The booke of falconrie or havvking for the onely delight and pleasure of all noblemen and gentlemen : collected out of the best authors, aswell Italians as Frenchmen, and some English practises withall concerning falconrie / heretofore published by George Turbervile, Gentleman.

Of such evils as happen to Hawkes in their chaps and mouthes.

THe chaps and mouth of a hawke is subiect to sundry dis∣eases, and in the hawkes mouth there are wont to grow certaine white peeces of flesh, and sometimes tending some∣what to blacke, which doe hinder the hawke from her feeding, by meane whereof without any other euident cause, shée be∣commeth leane and low. Wherefore it shall bee very necessary to looke into her mouth somtimes, both in the pallate, and vn∣der the tong, beeause that many times, there especially, doe grow vp certaine péeces of flesh like in shape to a grain of pep∣per, sometimes lesse, sometimes bigger than a pepper graine, which it shall be necessary to cut away, eyther with a payre of cysers, if you may commodiously doeit, or with Roch allome burnt, or with a drop of oyle of brimstone, applyed vpon a lit∣tle cotton, w^t an yron vnto the place, taking away the corrupt flesh. You must mundisie the place with hony of Roses, and bumbast, or lynt, vntill you sée the quicke flesh vnderneath it, then afterwards vnto the hony of roses, you may apply and adde a litle pouder of masticke, or incense, to consolidate the wound, washing it sometimes among with white wine.

Moreouer and besides this, there is wont to happen vnto hawkes in the mouth, a certaine frownce or impediment, which doth hinder their féeding, as the other péeces of flesh do, of which I haue spoken before. This frownce may bée verie well perceyued and discerned with the eye, and will appeare also by the féeding of the hawke.

Diuers times this kind of euill is cured with hony of Ro∣ses, & with the powder of nut-shels bound in a péece of linnen cloth, well bathed and stiped together, and thrust vnder the hote ymbers vntill it may be brought vnto fine powder: this may you continue twice a day, as long as shall be néedfull.

But if this will not serue the turne, it shall bée very necessa∣ry to mortifie, and kill the frownce with Aqua fortis, such as

Goldsmithes doe vse to part their mettals withall, hauing re∣spect not to touch it any where, sauing only vpon the frownce, and part diseased, for that it will fret the good & sound flesh.

After you haue mortified the frownce or canker with Aqua fortis, as I haue told you, then must you mundifie and conso∣lidate it with hony of roses, which will cure it out of hand.

Also it is very good to apply this receit following in the cure of the Frownce, whome the Italians call Zarvol.

Take a cleane Skellet, whereunto put good White Wine, a quantity of Verdigrece well beaten to powder, of Roche Allom like quantitie, one ounce of hony, and a few drie Rose Leaues, boyle all these things together to the consumption of halfe the Wine: then straine it, and with the straining hereof twice or thrice a day, bathe the frownce with a little lint or bumbast tyed on the toppe of an Instrument for the purpose. But you must well regarde whether the Flesh bée good or no, and with a toole fitte for it to search and cutte away the deade flesh, for otherwise it will doe little pleasure, and the Hawke should bée assured to suffer great paynes, and yet to die at last. Hauing mundified the wound with the receit aforesaid, bath it onely with hony of Roses, & it will dispatch the Cure.

Take Verdigrece a quantity, binde it in a linnen cloth, stype it one day and one night in Rose Water, or Plan∣tine Water, or common water, not hauing the rest,* 1.1 and af∣terwards wash the frownce therewith, vntill they bée morti∣fied, which you shall well perceyue by the quicke flesh that will grow vnder: then apply Honey of Roses in the ende of the Cure, and it shall doe your hawke great good.

Egiptiacum is an excellent thing to cure & kill the frownce in a Hawke,* 1.2 which is none other thing but a very Canker such as men are plagued withall. Wherefore take Verdi∣grece, Roch Alome, of eyther two ounces, Honey of Roses

one ounce, water of Plantaine, wine of Pemegranats, of ey∣ther two ounces and a halfe, set them on a soft burning fire, alwayes stirring them with a sticke, or wodden splatter, vntil, it turne to the thicknesse of hony: then take a little of it, and mingle with a quantity of Plantaine water, and you shall find this the most excellent remedy, aswell for the frownce in a Hawke, as also for the canker in the mouth of a man Thus much is necessary to be vsed, when the frownce doth happen vnto a Hawke by some postume of the head, engendred by a corrupt liuer, or some other inward part. But many times it so falleth out, that the beake of a hawke is hindred & offended with this kind of euill, and not the mouth so much, in such sort as the Hawke cannot well féede, by meane this mischiefe doth so fret and eate the horne of her chappe and beake. For re∣medy of that, you must take a sharpe knife, and pare away as much of the beake as is corrupted: but if the malady or frownce haue eaten very farre vnder the horne of the beake, it is not sufficient to cut it away with a sharpe knife, as farre as the canker hath eaten, but you must afterwardes annoint the place with hony of Roses twice or thrice: and in so doing the Hawke shall recouer and doe well, for the hony of Roses wil both mundifie and incarne.

Sometimes a hawkes beake or chappe doth ouergrow so much, as it is very necessary to cope it with an yron, and af∣terward to sharpen the beake with a knife, taking away so much as is néedefull for the better féeding of your Hawke, but in any wise you must not meddle with the nether chappe, be∣cause that doth not commonly grow so fast, nor so farre as to hinder your hawkes féeding. Wherefore that part is to be fa∣uoured. Let this suffice as touching the diseases of the hawks mouth, and the frownce, because there is no canker or frownce so ill, but béeing taken in time, with these receits, it wil be cu∣red assuredly.

Notes

• * 1.1

  The Cure.
• * 1.2

  Another