as that Skin drieth they daily try the strength of their new Heads upon Trees which not onely scrapeth off the roughness but by the pain they feel thus rubbing them they are taught how long to forbear the company of their fellows for at last when in their chafing and fretting of their new Horn against the Tree they can feel no longer pain and smart in them they take it for high time to forsake their solitary dwellings and return again to their former condition The reason why Harts and Deers do lose their Horns yearly are these First because of the matter whereof they consist for it is dry and earthy like the substance of green Leaves which have an yearly fall likewise wanting glewing or holding moisture to continue them wherefore the Horn of a Hart cannot be bent Secondly from the place they grow upon for they are not rooted upon the Skull but onely within the Skin Thirdly from the efficient cause for they are hardned both with the heat of Summer and cold of Winter by means whereof the Pores to receive their nourishing Liquor are utterly shut up and stopped so as of necessity their native heat dieth which falleth not out in other Beasts whose Horns are for the most part hollow and fitted for longer continuance but these are of lesser and the new Bunches swelling up towards the Spring do thrust off the old Horns having the assistance of Boughs of Trees weight of the Horns or by the willing excussion of the Beast that beareth them It is observed that when a Hart pricketh up his Ears he windeth sharp very far and sure and discovereth all treachery against him but if they hang down and wag he perceiveth no danger By their Teeth is their Age discerned and they have four on both sides wherewith they grinde their meat besides two other much greater in the Male than in the Female All these Beasts have Worms in their Head underneath their Tongue in a hollow place where the Neck-bone is joyned to the Head which are no bigger than Flie-blows His Blood is not like other Beasts for it hath no Fibres in it and therefore it is hardly congealed His Heart is very great and so are all those of fearful Beasts having in it a Bone like a Cross. He hath no Gall and that is one of the causes of the length of his life and therefore are his Bowels so bitter that the Dogs will not touch them unless they be very fat The Genital part is all nervy the Tail small and the Hinde hath Udders betwixt her Thighs with four Speans like a Gow These are above all other four-footed Beasts both ingenious and fearful who although they have large Horns yet their defence against other four-footed Beasts is to run away And now if you will credit Gesner as a Huntsman pray here observe what account he gives of Hunting the Hart This wild deceitful and subtile Beást says he by windings and turnings does often deceive its Hunter as the Harts of Meandros flying from the terrible cry of Diana's Hounds Wherefore the prudent Hunter must frame his Dogs as Pythagoras did his Scholars with words of Art to set them on and take them off again at his pleasure wherefore he must first of all compass in the Beast en son giste in her own Layr and so unharbour her in the view of the Dogs that so they may never lose her Slot or Footing neither must he set upon every one either of the Herd or those that wander solitary alone or a little one but partly by sight and partly by their Footing and Fumets judge of their Game also he must observe the largeness of his Layr Being thus informed then Discouples les chiens take off your Dog-Couplings and some on Horse-back others on foot follow the Cry with greatest art observation and speed remembring and preventing cer fruze the subtile turnings and headings of the Hart straining with all dexterity to leap Hedge Pale Ditch nay Rocks neither fearing Thorns down Hills nor Woods but providing fresh Horse if the first tire follow the largest Head of the whole Herd which you must endeavour to single out for the Chase which the Dogs perceiving must follow taking for a prohibition to follow any other The Dogs are animated by the winding of Horns and voices of the Huntsmen like Souldiers to the battle by the noise of Trumpets and other Warlike Instruments But sometimes the crafty great beast seodeth forth his little Squire to be sacrificed to the Dogs and Huntsmen instead of himself lying close in the mean time Then must a Retreat be sounded and rompre le chiens the Dogs be broken off and taken in le Limier that is Leame again until they be brought to the fairer Game who ariseth in fear yet still striveth by flight until he be wearied and breathless The Nobles call this beast Cerf sage a wise Hart who to avoid all his Enemies runneth into the greatest Herds and so bringeth a Cloud of errour on the Dogs to keep them from further prosecution sometimes also beating some of the Herd into his Footings that so he may the more easily escape and procure a Labyrinth to the Dogs after which he betaketh himself to his Heels again running still with the Wind not onely for refrigeration but because he may the more easily hear the voice of his pursuers whether they be far or near At last being for all this found out again by the
and boiled all together This is more properly called a Dose than a Reward For what might be said farther concerning Roe-Hunting I shall refer you to the Chapters of Hart and Buck-Hunting Rain-Deer-Hunting THe Rain-Deer is not unlike a Hart onely his Head is fuller of Antliers being bigger and wider in compass for he bears four and twenty branches and more according to his age having a great Palm on the top as a Hart and his Fore-Antliers are Palmed also He flieth end-ways when he is Hunted by reason of the great weight of his Head When he hath stood up a great while doubled crossed and used other crafty tricks to shun the Hounds he makes a Tree his last refuge so planting himself that nothing can assault him but just before placing his buttock and Haunches against the Tree and hanging down his Head low to the ground whereby all his Body is covered As the Hart strikes with his Head the Rain-Deer strikes with his Feet against any one that comes in to him to help the Dogs not in the least turning his Head that being his chiefest defence and seems very terrible to the Hounds He feedeth like the Hart and maketh his Fewmets sometimes long and sometimes flat and beareth fatter Venison when he is in pride of Grease than any other Deer doth and is very long liv'd He is more commonly drawn after with a Blood-hound than hunted and intrapped with Nets and Engines and that in the thick and greatest Holds if it may be which is the best and speediest way by reason of his great and spreading Head Since there are but few of them in England I shall desist from discoursing farther concerning him Of the Nature and Properties of a Hare AN Hare is called in Hebrew Arnebet in the Feminine gender which word possessed a great many that all Hares were Females He is called Lagws by the Greeks for his immoderate Lust and by the same Nation Ptoox for his Fear and by the Latines Lepus quasi Levi-pes signifying Swiftness of feet alias Lightfoot There are four sorts of Hares some live in the Mountains some in the Fields some in the Marshes some every where without any certain place of abode They of the Mountains are most swift they of the Fields less nimble they of the Marshes most slow and the wandering Hares are most dangerous to follow for they are so cunning in the ways and muses of the Fields running up the Hills and Rocks because by custom they know the nearer way with other tricks to the confusion of the Dogs and dis-encouragement of the Hunters In the next place a description of the parts of an Hare will not be unnecessary since it is admirable to behold how every Limb and Member of this Beast is composed for celerity In the first place the Head is round nimble short yet of convenient longitude prone to turn every way The Ears long and lofty like an Asses for Nature hath so provided that every fearful and unarmed creature should have long and large Ears that by hearing it might prevent its Enemies and save it self by flight The Lips continually move sleeping and waking and from the slit they have in the middle of their Nose cometh the term of Harre-lips which are so divided in men The Neck of an Hare is long small round soft and flexible The Shoulder-bone straight and broad for her more easie turning her Legs before soft and stand broader behinde than before and the hinder Legs longer than the former a Breast not narrow but fitted to take more breath than any Beast of that bigness a nimble Back and fleshy Belly tender Loins hollow Sides fat Buttocks filled up strong and nervous Lines Their Eyes are brown and they are subtile but not bold seldom looking forward because going by jumps Their Eye-lids coming from the Brows are too short to cover their Eyes and therefore this Sense is very weak in them when they watch they shut their Eyes and when they sleep they open them They have certain little Bladders in their Belly filled with matter out of which both the one and the other Sex suck a certain humour and anoint their Bodies all over therewith and so are defended against Rain Though their sight be dim yet they have visum indefessum an indefatigable sence of Seeing so that the continuance in a mean degree countervaileth in them the want of excellency They feed abroad because they would conceal their forms and never drink but content themselves with the Dew and for that cause they often fall rotten As it is before every Limb of a Hare is composed for celerity and therefore she never travelleth but jumpeth her Ears lead her the way in her Chase for with one of them she harkneth to the cry of the Dogs and the other she stretcheth forth like a Sail to hasten her course always stretching her hinder beyond her former and yet not hindering them at all and in Paths and High-ways she runs more speedily The Hares of the Mountains do often exercise themselves in the Valleys and Plains and through practice grow acquainted with the nearest ways to their Forms or places of constant abode So that when at any time they are hunted in the Fields such is their subtile dodging that they will dally with the Huntsmen till they seem to be almost taken and then on a sudden take the nearest way to the Mountains and so take Sanctuary in the inaccessible places whither Dogs nor Horse dare ascend Hares which frequent Bushes and Brakes are not able to endure labour and not very swift by reason of the pain in their Feet growing fat through idleness and discontinuance of running The Campestrial or Field Hare being leaner of Body and oftner chased is taken with more difficulty by reason of her singular agility she therefore when she beginneth her course leapeth up from the ground as if the flew afterwards passeth through Brambles and over thick Bushes and Hedges with all expedition and if at any time she come into deep Grass or Corn she easily delivereth her self and slideth through it always holding up one Ear and bending it at her pleasure to be the Moderator of her Chase. Neither is she so unprovident and prodigal of her strength as to spend it all in one Course but observeth the force of her Prosecuror who if he be slow and sluggish she is not profuse of her celerity but onely walketh gently before the Dogs and yet safely from their Clutches reserving her greatest strength to her greatest necessity for the knoweth she can out-run the Dogs at her pleasure and therefore will not trouble her self more than she is urged But if there be a Dog following her more swiftly than the residue then she setteth forward with all the force she can and when she hath left both Hunters and Dogs a great way behinde her she getteth to some little Hill or rising of the Earth where she raiseth her self upon her hinder-Legs that thereby
call on merrily you may cast off some other to him and when they run it on the full cry cast off the rest and thus you shall compleat your pastime The words of comfort are the same which are used in the other chases attended with the same Hallowings and other ceremonies Let the Hounds kill the Fox themselves and worry and hare him as much as they please many Hounds will eat him with eagerness When he is dead hang him at the end of a Pike-staff and hallow in all your Hounds to bay him but reward them not with any thing belonging to the Fox for it is not good neither will they eat it Of Badger-Hunting A Badger is called by several names viz. a Gray Brock Boreson or Bauson and in France Tausson The Male is called a Badger or Boar-pig and the Female is called a Sow These Beasts are plentiful in Naples Sicily Lucane and in the Alpine and Helvetian Coasts so are they also here in England There are two kinds of this beast saith Gesner one resembling a Dog in his feet and the other a Hog in his cloven hoof they differ too in their snout and colour for the one resembles the snout of a Dog the other of a Swine the one hath a greyer coat or whiter coat than the other and goeth farther out in seeking of its prey They differ also in their meat the one eating Flesh and Carrion like a Dog the other Roots and Fruits like a Hog both these kinds have been found in Normandy France and Sicily Mr. Turbervil makes mention of two sorts of Badgers likewise but in a different manner For the one saith he casteth his Fiaunts long like a Fox and have their residence in Rocks making their Burrows very deep The other sort make their Burrows in light ground and have more variety of Cells and Chambers than the former The one of these is called the Badger-pig and the other the Badger-whelp or call one Canine and the other Swinish The first hath his Nose Throat and Ears yellowish like a Martern's Throat and are much blacker and higher Leg'd than the Badger-whelp Both sorts live upon all Flesh hunting greedily after Carrion They are very mischievous and hurtful to Warrens especially when they are big with young Badgers when they Earth after by digging they have entred a good depth for the clearing of the Earth out one of them falleth on the back and the other layeth Earth on the belly and so taking his hinder feet in his mouth draweth the Belly-laden Badger out of the Hole or Cave and having disburdened her self re-enters and doth the like till all be finished These Badgers are very sleepy especially in the day-time and seldom stir abroad but in the night for which cause they are called Lucifugae avoiders of the Light It is very pleasant to behold them when they gather materials for their Couch as straw leaves moss and such-like for with their Feet and their Head they will wrap as much together as a man can well carry under his arm and will make shift to get it into their Cells and Couches He hath very sharp Teeth and therefore is accounted a deep biting beast his back is broad and his legs are longer on the right side than the left and therefore he runneth best when he gets on the side of an Hill or a Cart-road-way His fore-Legs have very sharp Nails bare and apt to dig withal being five both before and behinde but the hinder very much shorter and covered with hair His savour is strong and much troubled with Lice about the secrets Both Male and Female have under their Hole another Hole outwardly but not inwardly in the Male. If she be hunted abroad with Hounds she biteth them most grievously where-ever she lays hold on them For the prevention thereof the careful Huntsmen put great broad Collars made of Grays Skins about their Dogs Necks Her manner is to fight on her back using thereby both her Teeth and her Nails and by blowing up her Skin after a strange and wonderful manner she defendeth her self against any blow and teeth of Dogs onely a small stroke on her Nose will dispatch her presently you may thrash your heart weary on her back which she values as a matter of nothing In Italy they eat the flesh of Badgers and so they do in Germany boiling it with Pears some have eaten it here in England but like it not being of a sweet rankish taste The flesh is best in September if it be fat and of the two kinds the Swinish Badger is better flesh than the other They love Hogs-flesh above any other for take but a piece of Pork and train it over a Badger's Burrow if he be within you shall quickly see him appear without Their nature is very cold and therefore when it snoweth they will not come out of their holes for three or four days together They live long and by mere age will grow blinde then will they not stir out of their Holes but are fed by those who have their sight This subtilty they have that when they perceive the Terriers begin to yearn them they will stop the hole between the Terriers and them if the Terriers continue baying they will remove their baggage with them and go into another apartment or chamber of the Burrow for know that some of their Houses have half a dozen rooms at least and so will remove from one to the other till they can go no further barricadoing the way as they go The Hunting of a Badger must be after this manner You must first seek the Earths and Burrows where he lieth and in a clear Moon-shine night go and stop all the holes but one or two and therein place some Sacks fastned with some drawing Strings which may shut him in as soon as he straineth the Bag. The Sacks or Bags being thus set cast of your Hounds and beat all the Groves Hedges and Tufts within a mile or two about What Badgers are abroad being alarm'd by the Dogs will straight repair to their Earths or Burrows and so be taken Let him that standeth to watch the Sacks stand close and upon a clear Wind for else the Badger will soon find him and fly some other way for safety But if the Hounds either encounter him or undertake the chase before he can get into his Earth he will then stand at bay like a Boar and make most incomparable sport What Instruments are to be used in digging and how to dig for Badger or Fox In the first place you must have such as are able to dig next you must have so many Terriers garnished with Bells hung in Collars to make the Fox or Badga bolt the sooner besides the Collars will be some smal defense unto the Terriers The Instruments to dig withal are these a sharp pointed Spade which serveth to begin the Trench when the ground is hardest and broader Tools will not so wel enter the round hollowed
wild Goat But since there may be such sport in Wales as there hath been elsewhere it will not be much amiss to give some short account thereof The Wild Goat is as big as a Hart but not so long or so long Leg'd but is as fleshy They have Wreaths and wrinkles on their horns which declare what their age is for according to the quantity of the wreaths such is the number of their years which wreaths he meweth but not his beam the which may be if he be an old Goat as big as a mans leg They have a great long beard and are of a brownish gray colour very shaggy having a long black list down the ridge of the back and the track is bigger than the slot of a Hart. They fawn as a Hinde or Doe in May and have but one fawn which they suckle and bring up as the tame Goat doth her kid They feed like Deer onely they will eat besides ivy moss and such-like In spring they make their fumets round and afterwards broad and flat as the Hart when he comes to feed well They go to rut about Alhallontide and continue therein a month or five weeks that season being over they descend from the mountains and rocks their abode for the summer-season and herd themselves not onely to avoid the snow but because they can find no food any longer and yet they come not very low but keep at the foot of the mountains feeding there till Easter then they return again every one chusing some strong hold in the rocks as the Harts in the thickets About fawning-time the females separate from the males attending till rutting-time in this interval they will run at man or beast and fight as Harts doe one amongst the other When he goeth to rut his throat and neck is much bigger than usual he is very strong backt and which is wonderful though he should fall from on high ten poles length he will receive no harm and will walk as securely on the sharp tops of rocks as a horse in the high-way Alhallontide is the chiefest season for hunting these wild Goats observing very well before you hunt the advantages of the coasts the rocks and places where the Goats do lie Having thus done set nets and toils toward the rivers and bottoms for you cannot expect your hounds should follow a Goat down every place of the mountains Also it will be needful that some stand on the top of the rocks and throw down stones as they see occasion Where the Goat goeth down to the small brooks or waters in the bottom there place your relays and let the relays never tarry till the hounds come in which were cast off and this is your best help for a man can neither follow on foot nor horse-back Hunting of the Wild Boar. THe Boar is ever pigg'd with as many teeth at first as he shall have ever after which will onely increase in bigness not number Amongst the rest they have four which are called tushes or tusks whereof the two biggest do not hurt when he strikes but serve onely to whet the other two lowest with which they frequently kill They feed upon all kind of corn and fruits which they can come at also roots In April and May they feed on the buds of plumb-trees and ches-nut-trees and all other sweet buds they can find especially on the buds of broom and juniper and are never measled as our tame swine Being near the sea-coast they will feed on all manner of shell fish Their season beginneth in the midst of September and endeth about the beginning of December at which time they go a brimming A Boar will commonly abide the bay before he goes out of his den and he lies most commonly in the strongest holds of thorns and thick bushes If it so chance that there is a sounder of them together then if any break sounder the rest will run that way and if you hunt a Boar from a thick and strong covert he will not fail to go back by the same way he came thither and when he is rear'd he never stays but flies continually till he comes to the place where he was farrow'd and brought up This Mr. Turbervile observed himself when he was in France attesting he saw a Boar hunted from a thicket which returned the same way he came to the place of his farrowing which was distant seven French leagues And this was performed by the track of his feet If he be hunted in a forest or hold where he was bred he will hardly be forced out of it Sometimes he will take head and seem to go out and will draw to the outsides of the wood but it is onely to hearken on every side and if he hear the noise of the hounds then will he return and will not be compell'd to go that way till night But having broken out of a forest and taken head end-ways he will not be put out of his way either by man dog voice blowing or any thing A Boar especially a great one will not cry when you kill him The sows and young swine will sometimes Terms to be used in Boar-Hunting If it should be demanded what you will call a Boar of three years old you may answer He is a young Boar which hath lately left the sounder An old Boar you must call a Singular or Sanglier that hath left the sounder four or five years since In making of a report if you are asked where the Boar fed the night before you may say he fed in the corn but if in the fields or meadows you must then say he hath been routing and worming in such a place or such a fern-field Where note that whatsoever he feeds on excepting roots is called feeding the other is called routing worming or fearning but when he feedeth and routeth not you must then call that grasing Boar-Hunting with Hounds at Force Be advised not to hunt a young Boar of three years old at force for he will stand up as long if not longer than any light young Deer which beareth but three in the top but in the fourth year you may hunt him at force as you do a Hart at ten In the rearing of your Boar you need not be afraid to come near him for he values you not and will lie still and will not be rear'd by you alone Here note that if a Boar intends to abide in his den couch or fort then will he make some crossing or doubling at the entry thereof upon some high-way or beaten path by such means a huntsman being early in the woods may judge of the subtilty of the Boar and accordingly may make preparations for his game If he be a great Boar and one that hath lain long to rest let him hunt him with good store of hounds and such as will stick close to him and let him on horse-back be ever amongst them charging the Boar to discourage him for if you hunt such a Boar
with half a dozen couple of dogs he will not value them and they having chased him he will take courage and keep them still at bays running upon any thing he seeth before him But if he be charged home and hard laid unto with the hounds he will turn head and fly If you strike at him with your sword or Boar-spear strike not low for then you will hit him on the snout which he little values for he watcheth to take blows upon his tusks or thereabouts but lifting up your hand strike right down and have a special care of your horse for if you strike and hurt him so will he you if he can It behoveth the hunters of Boars to be very wary for he will run fiercely without fear upon his pursuers in which encounter if he receive not his deaths wound he overthroweth his adversary except he fall flat on the ground and then he need not fear much harm for his teeth cannot cut upward but downward but it is otherwise with a female for she will bite and tear any way It is good to raise this beast early in the morning before he hath made water for the burning of his bladder doth quickly make him weary When the Boar is first raised out of the wood he snuffeth in the wind lifting up his nose to smell what is with him and what against him and rarely strikes a man till he be first wounded himself The hunting-spear must be very sharp and broad branching forth into certain forks so that the Boar may not break through them upon the huntsman The best places to wound him in therewith are the middle of his forehead betwixt his eye-lids or else upon the shoulder either of these wounds is mortal If the Boar make head against the hunter he must not fly for it but must meet him with his spear holding one hand on the middle of it and the other at the end standing one foot before another having an especial eye to the head of the beast which way soever he windeth or turneth the same for such is the nature of the Boar that-sometimes he snatcheth the spear out of their hands or else recoileth the force back again upon the hunter by both which means he is in great danger of life whensoever this hapneth there is but one remedy which is another of his companions must come and charge the Boar with his spear and then pretend to wound him with his dart but not casting it for fear of hurting the hunter The Boar seeing this forsaketh the first man and rusheth upon the second who must look to defend himself with all dexterity composing his body and ordering his weapons according to artificial Boar-hunting in the mean time he that was overthrown must rise again taking fresh hold on his spear and with all courage assault his adversary and assist his friend who was the cause of the saving of his life When he feeleth himself so wounded that he cannot live were it not for the forks of the Boar-spear he would press it on his vanquisher and so revenge his death For such is the fury of this beast that he will endeavour to wound and kill although he feel upon him the pangs of death and what place soever he biteth whether man or dog the heat of his teeth causeth the wound to be inflam'd and for this cause if he but touch the hair of a dog he burneth it off nay huntsmen have tried the heat of his teeth by laying hairs on them as soon as he was dead and they have shrivel'd up as with a hot-iron To conclude the same devises diligence labour prosecution and observations are to be used in the hunting of the Boar which are prescribed for the hunting of the Hart. Not but that there are several policies and stratagems which have been invented and are still used in several countries whereby to take them without the pursuit of dogs to the knowledge whereof I shall refer the reader to Blondus Oppianus Gesner Turbervile and many others both antient and modern writers who have largely treated on this subject Of the Nature and Properties of a Bear and after what manner Hunted THere are two sorts of Bears a greater and lesser the last is more apt to climb trees than the other Bears are bred in many countries in the Helvetian Alpine region they are so strong and courageous that they can tear in pieces both oxen and horses for which cause the inhabitants are studiously laborious in the taking them A Bear is of a most venereous and lustful disposition for night and day the females with most ardent inflam'd desires do provoke the males to copulation and for this cause at that time they are most fierce and angry The time of their copulation is in the beginning of winter and the manner of it is like to a man's the male moving himself upon the belly of the female which lieth flat on her back and they embrace each other with their fore-feet they remain a very long time in that act in so much as some have observed how true I cannot say that if they were very fat at their first entrance they dis-joyn not themselves again till they be lean There is a strange report in history if it be true That in the mountains of Savoy a Bear carried a young maid into his den by violence where in a venereal manner he had the carnal use of her body and while he kept her in his den he daily went forth and brought her the best fruits he could get presenting them to her as food as courtly as he could do it but always when he went to forrage he rowled a very great stone to the mouth of his den that the virgin should not make her escape from him at length her parents with long search found their daughter in the Bear 's den who delivered her from that beastial captivity They are naturally very cruel and mischievous unto all tame beasts and are very strong in all parts of their body but their head whereon a small blow will kill them They go to mate in the beginning of the winter some sooner some later according to their rest and feeding and their heat lasteth not passing fifteen days When the she Bear perceiveth her self with whelp she withdraws her self into some cave or hollow rock and there remains till she brings forth her whelps where without meat they grow very fat especially the males onely by sucking their fore-feet When they enter into their den they convey themselves backward that so they may put out their foot-steps from the sight of the hunters The nature of all of them is to avoid cold and therefore in the winter-time they hide themselves chusing rather to suffer famine than cold lying for the most part three or four months together and never see the light whereby in a manner their guts are clung together coming forth they are so dazled by long darkness being in the light again that
respect had unto the Weather which if it be mild and temperate you need not fear to hold her down until you have quarried her and as you shall see her amend her manners alter her Diet and add to her strength according to reasonable expedition which will be soon obtained if the be sound and the weather moderate But if the weather be frosty have a care of abating flesh When at any time you fly any one of these black or tawny Hawks and she stoops foul and falls in her flight you must take her down with some living thing If the be young suffer not her or any other Hawk to fly too long for nothing is more prejudicial and distasteful to a young Hawk at her first making than to let her toil and make many stoopings before the be served by this dislike she is induced to fly wide and carelesly and frequently to go away through displeasure Now to the intent I may go on methodically and with as little confusion as may be I shall in the next place here nominate what Hawks I intend to treat of and in the same order as I name them in like manner I will discourse of them Take them thus Faulcon Gerfaulcon Mylion Merlin Hobby Goshawk Sparrow-hawk Lanner Their Males Tiercel-gentle Jerkin Tiercel Jack Robbin Tiercel Musket Lannerct Here note that the Female of all Birds of Prey are much larger and of greater bulk than the Male and are more serviceable being more watchful hardy and bold but of such Birds as do not Prey the Cocks are the larger The Faulcon Gerfaulcon Mylion Merlin and Hobby do stoop and seize their Prey with their Foot breaking with their beak the Neck-bone of the Fowl without pluming or tiring thereupon till the Fowl hath left busking and bating on the foot The Goshawk with her Male the Tiercel and the Sparrow-harvk kill their Game by strength and force of Wing at random and do instantly plume and tire upon their Prey Of the Faulcon THere are seven kinds of Faulcons viz. Faulcon-gentle Haggard-faulcon Barbary or Tartaret-faulcon Gerfaulcon Saker Lanner and Tunician The Faulcon-gentle is so called for her familiar courreous disposition she is withal valiant strong and better able to endure any sort of weather than any other Hawk She hath a natural inclination and love to fly the Hern every way either from her Wings to the down-come or from the Fist and afore-head She is most excellent at the Brook or River especially at large Fowl as the Shoveler Wild-goose c. If she be an Eyess you may venture her at the Crane otherwise she will not be so hardy and bold Where note Hawks prove valiant or cowards according as they are first quarried and if you take them out of the Eyrie before they are fully summed and hard penned you must never expect their Wings should grow to perfection but their Legs will be apt to wear crooked and their Train their long Feathers and their Flags also will be full of Taints In the choice of your Faulcon observe that she have wide Nares high and large Eye-lids a great black Eye a round Head somewhat full on the top a short thick azure Beak and indifferent high Neck barb Feathers under the clap of the Beak a good large round fleshy Breast let her be strong hard and stiff bonded broad-shouldered having slender Sails full Sides long and great Thighs strong and short Arms large Feet with the Sear of the Foot soft and blewish black Pounces long Wings and crossing the Train which Train must be short and very pliable Here observe that Faulcons of one kind differ much and are diversly named according to the time of their first Reclaiming places of Haunt and Countries from whence they come as Mew'd-Hawks Rammage-Hawks Soar-Hawks Eyesses and these again are divided into large Hawks mean Hawks and slender Hawks All these have different Males and Plumes according to the nature of the Countries from whence they come as some are black some blank or russet and they differ in disposition some are best for the Field others for the River Names are bestowed on a Faulcon according to her Age or Taking The first is an Eyess which Name lasts as long as she is in the Eyrie These are very troublesome in their feeding do cry very much and are difficultly entred but being well entred and quarried prove excellent Hawks for the Hern River or any sort of Fowl and are hardy and full of mettle The second is a Rammage-faulcon and reserves the name after she hath left the Eyrie being so called May June July and August These are hard to be manned but being well reclaimed they are not inferiour to any Hawk The third is a Soar-hawk so called September October and November The first Plumes they have when they for sake the Eyrie they keep a whole year before they mew them which are called Soar-feathers The fourth is termed Murzarolt the latest term is Carvist as much as to say Carry an the Fist they are so called January February March April and till the middle of May during which time they must be kept on the Fist. They are for the most part very great Baters and therefore little eaters They are bad Hawks frequently troubled with Filanders and worms and are rarely brought to be good for any thing The fifth are called Enter-mews from the middle of May to the latter end of December They are so called because they cast their Coats They were excellent Hawks could they be trusted therefore they must be kept hard under and must make your Fist their Pearch Having discours'd of the Names and Nature of the Faulcon I next come to his Manning Luring Flights and Mewing in every condition which course I shall orderly take in my ensuing discourse of the other Hawks I have onely named heretofore And because what Diseases or Casualties are incident to one are likewise to all I shall put their Cures at the latter end all together Of the Manning Luring Flights and Mewing of a Faulcon with other things properly belonging to an Ostrager Having taken a Faulcon you must Seel her in such manner that as the Seeling slackens the Faulcon may be able to see what provision is straight before her which she will better see so than any other way and be sure you Seel her not too hard A Hawk newly taken ought to have all new Furniture as new Jesses of good Leather mailed Leases with Buttons at the end and new Bewets You must have a small round stick likewise hanging in a string with which you must frequently stroak your Hawk the oftner you do it the sooner and better you will man her She must have two good Bells that she may the better be found and heard when she either stireth or scratteth Her Hood must be well fashioned raised and bossed against her Eyes deep and yet straight enough beneath that it may the better fasten about her Head without hurting her and you must
cope a little her Beak and Talons but not so near as to make them bleed Take notice if you take a Soar-faulcon which hath already past the Seas although she be very hard to be reclaim'd yet she is the best of Faulcons Her food must be good and warm twice or thrice a day until she be full gorg'd which food must be either Pigeons Larks or other live Birds and the reason is because you must break her by degrees off from her accustomed feeding When you feed her you must whoop and lure as you do when you call a Hawk that she may know when you will give her meat You must unhood her gently giving her two or three bits and putting on her Hood again you must give her as much more and be sure that she be close Seeled and after three or four days lessen her diet and when you go to bed set her on some Pearch by you that you may awaken her often in the night Thus you must do till you observe her grow tame and gentle and when you find she begins to feed eagerly then give her a Sheep's-heart And now you may begin to unhood her by day-time but it must be far from company first giving her a bit or two then hood her again gently and give her as much more Be sure not to afright her with any thing when you unhood her And when you perceive her to be acquainted with company and that she is sharp set unhood her and give her some meat holding her just against your Face and Eyes which will make her less afraid of the countenances of others If you can reclaim her without over-watching You must bear her continually on the Fist till she be throughly Manned causing her to feed in company giving her in the Morning about Sun-rising the Wing of a Pullet and in the Evening the Foot of a Coney or Hare cut off above the joynt flay'd and laid in Water which having squeez'd give it her with the Pinion of a Hen's Wing For two or three days give her washt meat and then Plumage according as you think her foul within If she Cast hood her again and give her nothing till she Gleam after her Casting having gleamed and casted then give her a beaching of hot meat in company and towards the Evening let her plume a Hen's Wing in company also If the Feathers of her Casting be foul or slimy and of a yellowish complexion then be sure to cleanse her well with washt meat and Casting if clean within give her gentle Castings as the Pinions of an old Hens Wing or the Neck-bone chopped four or five times between the joynts washt and steeped in fair Water Having well reclaimed her throughly manned her and made her eager and sharp set then you may venture to feed her on the Lure But before you shew her the Lure you must consider these three things 1. That she be bold in and familiar with company and no ways afraid of Dogs and Horses 2. That she be sharp set and hungry regarding the hour of the Morning and Evening when you will Lure her 3. And lastly she must be clean within and the Lure must be well garnished with meat on both sides and you must abscond your self when you intend to give her the length of the Lease You must first unhood her giving her a bit or two on the Lure as she sitteth on your Fist afterwards take the Lure from her and so hide it that she see it not and when she is unseized cast the Lure so near her that she may catch it within the length of her Lease When she hath seiz'd it use your voice according to the custome of Faulconers and feed her upon the Lure on the ground with the Heart and warm Thigh of a Pullet Having so lured her in the Evening give her but a little meat and let this luring be so timely that you may give her Plumage and a Juck of a joynt In the Morning betimes take her on your Fist and when she hath cast and gleamed give her a little beaching of warm meat Towards Noon take a Creance and tie it to her Lease and go into some pleasant Field or Meadow and give her a bit or two on the Lure then unseize her and if you find she is sharp set and hath seized on the Lure eagerly then give her some one to hold to let her off to the Lure then unwind the Creance and draw it after you a good way and let him which holds the Hawk hold his right hand on the Tassel of the Hawks Hood in readiness so that he may unhood her assoon as you begin to lure and if she come well to the Lure and stoop upon it roundly and seize it eagerly then let her eat two or three bits thereon then unseize her and take her off the Lure hood her and deliver her to him again that held her and going farther off lure her feeding her as before with the accustomed voice Thus lure her every day farther and farther off till she is accustomed to come freely and eagerly to the Lure After this lure her in company but have a care that nothing affright her and when you have used her to the Lure on foot then lure her on Horse-back which you may effect the sooner by causing Horse-men to be about you when you lure her on foot also you may do it the sooner by rewarding her upon the Lure on Horse-back among Horsemen When this way she grows familiar let some body afoot hold the Hawk and he that is on Horse-back must call and cast the Lure about his Head then must the holder take off the Hood by the Tassel and if she seize eagerly on the Lure without fear of Man or Horse then take off the Creance and lure her at a greater distance And if you would have her love Dogs as well as the Lure call Dogs when you give her Tiring or Plumage Of Bathing a Faulcon lately reclaimed how to make her Flying and to hate the Check Having wean'd your Faulcon from her Rammage-fooleries being both ways lured rewarded and throughly reclaim'd offer her some Water to bathe her self in in a Bason wherein she may stand up to the Thighs chusing a temperate clear day for that purpose Then having lured your Hawk and rewarded her with warm meat in the morning carry her to some Bank and there hold her in the Sun till she hath endewed her Gorge taking off her Hood that she may prune and pick her self that being done hood her again and set her near the Bason and taking off her Hood let her bathe again as long as she pleaseth After this take her up and let her pick her self as before and then feed her If she refuse the Bason to bathe in shew her some small River or Brook for that purpose By this use of bathing she gains strength and a sharp appetite and thereby grows bold but that day where in
in as nigh unto her as you can and go with your Hawk under the Wind and having first loosed her Hood in a readiness as soon as the Hern leaveth the Siege off with her Hood and let her fly If she climb to the Hern and bring her down run in as I said before to rescue her thrusting her Bill into the ground breaking her Wings and Legs and rewarding her as aforesaid on your Hawking-glove Now if your Faulcon beat not down the Hern or do give him over never fly your Faulcon again at a Hern unless with a Make-hawk well entred for the Coward by this means seeing another fly at the Hern and bind with her takes fresh courage And if they kill the Hern flying both together then must you reward them both together while the Quarry is hot making for them a Soppa as aforesaid This is the onely way to make them both bold and perfect Herners Of the HAGGARD-FAULCON why so called her good Shape and Properties And what difference there is between a Haggard and a Faulcon-gentle THe Haggard is by some called the Peregrin-Faulcon because say some she is brought from a Country forrein and remote and therefore others call them Travellers or Passengers But if there be no other reason for the name but this all other Hawks coming from exotick places might borrow that appellation Upon a threefold consideration I conceive they are called Haggard or Peregrin-faulcons First because their Eyrie was never found in any Country by any man that ever I could hear or read of Secondly because these Faulcons rangle and wander more than other Faulcon doth still seeking strange and forreign Coasts so that where-ever they come they may be justly called Peregrins or Forreigners Thirdly and lastly she never takes up her habitation long in a place This Haggard is not inferiour to any other Faulcon but very tender and cannot endure hard weather say some but my experience hath found it otherwise The reason that may be alleadged is this first she travels far as a Stranger and comes into Countries commonly in the hardest time of the year next she is a hot Hawk which may be gathered from her high flying where the Air is much colder than below and therefore ought to be more hardy lastly she meweth with more expedition if she once begin to cast her Feathers than other Faulcons do They are of shape like other Faulcons but as to mould they are of three sorts large middle-siz'd and little some long-shaped some short-trussed some larger some less They have a fourfold Mail blank russet brown and Turtle The goodness of her Shape consists in having her Head plum'd dark or blank flat on the top with a white Wreath environing the same a large blue bending Beak wide Nares a great black full Eye high stately Neck large Breast broad Shoulders a great Turtle-coloured Feather long Veins and Sails but slender shaped a long Train high Thighs and white on the Pendant Feathers a large wide Foot with slender Stretchers and Talons tending somewhat to an azure colour You may know her in her flight from another by the stirring of her Wings for she useth no thick stroak but getteth up to her Mountee leisurely without any great making out besides she may be known by her extraordinary large Sails The differences between the Haggard and Faulcon-gentle are these First the Haggard is larger being longer-armed with longer Beak and Talons having a higher Neck with a long and fair-seasoned Head Secondly her Beam-feathers in flight are longer than the Faulcon-gentle's her Train somewhat larger again the Haggard hath a flat Thigh and the other 's is round Thirdly the Haggard will lie longer on the Wing Fourthly the Haggard at long flight exceeds the Faulcon-gentle which last fleith with more speed from the Fist than the other For maintenance of Flight and goodness of Wing the Haggard exceeds all other Hawks Fifthly and lastly the Haggard is more deliberate and advised in her Stooping than the Faulcon-gentle who is more hot and hasty in her Actions and missing the Fowl is apt presently to fly on head at the Check Of the BARBARY-FAULCON THe Barbary or as some call her the Tartaret-Faulcon is a Bird seldom found in any Country and is called a Passenger as well as the Haggard They are somewhat lesser than the Tiercel-gentle and plum'd red under the Wings strong-armed with long Talons and Stretchers The Barbary-Faulcon is venturously bold and you may fly her with the Haggard all May and June They are Hawks very slack in mewing at first but when once they begin they mew their Feathers very fast They are called Barbary-Faulcons because they make their passage through that Country and Tunis where they are more frequently taken than in any other place namely in the Isles of the Levant Candy Cyprus and Rhodes In my opinion she is a Hawk of not much value and therefore I shall leave her to speak of another of greater reputation Of the GERFAULCON THe Gerfaulcon is a very fair Hawk and of great force especially being mewed she is strong-armed having long Stretchers and Singles she is fierce and hardy of nature and therefore difficultly to be reclaimed She is a lovely Bird to behold larger than any kind of Faulcon her Eyes and Head are like the Haggard's Her Beak is great and bending she hath large Nares and a Mail like a Lanner's her Sails are long and sharp-pointed her Train much like the Lanner's she hath a large Foot marble-seared and is plumed blank brown and russet She expects great civility from her Keeper who must exercise a great deal of patience on her The Gerfaulcon's Eyrie is in some parts of Prussia and on the borders of Russia and some come from the Mountains of Norway and from Germany These may be also called Passengers By reason of the fierceness and hardiness of this Bird she is very hardly manned and reclaimed but being once overcome she proves an excellent Hawk and will scarce refuse to fly at any thing Their Beaks are blue so are the Sears of their Legs and Feet having Pounces and Talons very long These Hawks do not fly the River but always from the Fist fly the Herns Shovelers c. In going up to their Gate they do not hold that course or way which others do for they climbe up upon the Train when they find any Fowl and as soon as they have reacht her they pluck her down if not at the first yet at the second or third encounter You must feed and reward them like other Faulcons They are very crafty and covet to keep their Castings long through sloth therefore instead of Cotton give them a Casting of Tow and be sure to keep them sharp set In the Manning and Reclaiming you must by kindness make her gentle and familiar with you When you have taught her to be lured loose then learn her to come to the Pelts of Hens or any other Fowl but let her
above all take pains to stay her and by your utmost Art restrain her from dragging or carrying any thing from you to which ill quality she is more inclined than any other Hawk whatever To conclude this Chapter I come next to the Tunisian-Faulcon which is not much different in nature from the Lanner yet somewhat less but in Foot and Plume much alike She hath a large round Head and is more creese than the Lanner and more heavy and sluggish in her flight She is called a Tunisian-faulcon from Tunis the Metropolis of Barbary the Country where she usually makes her Eyrie They are excellent Hawks for the River lying long upon the Wing and will fly the Field also very well They naturally delight to seize upon the Hare and will strike boldly at her Much more might be said of her which I here omit she being a Hawk not very common in England Having cursorily discourst in as good a method as I could of the seven sorts of Faulcons with their Manning Reclaiming Luring Training Staying c. I shall proceed to give you an account of some other Hawks which I propounded and promised in the beginning of this Treatise take them thus in order Of the MERLIN THe Merlin in Plume is much like the Haggard-Faulcon also in the Sear of the Foot Beak and Talons and is much alike in Conditions A Merlin well mann'd lur'd and carefully lookt after will prove an excellent Hawk Their flight is swifter than any other Hawk and naturally they flie at Partridge Thrush and Lark It is a Bird very busie and unruly and therefore the Faulconer ought to take special heed and care of them lest unnaturally they eat off their own Feet and Talons which several of them have been known to do and die thereby For which cause Merlins ought not to be mew'd or intermew'd because in the Mew they often spoil themselves She is accounted a Hawk of the Fist and not of the Lure but to my knowledge she may be brought to love the Lure very well She is very venturous and hardy which may appear by her flying at Birds as big or bigger than her self with such eagerness as that she will pursue them even into a Town or Village If you will flie with a Merlin at a Partridge chuse the Formal which is the Female The Jack is not worth the Training When you have made her to the Lure and that she will patiently endure the Hood then make her a Train with a Partridge if she foot and kill it reward her well suffering her to take her pleasure thereon After this fly her at the wild Partridge if she take or mark it at first or second flight being retrieved by the Spaniels feed her upon it with a reasonable Gorge chearing her with your Voice in such manner that she may know it another time If she prove not hardy at first Train try her with a second or third if she prove not then she will prove nothing worth If you fly the Merlin at Lark or Linnet let it be with a Cast of Merlins at once because they love to fly in company besides it is a greater delight to the Spectators to see them fly together you shall observe the one climb to the Mountee above the Lark and the other to lie low for her best advantage When your Merlin is throughly manned and made gentle which you must bring to pass according to the method propounded for other Hawks I say when she is reclaimed you may then carry her into the fields where having found a Lark or Linnet get as near as you can into the Wind to the Bird and as soon as the Bird riseth from the ground unhood your Cast of Merlins and cast them off and when they have beaten down the Lark let them feed a little thereon There is a sort of Larks which I would not advise the Faulconer to fly at and they are called Cut-larks which do not mount as the long-spur'd field-Lark but fly straight forward to the endangering the loss of your Hawk without any pastime or pleasure Of the Mewing of Merlins Faulcons Gerfaulcons and Mylions at Stock or at Large and which is the best way of Mewing It is the opinion of some but how commendable I will leave the Reader to judge that Merlins cannot be mew'd or if they be that they are very rarely good afterwards Experience tells me the contrary for if they be hardy and have flown well in their Soarage they have proved much better after mewing than before The time of mewing for Faulcons should be about the latter end of April at which time set down your Faulcons diligently observing whether they be louzy or not if they are pepper them and that will infallibly kill the Lice You must also scour them before you cast them into the Mew Mewings are of two sorts the one loose and at large the other at the Stock or Stone Mewing at large is thus in short If your Room be large by divisions you may mew four Faulcons at once each partition consisting of about twelve foot square and as much in height with two Windows two foot broad the one opening to the North for the benefit of cold Air the other to the East for the beneficial warmth of the Sun At your East-window let there be a Board two foot broad even with the bottom of the Window with a Lath or Ledge round in the middle set a green Turff laying good store of Gravel and Stones about it that your Hawk may take them at her pleasure If your Faulcon be a great Bater let your Chamber be on the ground which must be covered four fingers thick with gross Sand and thereon set a Stone somewhat taper of about a Cubit in height on which they love to sit by reason of its coolness Make her two Perches at each Window one to recreate her self as she pleaseth either with Heat or Cold. Every week or fortnight set her a Bason of Water to bathe in and when she hath bathed therein take it away the night following Your Mew must have a Portal to convey in the Hack a thing whereon the meat is served I need not prescribe the manner how to make it since it is a thing so generally known already You ought to keep one set-hour in feeding for so will she mew sooner and better when she hath fed and gorged her self then remove the Stick from the Hack on which the meat was fastened to keep her from dragging it into the Mew In the opinion of most it is better Mewing at the Stock or Stone which must be performed thus Make choice of a Ground-room remote from noise or concourse of people and therein set a Table of what length you think is most convenient for the number of your Faulcons and of about six foot in breadth with thin Boards along the sides and ends about four fingers high from the superficies of the Table which must stand on Tressels
Nets if you espy any Fowl on the River discharge your Gun which will make them fly to the Fens and Plashes and then go and see what you have taken Thus you shall be sure to be furnished with some though there be never so few abroad How to take all manner of small Birds with Bird-Lime IN cold weather that is to say in Frost or Snow all sorts of small Birds do congregate in Flocks as Larks Chaffinches Lennets Gold-finches Yellowhammers Buntings Sparrows c. all these but the Lark do perch on Trees or Bushes as well as feed on the ground If you perceive they resort about your House or Fields adjacent then use your Bird-lime that is well prepared and not over old order it after this manner Take an Earthen dish and put the Bird-lime into it and add thereunto some fresh Lard or Capons-grease putting an ounce of either to a quarter of a pound of Bird-lime then setting it over the fire let it melt gently together but let it not boil by any means for if you do you will take away the strength of the Bird-lime and so spoil it Having thus prepared it get a quantity of Wheat-ears as many as you think you shall conveniently use and cut the Straw about a foot long besides the Ears then from the bottom of the Ears to the middle of the Straw lime it about six inches the Lime must be warm when you lime the straw that so it may run thin upon the straw and therefore the less discernable and consequently not suspected by the Birds Having thus got your Lim'd-straws in this manner ready go into the field adjacent to your house and carry a bag of Chaff and thresht Ears and scatter these together twenty yards wide it is best in a Snow then take the Lim'd-ears and stick them up and down with the Ears leaning or at the end touching the ground then retire from the place and traverse the grounds all round about the Birds hereupon being disturbed in their other haunts fly hither and pecking at the ears of Corn finding that they stick unto them they straightways mount up from the Earth and in their flight the Bird-limb'd straws lap under their Wings and falling are not able to disengage themselves from the Straw and so are certainly taken By the way take this caution do not go and take up five or six you see entangled for that may hinder you it may be from taking three or four dozen at one time If they be Larks that fall where your Bird-lim'd Straws do lie go not a near them till they spontaneously rise of themselves and flying in great Flocks I can assure you I have caught five dozen at one lift You may lay some nearer home to take Finches Sparrows Yellowhammers c. who resort near to Houses and frequent Barn-doors where you may easily take them after the same manner as aforesaid The taking of Sparrows is a very great benefit to the Husbandman for they are his and the Farmers principal Enemies of all small Birds insomuch as I dare assure them that every dozen of Sparrows taken by them in the Winter shall save them a quarter of Wheat before Harvest be ended In the taking of them you may stick the top of your House if thatcht and though you never have the Birds yet the destruction of them will be a great advantage Before a Barn-door if you lay your Twigs or Lim'd-straws you may there take them with abundance of other small Birds The Sparrow is excellent food and a great restorer of decayed Nature You may also take them at roost in the Eaves of Thatchthouses by coming in the night with a Clap-net and rubbing the Net against the hole where they are flying out you clap the Net together and forsake them the darkest night with a Lanthorn and Candle is the chiefest time to take them Having performed your Morning Birding-recreation go bait the same place where you were before and bait it with fresh Chaff and Ears of Corn and let them rest till next Morning then take some fresh Wheat-ears again and stick them as aforesaid and when you bait in the Afternoon take away all your Lim'd Ears that so the Birds may feed boldly and not be frighted or disturbed against next Morning How to take Great Fowl with LIME-TWIGS YOu must supply your self with good store of Rods which are long small and straight-grown Twigs being light and apt to play to and fro Lime the upper-part of these Twigs holding the Bird-lime before the fire so that it may melt for the better besmearing them Having first well acquainted your self where these Fowl do frequent Morning and Evening you must then observe before Sun-set for the Evening-flight and before day for the Morning that you plant your Lime-twigs where these Fowl haunt pinning down for a Stale one of the same Fowl alive which you have formerly taken for that purpose which you intend to catch with your Bird-lime Round about the Stale giving the Fowl liberty to flutter to and fro prick your Twigs in rows a foot distant one from the other till you have covered all the place so haunted that there shall be no room left but that they must certainly fall foul with the Lime-twigs Prick the Rods sloaping with their heads bending into the Wind about a foot or somewhat more above ground If you please and I think it the best way you may cross-prick your Rods that is one point into the wind and another against the wind by which means you may take the Fowl which way soever they come Place also a Stale some distance from your Limetwigs and fasten small strings to it which upon the sight of any Fowl you must pull then will your Stale flutter which will allure them down If you see any taken do not run instantly and take them up if you see any Fowl in the air for by their fluttering others will be induced to swoop in among them It will not be amiss to have a well-taught Spaniel with you for the retaking of such Fowl as it is common which will flutter away with the Limetwigs about them If you intend to use these Twigs for smaller Wild-fowl and such as frequent the water only then must you fit them in length according to the depth of the River and your Lime must be very strong Water-lime such as no wet or frost can injure Prick these Rods in the water as you did the others on the Land as much of the Rod as is limed being above water and here and there among your Rods you must stake down a live Stale as a Mallard a Widgeon or Teal and thus you may do in any shallow Plash or Fen. You need not wait continually on your Rods but come thrice a day and see what is taken viz. early in the Morning at high Noon and late in the Evening but come not unattended with your Water-spaniel for if you perceive any of your Rods
haunts are much alike with those of the Partridge onely the Quail loves most the Wheat-fields the Morepoot most the Heath and Forest-grounds and the Rails love the long high Grass where they may lie obscure The way of finding them is like that of the Partridge by the Eye the Ear and Haunt but the chief way of all to find them out is the Call or Pipe to which they listen with such earnestness that you can no sooner imitate their Notes but they will answer them and will pursue the Call with such greediness that they will play and skip about you nay run over you especially the Quail The notes of the Male and Female differ very much and therefore you must have them both at your command and when you hear the Male call you must answer in the Females note and when the Female calls you must answer in the Males note and thus you will not fall to have them both come to you who will gaze and listen till the Net is cast over them The way of taking these Birds is the same with that of the Partridge and they may be taken with Nets or Lime either Bush or Rod or Engine which you must stalk with or by the Setting-dog which I shall treat of in the next Chapter How to elect and train a SETTING-DOG from a Whelp till he come to perfection THe Dog which you elect for Setting must have a perfect and good scent and be naturally addicted to the hunting of Feathers And this Dog may be either Land-spaniel Water-spaniel or Mungrel of them both either the Shallow-flewed Hound Tumbler Lurcher or small bastard Mastiff But there is none better than the Land-spaniel being of a good and nimble size rather small than gross and of a courageous mettle which though you cannot discern being young yet you may very well know from a right breed which have been known to be strong lusty and nimble Rangers of active Feet wanton Tails and busie Nostrils whose Tail was without weariness their Search without changeableness and whom no delight did transport beyond fear or obedience When you have made choice of your Dog begin to instruct him about four months old or six months at the uttermost The first thing that you shall teach your Dog is to make him loving and familiar with you knowing you from any other person and following you where-ever you go To effect this the better let him receive his food as near as you can from no other hand but your own and when you correct him to keep him in awe do it rather with words than blows When you have have so instructed your Dog that he will follow none but your self and can distinguish your frown from your smile and smooth words from rough you must then teach him to couch and lie down close to the ground first by laying him often on the ground and crying Lie close When he hath done any thing to your mind and pleasure you must then reward him with a piece of Bread if otherwise chastise him with words but few blows After this you must teach him to come creeping unto you with his Belly and Head close upon the ground as far or as little a way as you shall think fit and this you may do by saying Come nearer come nearer or the like and at first till he understand your meaning by shewing him a piece of Bread or some other food to entice him to you And this observe in his creeping to you if he offer to raise his Body or Head you must not onely thrust the rising-part down but threaten him with your angry voice which if he seem to slight then add a sharp jerk or two with a Whipcord-lash You must often renew his Lessons till he be very perfect still encouraging him when he does well If you walk abroad with him and he take a fancy to range even when he is most busie speak to him and in the height of his pastime make him fall upon his Belly and lie close and after that make him come creeping to you After this teach him to lead in a String or Line and to follow you close at your heels without trouble or straining of his Collar By that time he hath learned these things aforesaid I conceive the Dog may be a twelvemonth old at which time the season of the year being fit take him into the field and permit him to range but still in obedience to your command But if through wantonness he chance to babble or open without cause you must then correct him sharply either with a Whipcord-lash or biting him hard at the Roots of his Ears Having brought him to a good temper and just obedience then as soon as you see him come upon the Haunt of any Partridge which you shall know by his greater eagerness in hunting as also by a kind of whimpering and whining in his voice being very desirous to open but not daring you shall speak to him bidding him take heed or the like but if notwithstanding he either rush in and spring the Partridge or opens and so the Partridge escapeth you must then correct him severely and cast him off again and let him hunt in some haunt where you know a Covy lies and see whether he hath mended his fault And if you catch any with your Nets give him the Heads Necks and Pinions for his future encouragement Many more observations there are which are too numerous here to recite wherefore I shall desist and give you an account of a Water-dog and so finish this present Discourse How to train a WATER-DOG and the use thereof I Shall begin with the best proportion of a Water-dog and first of his colour Although some do attribute much to the colour yet experience lets us know they are uncertain observations To proceed then your Dog may be any colour and yet excellent but chuse him of Hair long and curled not loose and shagged his Head must be round and curled his Ears broad and hanging his Eye full lively and quick his Nose very short his Lip Hound-like his Chaps with a full set of strong Teeth his Neck thick and short his Breast sharp his Shoulders broad his Fore-legs straight his Chine square his Buttocks round his Belly gaunt his Thighs brawny c. For the training this Dog you cannot begin too soon with him and therefore as soon as he can lap you must teach him to couch and lie down not daring to stir from that posture without leave Observe in his first teaching to let him eat nothing till he deserve it and let him have no more Teachers Feeders Cherishers or Correctors but one and do not alter that word you first use in his information for the Dog takes notice of the sound not the language When you have acquainted him with the word suitable to his Lesson you must then teach him to know the word of Reprehension which at first should not be used without a Jerk
longer than if they fed upon Hearts The brownest and largest of the young Wrens are the Cocks Of the WOOD-LARK SOme prefer the Wood-lark before the Nightingale but it is of this bird as all others some are more excellent in length and sweetness of Song This bird breeds the soonest of any we have by reason of his extraordinary mettlesomeness and therefore if they are not taken in the beginning of February at least they grow so rank that they will prove good for nothing The places this bird most delights in are gravelly grounds and Hills lying towards the Orient and in Oat-stubs Their building is in your Laiers grounds where the Grass is rank and russet making their Nests of Bennet-grass or dead Grass of the field under some large Tuffet to shelter them from the injury of the weather This Bird hath very excellent pleasant Notes with great variety insomuch that I have observed some have had almost thirty several Notes which if they sing lavish is a most ravishing melody or harmony if the Nightingale joyn in consort These Birds are never bred from the Nests as ever I could hear I have several times attempted it but to no purpose for notwithstanding my greatest care they died in a Week either of the Cramp or Scowring The times of the year to take them are June July August and then they are called young Branchers having not yet moulted They are taken likewise at the latter end of September but having then moulted the young and old are not distinguishable Lastly they are taken from the beginning of January to the latter end of February at which time they are all coupled and returned to their Breeding-places The way to take them in June July and August is with an Hobby after this manner get out in a dewy Morning and go to the sides of some Hills which lie to the rising of the Sun where they most usually frequent and having sprung them observe where they fall then surround them twice or thrice with your Hobby on your Fist causing him to hover when you draw near by which means they will lie still till you clap a Net over them which you carry on the point of a Stick If three or four go together take a Net like one made for Partridges when you go with a Setting-dog onely the Mesh must be smaller that is a Lark-mesh and then your Hobby to the Lark is like a Setting-dog to Partridges and with your Net at one draught you may take the whole flock The Wood-lark that is taken in June July and August will sing presently but will not last long by reason of their moulting That which is taken in January and February will sing in five or six days or sooner and these are the best being taken in full stomack and are more perfect in their Song than those taken at other seasons If in the Cage you find him grow poor at the beginning of the Spring give him every two or three days a Turff of Three-leav'd-grass as is used to the Skie-lark and boil him a Sheeps-heart and mince it small mingling it among his Bread Egg and Hemp-seed which will cause him to thrive extraordinarily If he be troubled with Lice a Distemper he is commonly afflicted withal take him out of the Cage and smoak him with Tobacco give him fresh gravel and set him in a hot place where the Sun shines and this will cure him if he have strength to bask in the Sand. If you would have him sing lavish feed him with Sheeps-heart Egg Bread and Hemp-seed mixt together and put into his water a little Liquorish white Sugar-candy and Saffron Let this be done once a week Upon the first taking of your Wood-lark thus must you do you must put into your Cage two Pans one for minc'd meat and another for Oat-meal and whole Hemp-seed Then having boil'd an Egg hard take the crums of white Bread the like quantity of Hemp-seed pounded in a Mortar and mingle your Bread and it with your Egg minc'd very small and give it him Let there be at the bottom of the Cage fine red Gravel and let it be shifted every week at farthest for he delights to bask in the Sand which will not be convenient if foul'd with his Dung. Let the pearch of the Cage be lin'd with green Bays or which is better make a pearch of a Mat and lest they should not find the Pan so soon as they should do to prevent famine strew upon the Sand some Oat-meal and Hemp-seed How to know the Cock is thus first the largeness and length of his Call Secondly his tall walking Thirdly at Evenings the doubling of his Note which Artists call Cuddling but if you hear him sing strong you cannot be deceived Here note that if a Bird sings not that is taken in February and January within one month after you may conclude him not worth the keeping or else is an Hen infallibly The Wood-lark as it is naturally endewed with incomparable notes so it is a tender Bird and difficult to be kept but if rightly ordered and well look'd to will be a most delightful Songster to its Master growing better and better every year even to the very last These Birds are very subject to the Cramp Giddiness in the Head and to Louziness The best remedy to prevent the Cramp is to shift the Cage often with fresh Gravel otherwise the Dung will clog to their feet which causeth the Cramp The giddiness of the Head proceedeth from feeding upon much Hemp-seed perceiving this distemper give him some Gentles the common Bait for Fisher-men Hog-lice Emmets and their Eggs with Liquorish all put into water we serve in their stead and will cure immediately Louziness which causeth leanness in this bird is cured as said before by smoaking Tobacco Of the SKIE-LARK The several ways to take them and when taken how to order them THere is a great difference between one Skie-lark and another for one may not be worth two pence when another shall be worth two pounds This Bird is very hardy and will live upon any food in a manner so that he have but once a weeks Turff of Three-leav'd-grass As the Wood-lark hath young ones in March the Skie-lark hath rarely any till the middle of May. They commonly build in Corr or thick high grass Meadows and seldom have more than four take them at a fortnight old and at firâ—â— give them minced sheeps-heart with a chopt hard Egg mingled when they can feed alone give them Bread Hemp-seed and Oat-meal let the Bread be mingled with Egg and the Hemp-seed bruised Let them have Sand in the bottom of their Cage Pearches therein are to no purpose As the Wood-lark is taken with Net and Hobby so may the Skie-lark be taken also They are taken likewise in dark nights with a Trammel this Net is about six and thirty yards long and six yards over run through with six ribs of Pack-thread which ribs at the
Service As to the several sorts of Food we shall prove in the sequel that every part of it is both nourishing and natural to all Horses Constitutions so that consequently t is not only allowable but necessary And to prove this needs no more than to ride an ordinary Horse drawn clean a days Hunting or three Heats and a Course against the best of those Horses which are kept by such Persons who think that half a Peck a Day and fetching his water at the next Spring is Horsemanship sufficient and they will find by keeping and Exercise the Ordinary Horse will become long winded and stick at Mark when the other that is Foul-fed and fat will soon give out for want of Wind or otherwise if he be hardy will dy under the Spur whereas if the untrained Horse had been rightly ordered he would have worsted Twenty such Horses Now to the Charges of Keeping Fifty Shillings a Year disburs'd for Bread besides Hay Straw Corn and Physick which all Horses of Value must be allowed is all that will be requisite to keep an Horse in as good State for Ordinary Hunting as any Horse whatsoever Lastly by being Skilful in the Art of Keeping this Advantage will insue that no Distemper relating either to the Head or Body can conceal themselves from his keepers knowledge whose Skill will inform him how to put a stop to them before they have made any considerable Advances to the Horses Prejudice And he that grudges so small an Expence on so noble and useful a Creature as an Horse is deserves never to come on the back of one CHAP. II. Of Breeding the Choice of a Stallion and Mares with some general Remarks on Marks and Colours SInce Creation and Generation preceeded the Art of Riding and that the first thing which is of Course to be treated of is the Choice of an Horse fit for this exercise of Hunting I shall speak somthing cursorily of the Art of Breeding before I treat of the Hunter ready for service To them therefore that have grounds convenient for Breed I shall direct this part of my discourse and lay them down some few Rules that may be serviceable to them though I shall be as brief as possible and refer them to Markham de Grey Morgan Almond and Farring Compleated which is collected from the forementioned Authors Markham and de Grey all which have treated of the Art of Breeding more at large First therefore I wonld advise you to buy either an Arabian Horse if you can procure him a Spaniard a Turk or a Barb for your Stallion that is well shap'd of a good Colour to beautify your Race and well mark'd to agree with most mens Opinions though otherwise they are not so significative as Mr. Blundevile and his Italian Author Frederigo Grissone would have us believe To begin with the Arabian Merchants and other Gentlemen that have travell'd those parts report that the right Arabians are valu'd at an incredible as well as an intolerable Rate being priz'd at Five hundred others say at one two and three thousand Pounds an Horse that the Arabs are as careful of keeping the Genealogies of their Horses as Princes in keeping their Pedigrees that they keep them with Medals and that each Son's Portion is usually two Suits of Arms two Cymeters and one of these Horses The Arabs boast that they will ride fourscore miles a day without drawing Bitt which has been perform'd by several of our English Horses But much more was atchiev'd by an High way-man's Horse who having taken a Booty on the same day rode him from London to York being One hundred and Fifty Miles Notwithstanding their great value and the difficulty in bringing them from Scanderoon to England by Sea yet by the care and at the charge of some Breeders in the North the Arabian Horse is no stranger to those parts where Persons who have the curiosity may as I presume at this Day see some of the Race if not a true Arabian Stallion The Spanish Horse according to the Duke of Newcastle is the Noblest Horse in the world and the most Beautiful that can be no Horse is so curiously shap'd all over from Head to Croup and he is absolutely the best Stallion in the world whether you design your Breed for the Mannage the War the Pad Hunting or for Running Horses But as he is excellent so he wants not for price Three or Four hundred Pistols being a common Rate for a Spanish Horse Several have been sold for Seven hundred Eight hundred and a Thousand Pistols a piece and One particular Horse called el Bravo that was sent to the Arch-Duke Leopold was held worth as much as a Mannour of a Thousand Crowns a year The best Spanish Horses are bred in Andalouzia and particularly at Cordova where the King has many Studds of Mares and so have several of the Spanish Nobility and Gentry Now besides the great price at first the Charges of the Journey from Spain to England will be very considerable for first he must travel from Andalouzia to Bilbo or St Sebastien the neerest Ports to England and is at least Four hundred Miles and in that hot Country you cannot with safety travel your Horse above twenty Miles a day then there is the Expence of your Groom and Farrier besides the casualty of Lameness Sickness and Death so that though he do prove an Extraordinary good Horse by that time he arrives at your own home he will likewise be an Extraordinary dear one The Turk is little inferior to the Spanish Horse in Beauty but somewhat odd-shap'd his head being somewhat like that of a Camel He hath excellent Eyes a thin Neck excellently risen and somewhat large of body his Croup is like that of a Mule his Legs not so underlimb'd as those of the Barb but very sinewy good Pasterns and good Hoofs They never amble but trot very well and are accounted at this present better Stallions for Gallopers than Barbs as when I come to speak of them I shall shew Some Merchants affirm that there cannot be a more noble and divertive sight to a Lover of Horses than to walk into the Pastures near Constantinople about Soyling-time where he may see many hundred gallant Horses tethred and every Horse has his Attendant or Keeper with his little Tent plac'd near him to lie in that he may look to him and take care to shift him to fresh Grass as occasion requires The Price of a Turk is commonly One hundred or One hundred and Fifty Pounds a Horse and when bought t is difficult to get a Pass the Grand Segnior being so very strict that He seldom but upon extraordinary oecasions permits any of his Horses to be exported his Dominions But if when obtain'd you travel by Land without a Turk or two for your Convoy you will be sure to have them seiz'd on by the way Then as in the former so here you will find the same difficulties of a long
and you shall find the former like his Sire in all respects and the other fitter for the Cart than Hunting as being a dull heavy flabby scarce animated Clod and all this proceeds from the Humidity of the Air and Earth From hence you may infer that 't is not only Generation but as I may term it Education that makes a compleat Horse and such yours will be if you order them according to the former Directions for you may with ease break the Colt that is by such good management made gentle and half-back'd to your hand But I have dwelt longer on this Subject than I intended my business being chiefly to inform the Groom not the Master what belong'd to his Office and therefore I will wander no further from my purpose but leave it to the Rider to follow his own Method in rendring Colts fit for his Masters Service whilst I give some few Directions to those Gentlemen who will not bestow either trouble or charges on Breeding or have the Will but not the Convenience to do it how to elect an Horse fit for this Exercise The way for a Gentleman to furnish himfelf with an Horse that may be worth training for Hunting is either to enquire out some noted Breeder of which there are many in the North or else to go to some famous Fair as Malton and Rippon Fairs in Yorkshire the former held on the 23. day of September yearly and the latter on May day Or to Richmonds in the same Shire which as I am inform'd does now of late years exceed both the fore-mention'd being scituate in the middle of the most celebrated part of the breeding Country its Fairs are held in Easter week and at Rood tyde Northampton has several Fairs in the year likewise as on the 23. day of April the 8th of September 17th of November with several others There are several other Fairs as Lenton-Fair in Notinghamshire Pankridg-Fair in Staffordshire c. which for brevities sake I omit At any of these places he may make choice of a Horse which as near as can be ought to have these following Shapes viz. His Head ought to be lean large and long his Chaul thin and open his Ears small and pricked or if they be somewhat long provided they stand upright like those of a Fox it is usually a sign of Mettle and Toughness His Forehead long and broad not flat and as we term it Mare-fac'd but rising in the midst like that of a Hare the Feather being plac'd above the Top of his Eye the contrary being thought by some to betoken blindness His Eyes full large and bright his Nostrils wide and red within for an open Nostril betokens a good Wind his Mouth large deep in the Wykes and hairy His Thropple Weasand or Windpipe big loose and streight when he is rein'd in by the Bridle for if when he bridles it bends in like a Bow which is called Cock-throppled it very much hinders the free passage of his Wind His Head must be so set on to his Neck that there must be a space felt between his Neck and his Chaul for to be Bull-neck'd is uncomely to sight and prejudicial to the Horses wind as aforesaid His Crest should be firm thin and well risen his Neck long and straight yet not loose and pliant which the Northern-men term Withy-cragg'd his Breast strong and broad his Chest deep his Chine short his Body large and close shut up to the â—ucklebone his Ribbs round like a Barrel his Belly being hid within them His Fillets large his Buttocks rather oval than broad being well let down to the Cascoins His Cambrels upright and not bending which is called by some sickle-hough'd though some hold it a sign of Toughness and Speed His Legs clean flat and streight His Joynts short well knit and upright especially betwixt the Pasthorns and the Hoof having but little Hair on his Fetlocks His Hoofs black strong and hollow and rather long and narrow than big and flat And lastly his Main and Tail should be long and thin rather than thick which is counted by some a mark of Dulness As to his Colour and Marks I rather incline to believe them grateful to the Eye than any infallible Indexes of Goodness for as the Goodness or Badness of a Man does not consist in his Complexion but in his inward Vertues so neither do Colour or Marks certainly demonstrate the Goodness or Badness of an Horse because his Qualifications proceed from his inward Disposition But yet I wholly dissent from the opinion of Mr. Morgan p. 31 who holds That Colour and Marks are no more assurance of a good Horse than the having a Feather in a Mans Hat does prove him a good Man or a bad inferring that inherent Colours are of no greater Eminency or Value than those external ones are which may be taken or laid aside at a man 's own will and pleasure Now I say that altho Marks and Colour do not absolutely give testimony unto us of a Horses goodness yet they as well as his shape do intimate to us in some part his Disposition and Qualities For Nature not being defective frames every part of the same matter whereof the whole is formed and therefore the Foetus being formed of the copulative Seed of its Sire and Dam does from them derive as well the accidental as the more essential Qualities of its temperament and composition And for this Reason Hair it self may osten times receive the variation of its Colour from the different temperature of the Subject out of which it is produced And to confirm this I dare pass my word that wherever you shall meet with an Horse that hath no White about him especially in his Fore-head though he be otherwise of the best reputed Colours as Bay Black Sorrel c. That Horse I dare affirm to be of a dogged and sullen disposition especially if he have a small pink Eye and a narrow Face with a Nose bending like a Hawks Bill But yet I am not positive that Horses even of the most celebrated Colours and Marks answerable do always prove the best because I have seen those Horses worsted by Others whose Marks and Colour have been esteemed the worst as bright Sorrel and Mouse-black with bald Faces and all the Leggs white above the knee But I rather attribute the Cause thereof to the Ignorance of the Rider that had the training of those best marked Horses than to any defect in Nature for Nature is no Counterfeit as Art often is to make a thing shew to the Eye contrary to what it is in reality And therefore as I would not have men put too great Confidence in Marks and Colours so I would not have them esteemed of so lightly as the former comparison of Mr. Morgans would make them for it is a constant and inseparable quality for Horses to produce Hair which is given them by Nature as a Tegument and Defence against the Cold and if it
outward parts of the Body will fall down into his Heels and so cause gowtiness and swelling I need not trouble you with the outward signs of this Distemper they are evident to the Eye but tho every Groom can inform you when a Horse is said to have the grease fallen into his Heels yet may be he cannot instruct you in the cause why Travail disperseth it for a time and when the Horse is cold it returns with more violence than before The reason therefore is this The Grease which by indiscreet Exercise and negligence in keeping is melted and fallen into his Legs standing still in the Stable cools and congeals and so unites it self with other ill Humours which flow to the affected part so that they stop the natural Circulation of the Blood and cause inflamations and swellings as aforesaid but Travail producing warmth in his Limbs thaws as it were the congeal'd Humours and disperses them throughout the Body in general till Rest gives them opportunity to unite and settle again Now tho most Grooms are of opinion that this Distemper is not to be prevented by care or caution that when it has once seaz'd a horse it remains incureable yet they are mistaken in both for by Art it may be prevented and by Art cured altho the cure is so difficult to be wrought that a Groom cannot be too careful to prevent it As for the nward Grease which is in his Stomack Bag and Guts if when once ' melted it be not remov'd by Art Medicine and good keeping it putrifies and breeds those mortal Diseases which inevitably destroy the Horse tho it be half a year or three quarters of a year after And this is generally the source of most Feavers Surfeits Consumptions c. and such other Distempers which carry off infinite numbers of horses for want of the Farriers knowledge in the first Causes of the Distemper which to prevent you shall follow the ensuing Directions After by feeling on his Ribs you have found his Fat soft and unsound you shall feele his Chaule and if you find any fleshy substance or great round Kirnells or Knots you may be assured that as his outward Fat is unsound so inwardly he is full of glut and pursive by means of gross and tough Humours cleaving to the hollow places of the Lungs stopping so his Windpipe that his Wind cannot find free passage nor his Body be capable of much Labour Therefore the chief end and Intention of Art is by good sound Food to enseame and harden his Fat and by moderate Exercise warm cloathing and gentle Phisick to cleanse away his inward Glut that his Wind and other parts being freed from all grossness his courage and activity in any labour or service may appear to be more than redoubled The same Observations you must make from his Flank which you will find alwaies to correspond with the Ribs and Chaule for till he is drawn clean it will feel thick to your gripe but when he is enseam'd you will perceive nothing but two thin skins and by these three Observations of the Ribs Flank and Chaps you may at any time pass an indifferent judgment of your Horses being in a good condition or a bad When you have made these Remarks you shall sift your Horse a handful or two and no more of good old sound Oates and give them to him to preserve his Stomack from cold Humours that might oppress it by drinking fasting and likewise to make him drink the better When he hath eaten them pull off his Coller and rub his Head Face Ears and Nape of the Neck with a clean Rubbing Cloth made of Hemp for 't is soveraign for the Head and dissolveth all gross and filthy Humours Then take a small Snaffle and wash it in fair water and put it on his head drawing the Reins through the Headstall to prevent his slipping it over his head and so tye him up to the Rack and dress him thus First in your Right-hand take a Curry-Comb suitable to your Horses skin as if your horses coat be short and smooth then must the Curry-Comb be blunt but if long and rough then must the Teeth be long and and sharp standing with your Face opposite to the Horses hold the Left cheek of the Headstall in your Left-hand and Curry him with a good hard hand from the Root of his Ears all a long his Neck to his Shoulders then go over all his Body with a more moderate hand then Curry his Buttocks down to the hinder Cambrell with an hard hand again then change your hand and laying your Right Arm over his Back joyn your right-side to his left and so Curry him gently from the top of his Withers to the lower part of his shoulder ever now and then fetching your stroke over the left side of his breast and so Curry him down to Knee but no further Then Curry him all under his Belly near his Fore-bowels and in a word all over very well his Legs under the Knees and Cambrels only excepted And as you dress'd the left-side so must you the right likewise Now by the way take notice whether your Horse keeps a riggling up and down biting the Rack-staves and now and then offering to snap at you or lifting up his Leg to strike at you when you are Currying him if he do 't is an apparent sign of his displeasure by reason of the sharpness of the Comb and therefore you must file the Teeth thereof more blunt but if you perceive that he plays these or such like Tricks through Wantonness and the Pseasure he takes in the Friction then you shall ever now and then correct him with your Whip gently for his Waggishness This Currying is only to raise the Dust and therefore after you have thus curried him you must take either a Horse-tail nail d to an Handle or a clean dusting-Cloath of Cotten and with it strike off the loose Dust rais'd by your Curry-comb Then dress him all over with the French-Brush both Head Body and Legs to the very Fet-locks observing always to cleanse the Brush from the filth it gathers from the bottom of the Hair by rubbing it on the curry-comb Then dust him the second time Then with your Hand wet in water rub his body all over and as near as you can leave no loose hairs behind you and with your wet hands pick and cleanse his Eys Ears Nostrils Sheath Cods and Tuel and so rub him till he be as dry as at first Then take an Hair-patch and rub his Body all over but especially his Fore-bowels under his Belly his Flank and between his hinder Thighs Lastly wipe him over with a fine white linnen Rubber When you have thus drest him take a large Saddle-cloath made on purpose that may reach down to the Spurring-place and lap it about his Body then clap on his Saddle and throw a cloth over him for fear of catching cold Then take two Ropes of Straw twisted
of the Sun the Air will be so mild and temperate as it will rather invigorate than prey upon his spirits and more increase his Strength than impair it Neither tho we disallow of Early and Late airings need we be at a loss to bring down our Horses fat and from being pursive and too high in Flesh to reduce him to cleanness and a more moderate state of Body For if you do but observe this one Rule of keeping a fat Horse so much longer out at a time both Morning and Evening you will undoubtedly obtain your end by such long Airing joyn'd with true sound Heats which you may expect indeed but will never find from those that are shorter how early and late soever for this Method joyn'd with good feeding is the best Prescription can be given in this case and t is from the length of your Airings only that you must hope to bring your Horse to a perfect Wind and true Courage And therefore a Horse that is high in Flesh is a fitter subject to work on than One that is low because he is better able to endure Labour whereas the other must of necessity be so favoured in training to improve his Strength and Flesh that he is in danger without he be under the care of a very Skilful keeper of proving thick wind ed for want of true Exercise in Training When you are returned from Airing and are dismounted lead your Horse on the Straw which as I told you before should always lye before the Stable door and there by Whistling and stirring up the Litter under his Belly will provoke him to Stale which a little practice will bring him to and is advantagious for the Horses Health and the keeping of your Stable clean Then lead him into his Staul which ought likewise to be well littered and having ty'd up his head to the empty Rack take off his Saddle rubb his Body and Leggs all over with the French-brush then with the Hair-patch and last of all with the Woollen cloath Then you shall cloath him with a Linnen cloath next to his Body and over that a Canvas cloath and both made so fit as to cover his Breast and to come pretty low down to his Legs which is the Turkish way of Cloathing who are the most curious People sales the Duke of Newcaslle in keeping their Horses and esteem them the most of any Nation Over the forementioned put a Body-cloath of six or eight Straps which is better than a Sircingle and Pad stuft with wisps because this keeps his Belly in Shape and is not so subject to hurt him Now these Cloathes will be sufficient for him at his first Stabling because being inur'd to the cool Air he will not be so apt to take cold the weather likewise at that season being indifferently warm but when sharp weather approaches and that you find his Hair rise about his outward parts that are uncloathed as Neck Gascoins c. then add another Cloath which ought to be of Woolen and for any Horse bred under this Climate and kept only for ordinary Hunting this is cloathing sufficient Now the design of cloathings is only by their help joyn'd to the warmth of the Stable and the Litter which must alwaies lye under the Horse to keep his Body in such a moderate Natural Heat as shall be sufficient to assist Nature that skilful Physitian in expelling her Enemies by dissolving those raw and gross Humours which are subject to annoy the Horse and which would very much prejudice him if they were not removed which warm cloathing does in a great measure by dispersing them into the outward parts and expelling them by sweating as he sleeps and lyes down which will be a meanes to purge his Body and keep it clean from glut and redundant Humours But yet as in all things the golden mean is best there is a meane to be observ'd too here for as too few Cloathes will not assist Nature sufficiently in the expulsion of her Enemies so too many will force her too much and cause weakness in your Horse by too violent sweatings Therefore you must have a care of following the Example of some ignorant Grooms who because they have acquired a false Reputation by living in some Noblemans or Gentlemans Service that are noted Sportsmen think they are able to give Laws to all their Fraternity and therefore without any reason heap Multiplicity of Cloaths on the Horse as if they meant to bury him in Woolen You must know that both the temperature of the Weather and the State of his Body are to be observed and that all Horses are not to be cloathed alike Your fine-Skined Horses as the Barb Turk Spanish horse c. require more clothes then our English common Horses that are bred in a colder climate and have naturally thicker skin 's and a longer Coat But that you may not erre I have told you already how you are to cloath your Horse and therefore shall only add this one General Rule That a Rough Coat shews want of Cloaths and a Smooth Coat Cloathing sufficient ever observing that by his Countenance his Dung and other outward Characters which I shall by and by give you more at large you perceive your Horse to to be in health and yet notwithstanding your Horses Coat still stares you must add more cloathes till it lye as on the other hand if it will lye withe the assist of a single Linnen Cloath it is sufficient But if when he has been in keeping some time you perceive him apt to sweat in the Night 't is a sign that he is over-fed and wants exercise but if he sweat at his first coming from Grass you must know that there is cause rather to encrease than diminish the Cloathes I have alloted at his first Housing for it proceeds from the foul humours which oppress Nature and when by exercise they are evacuated Nature will cease working and he will continue in a temperate state of Body all the year after When he is cloath'd up pick his Feet cleane with an Iron Picker and wash his Hoofs clean with a Spung dipt in fair watet and then dry them with Straw or a Linnen cloath and if there be occasion and that you find your Horses Legs durty you may bathe them likewise only you must be sure to rub them dry before you go out of your Stable then leave him on his Snaffle for an hour or more which will assist his Appetite When an Hour is expired you shall come to him again and having tuck'd an handful of Hay and dusted it you shall let your Horse tease it out of your hand till he hath eaten it then pull off his Bridle and having rub'd his Head and Neck clean with the Hempen-cloth as before pull his Eares and stop his Nostrils to make him snore which will help to bring away the moist Humours which oppress his Brain and then put on his Coller and give him a
Quarter of Oats clean drest in a Sive having first made his Locker or Manger clean with a Wispe of Straw and a Cloth Whilst he is eating his Corn you shall sweep out your Stable and see that all things are neat about him and turning up his Cloaths you shall rub his Fillets Buttocks and Gascoins over with the hairpatch and after that with a Woolen-cloth then spread a clean Flannel Fillet-cloth over his Fillets and Buttocks which will make his Coat lye smooth and turn down his Housing-cloaths upon it Then anoint his Hoofs round from the Cronet to the Toe with this Ointment viz. Take Four Ounces of Venice Turpentine Three Ounces of Bees wax Two Ounces of the best Rosin One pound of Dogs-grease Half a Pint of Train Oyle Melt all these Ingredients except the Turpentine together being melted remove them from the Fire and then put in the Turpentine and keep it stirring till all be well incorporated then put it in a Gally pot and when it is cold cover it close from dust and reserve it for use After this pick his Feet with an Iron Picker and stop them with Cow-dung and by this time your Horse if he be not a very slow Feeder will have eaten his Oates which if you find he does with a good Stomack sift him another Quart and throw them to feed him by little and little whilst he eats with an Appetite but if he fumbles with his Corn then give him no more at that time And this I think a better Direction than to prescribe a set quantity of Provender as all Authors I have yet met with have done For without doubt no certain Quantity of Meat can be allotted for all sorts of Horses any more than for all sorts of Men and therefore proportion the quantity to the Horses Appetite but be sure at all times give him his full feeding for that will keep his Body in better state and temper and increase his strength and vigor Whereas on the contrary to keep your Horse always sharp-set is the ready way to procure a Surfeit if at any time he can come at his fill of Provender according to the common Proverb Two hungry Meales make the third a Glutton But tho you perceive he gather Flesh too fast upon such home-feeding yet be sure not to stint him for it but only increase his Labour and that will assist both his Strength and Wind. When these things are done you shall dust a pretty of Hay and throw it down to him on his Litter after you have taken it up under him and then shutting up the Windows and Stable door leave him till One a Clock in the Afternoon at which time you shall come to him and having rubb'd over his Head Neck Fillets Buttocks and Legs as before with the Hair-patch and Woollen-cloath you shall feed him as before and then leave him till the time of his Evening watring which should be about three of the clock in Winter and four in Summer and then having put back his foul Litter and swept away that and his Dung you shall dress and saddle him as before and mounting him you shall rake him to the water and after drinking and galloping you shall air him along by the River side till you think it time to go home then order him in all points as to rubbing feeding stopping his Feet c. as you did in the morning and having fed him at six a clock be sure feed him again about Nine and having litter'd him well and thrown him Hay enough to serve him for all Night you shall leave him till the next Morning And as you have spent this day so you must order him in all respects for a fortnight together and by that time his Flesh will be so harden'd and his Wind so improv'd his Mouth will be so quicken'd and his Gallop brought to so good a stroke that he will be fit to be put to moderate Hunting Now during this Fortnights keeping you are to make several Observations as to the Nature and Disposition of your Horse the temper of his Body the course of his Digestion c. and order him accordingly As first if he be of a churlish Disposition you must reclaim him by Severity if of a loving temper you must win him by Kindness Secondly you must observe whether he be a foul Feeder or of a nice Stomach if he be quick at his Meat and retain a good Stomach then four times of full Feeding in a Day and a Nights space is sufficient but if he be a slender Feeder and slow at his Meat then you must give but a little at once and often as about every two hours for fresh Meat will draw on his Appetite and you must always leave a little Meat in his Locker for him to eat at his own leisure betwixt the times of his Feeding and when at any time you find any left you shall sweep it away and give him fresh and expose that to the Sun and Air which will prevent mustiness and reduce it to its first sweetness before it was blown upon Now as to the manner of Feeding you may sharpen his Stomach by change of Meat as giving one Meal clean Oats another Oats and split-Beans and when you have brought him to eat Bread you may give him another meal of Bread always observing to give him oftenest that which he likes best or if you please you may give him both Corn and Bread at the same time provided you give him that last which he eats best and which has the best Digestion T is observ'd of some Horses that they are of so hot a Constitution that without they may drink at every bit they cannot eat and those Horses usually carry no Belly in this case therefore you must let a Pale of Water stand continually before them or at least offer them Water at Noon besides what they fetch abroad at their ordinary times Next you are to observe the nature of his Digestion that is whether he retains his Food long which is the sign of a bad Digestion or whether Nature does expel the Dung more frequently which if he do and that his Dung be loose and bright t is a sign of a good habit of Body but if he dung hard and seldom then on the contrary t is a sign of a dry Body and therefore to remedy this you shall once in a day give him a handful or two of Oats well wash'd in good strong Ale for this will loosen his Body and keep it moist and you will sind it also good for his Wind notwithstand-the opinion of some to the contrary CHAP V. Of the Second Fortnights Diet and of his first Hunting and what Chases are most proper to Train him BY that time you have spent this Fortnight according to the foregoing Rules your Horse will be in a pretty good state of Body for the gross Humors will be dry'd in his Body and his Flesh will begin to be harden'd
Heath c. then to stoop and run more on the Shoulders if amongst Mole-hills or over high ridges and furrows then to gallop more roundly and in less compass or according to the vulgar phrase two up and two down that thereby he may strike his Furrow clear and avoid setting his Fore-feet in the Bottom of it and by that means fall over But by this way of galloping tho he should happen to set his Feet in a furrow yet carrying his body so round and resting on the Hand in his gallop would prevent his Falling and to this perfection nothing but use and such moderate Exercise can bring him According to these Rules you may spend your Time in Hunting till about Three a Clock in the Afternoon at which time you shall have him home in a foot pace as you came out in the Morning and besure that he be cool before you bring him out of the Field and as you are going home consider with your self whether or no he hath sweat a little for you must not sweat him much the first time but if not then gallop him gently on some Skelping Earth till he sweat at the Roots of his Ears a little on his Neck and in his Flanck but it must be done of his own voluntary motion without the compulsion of Whip and Spur and then when he is cool as aforesaid have him home and Stable him and besure avoid walking him in hand to cool him for fear he cool too fast or washing him for fear of causing an obstruction of the natural course of the Humours which are thought by some Horse-men to abound most in Winter and by that means cause an inflamation in his Legs which is the Parent of the Scratches When you set him up in his Staul which must be well litter'd against his coming home tye up his Head to the Ring with the Bridle and then rub him well with dry Straw all over both Head Neck Fore-bowels Belly Flank Buttocks and Legs and afterwards rub his Body over with a dry cloth till there be not a wet hair left about him then take off his Saddle and rub the place where the Saddle stood dry likewise and so cloath him with his ordinary Cloaths with all speed for fear least he take cold and if you think him too hot throw a spare cloath over him to prevent his cooling too fast which you may abate when you please and so let him stand on his Snaffle Two Hours or more stirring him with your Whip now and then in his Staul to to keep his Legs and Joynts from growing stiff When that time is expired and you think it may be throughout cold then come to him and having drawn his Bridle rubbed his Head and pick'd his Feet from Durt and Gravel which he may have gather'd abroad put on his Coller and sift him a Quart or three Pints of Oates and mix with them a handful of clean dusted Hempseed and give them to him but give him not above the quantity prescribed for fear of taking away his stomack which will be very much weakned through the heat of his body and want of water Then remove the spare-cloth if you have not done it before for fear of keeping him hot too long and when he has eaten his Corn throw a pretty quantity of Hay clean dusted on his Litter and let him rest two or three Hours or there abouts Whilest you are absent from him you shall prepare him a good Mash made of half a Peck of Mault well ground and water that is boiling hot observing to put no more water than your Mault will sweeten and your Horse will drink and then stir them together with a Rudder or stick and then cover it over with cloths till the water has extracted the strength of the Malt which will be evident to your taste and touch for t will be almost as sweet as Honey and feel ropy like Birdlime then when it is cold that you can scarce perceive it to smoak offer it to your Horse but not before lest the steam ascend into his Nostrils and thereby offend him with its scent and when he has drunk the water let him if he please eat the Malt also But if he refuse to drink yet you must give him no other water that night but by placing it in one Corner at the head of his Stall in such manner that he may not throw it down which you may effect by nailing a Spar across before the Bucket let it stand by him all Night that he may drink at his pleasure Now you will find this Mash or as some call it Horse-Caudle very beneficial to your Horse on several Accounts for it will comfort his Stomach and keep his Body in a due temperate heat after his days Hunting it will cleanse and bring away all manner of Grease and gross humours which have been dissolved by this Days labour and the fume of the Malt-grains after he has drunk the water will disperse watry Humours which might otherwise annoy his head and is allow'd by all Horsemen to be very advantageous on that account When he has eaten his Mash then strip him of his Clothes and run him over with your Curry-comb French Brush Hair Patch and Wollen Cloath and clothe him up again and then cleanse his Legs as well as his Body of all Dirt and Filth which may annoy them as you have been directed in Dressing then remove him into another Stall that you may not wet his Litter and bathe his Legs all over from the Knees with warm Beef-broth or which is better with a quart of warm Urine in which four Ounces of Salt-Peter hath been dissolv'd then rub his Legs dry as when you came in from Water set him into his Stall and give him a good Home-feeding of Oats or Bread which he likes best or both and having shook good store of Litter under him that he may rest the better and thrown him Hay enough for all night on it shut up your Stable close and leave him to his Rest till morning The next morning come to him betwixt six and seven a clock for that is time enough because the Mornings rest is as pleasant and refreshing to the Horse as it is to a Man for then the meat being concocted the sleep is more sweet and the brain is at that time more thin and pure If he be laid disturb him not but stay till he rises of his own accord and to know this you ought to have a private peep hole but if he be risen then go to him and the first thing you must do is to put back his Dung from his Litter and to observe what Colour it is of observe whether it be greasie and shining outwardly and break it with your Feet that you may see whether it be so inwardly for if it be greasie and foul either within or without which you may know by its outward shining and by spots like Soap which will
do especially vary in colour being sometimes all white and therefore like unto Goats except in their hair which is shorter In their Horns they differ not much from a Hart except in quantity and that they grow out of their Heads like Fingers out of the Hand such is this Fallow-Deer being therefore called Cervus Palmatas As for their other parts they much resemble a Roe-buck Their flesh is excellent for nourishment but their blood ingenders too much Melancholy Now know the Buck is Fawn'd about the latter end of May and its nature and properties differ little from the Hart. There is not so much art and skill in Lodging a Buck as in the Harbouring a Hart neither is there required so much drawing after but onely you are to judge by the View and mark what Grove or Covert he entreth for he will not wander and rove up and down so often as a Hart nor so frequently change his Layr He maketh his Fewmishings in divers manners and forms as the Hart doth according to the diversity of Food and time of the day Morning and Evening but most commonly they are round The Hart and Buck differ thus in parallel When the Buck is hunted he oft-times betakes himself to such strong Holds and Coverts as he is most acquainted with not flying far before the Hounds not crossing nor doubling using no such subtleties as the Hart is accustomed to The Buck will beat a Brook but seldom a great River as the Hart but it must not be so deep nor can he stay so long at Soil as the Hart will do onely he leapeth lightlier at Rut than the Hart and groaneth or troateth as a Hart belleth but with a lower Voice ratling in the Throat And here is to be noted they love not one another nor will they come near each other's Layr Buck Venison is incomparable food and is dressed like Hart-Venison onely this last will be preserved longer than the former The Buck herds more than the Hart and lieth in the driest places but if he be at large unconfined within the limitary Precincts of a Park he will herd but little from May to August because the flies trouble him He takes great delight in hilly places but the Dales are his joy to feed in Bucks have seldom or never any other Relays than the old Hounds The greatest subtlety a Huntsman need use in the Hunting of the Buck is to beware of Hunting Counter or Change because of the plenty of Fallow-Deer which use to come more directly upon the Hounds than the Red-Deer doth Now upon the breaking up of a Buck the Hounds Reward is the same with that of the Hart. Roe Hunting THe Roe-Buck is called by the Greeks and Latines by one name viz. Dorcas These beasts are very plentiful in Africa Germany and Helvetian Alps. Their swiftness doth not onely appear upon the Earth but also in the Waters cutting them when they swim as with Oars and therefore they love the Lakes and strong Streams breaking the Floods to come at fresh Pasture feeding deliciously on sweet Rushes and Bull-rushes Horns onely grow upon the Male and are set with six or seven branches not palmed but branchy yet shorter than Follow Deer They differ not much from common Deer but in their Horn and whereas the Horns of other Beasts are hollow towards the root whereinto entereth a certain long substance the Horns of these as also of the vulgar Buck and Elk are solid whithout any such emptiness onely they are full of Pores It is supposed by the Learned that a Roe was called in Greek Dorcas by reason of the quickness of her sight and that she can see as perfectly in the night as in the day Physitians have observed a certain viscous humour about her bowels which by anointing Eyes that are dark heavy and near blinde quickens the sight most wonderfully It is reported of them that they never wink no not when they sleep for which conceit their blood is prescribed for them who are dim-sighted or pur-blinde The tail of this beast is lesser and shorter than a Fallow-Deer's insomuch that it is doubtful whether it be a tail or not They keep for the most part in the Mountains among the Rocks being very swift and when they are hunted Martial saith they hang upon the Rocks with their Horns to delude the Dogs after a strange manner ready to fall and kill themselves and yet receive no harm where the Dogs dare not approach as appeareth in his Epigram Pendentem fumma Capream de rupe videbis Casuram speres decipit illa Canes This might be more properly meant of the Wild Goat They are most easily taken in the Woods When they are chased they desire to run against the wind because the coldness of the Air refresheth them in their course and therefore they who hunt them place their Dogs with the Wind. They are often taken by the counterfeiting of their Voice which the skilful Huntsman doth by the assistance of a Lease in his Mouth This Beast is very easie to hunt and goeth to Rut or Tourn most properly in October the extent whereof consists of fifteen days and never parteth with the Doe till Fawning-time The Doe finding her self near her time secretly departs from the Buck and sawneth as far from him and his knowledge as she can for could he finde the Fawn he would kill it Now when the Fawn grows big and can run and feed she then returns to the Buck again very lovingly with all expedition the cause whereof is the Roes fawning Twins which are commonly Buck and Doe so that being accustomed together in youth they do love to keep company ever after As soon as the Roe-Buck cometh from Rut he casts his Horns and there are few after two years old which Mew not at Alhallontide but their Heads grow quickly out again The Venison of a Roe is never out of season being never fat and therefore they are to be hunted at any time onely this some favour ought to be shewn the Doe whilst she is big with Fawn and afterwards till her Fawn is able to shift for himself besides some Roe-Does have been killed with five Fawns in their belly They usually when hunted take a large first Ring and afterwards hunt the Hounds When they are hunted they turn much and often and come back upon the Dogs directly When they can no longer endure they then take Soil as the Hart doth and will hang by a bough in such manner that nothing shall appear of them above Water but their Snout and will suffer the Dogs to come just upon them before they will stir He is not called by the skilful in the Art of Hunting a Great Roe-Buck but a Fair Roe-Buck The Herd of them is called a Beavy And if he hath not Beavygrease on his Tail when he is broken up he is more fit to be Dogs-meat than Mans-meat The Hounds must be Rewarded with the Bowels the Blood and Feet slit asunder