Note 591 — Chapter XXXVII · TRAINING THE PASSAGE SAKER TO COMMON HERON[580]

A saker (unlike a peregrine) should not get a full feed of heron’s flesh, nor, generally speaking, of any water-bird’s flesh. Some sakers after a full meal of duck or heron will cast their gorge, sicken, and die. For some reason the flesh of the night-heron and of the purple heron is not injurious—at least I have never lost a saker by feeding one on the flesh of these birds. When entering a hawk to a difficult quarry, it is always advisable to kill at least one “train” under her, and to let her plume the feathers a little and eat some of the flesh: pigeons’ flesh may then be substituted. Vide page 188, note 789.