Mabel's tail bell

Mabel's tail bell is a small, modern falconry bell fitted to the upper feathers of Mabel's tail. It turns sound into a means of following a hawk that cannot always be seen: when Mabel disappears into woodland, the bell's faint signal helps Helen locate her. It is useful but not fail-safe, a practical aid that cannot remove the uncertainty of letting a hawk fly free.

Fitting and design

Stuart holds Mabel on a kitchen cushion, his fingers spread over her closed wings, while Helen parts the covert feathers at the base of her tail. There, just before the long feathers join the body, the quills are hollow and translucent. Helen glues and ties a bell, about the size and shape of an acorn, to the uppermost pair, then tugs it gently to check that it is secure. When Mabel rouses on Helen's fist, the bell sounds loudly in the bright room, without seeming to bother her.

The bell is made of nickel silver and is American-made, small, light, and handmade. It differs from the hand-hammered brass bells Helen had bought from Pakistan, whose design she describes as ancient. Its size and material make it an unobtrusive piece of equipment, but its placement is the more consequential choice.

Why it is attached to the tail

Bells have long been used in falconry to help locate birds in flight. Traditionally, bells were attached to a hawk's legs with tiny leather straps called bewits. For a goshawk, Helen considers the tail a better position: goshawks habitually shake their tails when they land. A person standing with their back to a tree where a goshawk has settled can therefore follow its movements from branch to branch by listening, even without a clear view of the bird.

The bell makes Mabel's presence perceptible without keeping her physically connected to Helen. Its purpose is not to call her back or direct her flight, but to provide information about where she is as she moves out of sight. That distinction matters in woodland, where a hawk's movements can be hidden by trees even when she remains nearby.

Limits and safeguards

The bell cannot guarantee that Mabel will be found. Wind and distance dull its sound, and a motionless hawk makes no sound at all. Helen therefore plans to equip Mabel with a tiny radio transmitter as well, carrying a receiver in a black cloth case over her back. The two devices provide complementary ways of tracking the bird, but neither makes Helen feel secure about removing the creance. She fears that once Mabel is free she will fly away and disappear forever.

On a flight a few hours after the bell is fitted, Mabel does not take food from Helen's glove and flies straight past her before being brought down to earth. Helen returns with her disconsolate, and wonders aloud to Stuart whether the bell might have unsettled her. The episode records Helen's anxiety and suspicion, not proof that the bell caused Mabel's response.

The bell in the woodland

Later, during a hunt, Mabel vanishes beneath a low larch branch and the wood falls quiet. Helen stands still and listens; after a period of silence, she hears a scuffle, breaking sticks, and the unmistakable sound of hawk bells some distance to her left. The sound gives her a direction through the darkness, though she must still push through brush and fallen branches to reach the spot.

Mabel emerges running from thornbushes at the edge of a large warren and flings herself onto Helen's fist. As she eats, chalk mud from the ground marks Helen's glove. Here the bell does exactly what it was fitted to do: it does not prevent Mabel from disappearing from view, but it allows Helen to hear that she is moving nearby and follow her back. The small sound becomes a fragile link between a free-flying hawk and the person trying to keep track of her.