believe. In our rivers in England otters are become very scarce, the hunting of which was a favourite pastime of our ancestors. On an estate where the gamekeepers have totally destroyed the owls, stoats, weasels, and also the small short winged hawks, it has been found that rats and mice have increased so prodigiously as to do infinite mischief by the quantity of grain they devour in the corn stacks; so that the farmer has sometimes two annoyances to complain of, in the loss of his crops from his premises being overrun with the above vermin, and in his fields by being overstocked with game.

It would be absurd to suppose for a moment that the mania for falconry which existed all over Europe three or four centuries ago could have the slightest chance of returning; but let us hope that this delightful and manly sport may once more be revived, and that the falconer with his hawk and spaniel may again be seen in search of his quarry.

Another cause of destruction to many rare species of animals and birds is the employment of persons to procure them for public and private museums; however, this is trifling when compared to the unceasing war carried on by gamekeepers. As a proof of this, it was mentioned in the "Field " newspaper that in Devonshire, where the nightingales never migrate, in the spring of 1858, a gentleman, to his great surprise, heard one singing melodiously in a bush near his house. One would naturally suppose that he would have been enchanted with the melody of the charming songster; but such was not the case, for he went into his house for his gun, and shot the nightingale, merely to have him stuffed!!

In 1686 Blome published a work under the title of

THE LITERATURE OF FALCONRY.

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"Gentlemen's Recreation." In the article on falconry may be obtained much useful information. In Blaine's "Encyclopedia of Rural Sports" this subject is most ably treated, and for much of the information I have acquired on hawking I am indebted to this work; for, in the present time, very few men are able to write on hawking from practical experience; but now that I am become acquainted with the theory of this field sport, I regret much that in my younger days I had no opportunity of seeing a peregrine flown at a heron or a woodcock.* A curious treatise on falconry was that attributed to the Lady Juliana Berners, daughter of Richard Berners, of Berners Roding, and sister of Lord Berners, born at Rodin in Essex about the beginning of the 14th century. She has been celebrated by various authors as very learned; and doubtless had the best education that could be obtained at that age, as she was appointed Prioress of Sopewell Nunnery, near St. Albans, about 1460, or rather earlier. She was very beautiful, and fond of masculine exercises, such as hunting, hawking,

*It is stated, in " Falconry in the British Isles," that hawking for landrails ceased only some forty years since, by the introduction of a new system of agriculture into the county of Dorset, which has banished the landrails previously abounding there. About fifty-four years ago, when I was in the Greys, I was quartered in almost every town in Dorsetshire, and hunted and shot in most parts of the county, but I never recollect hearing or seeing any hawking establishment, or sparrowhawks kept to be flown at the landrail, except that I once saw, as I have elsewhere stated, when quartered at Bridport, a blacksmith go by with a sparrow-hawk on his fist, and a spaniel, to fly his hawk at landrails, and that he found them chiefly in the fields of flax, which at that time was much cultivated in that neighbourhood; and as I have already stated, I consider Dorsetshire, taken altogether, one of the best counties for field sports, if it has not undergone a considerable change since the beginning of the present century.

&c., writing treatises on these subjects, as well as upon heraldry, which were so popular that they were published in the very infancy of printing. Her treatise on hunting is written in rhyme, and affords strong evidence of the barbarity of that age. The treatise on hawking in this extraordinary work, we should think, from concurrent circumstances, was the veritable production of this learned lady, and was not, as supposed by Mr. Hazelwood, the compilation of a monk, from the hawking manuscript being deposited in the Abbey; for we need not state that in these times it was common to make these places the sanctuary of learning as well as religion. A very interesting account is given by Mr. Knox, in his work, "Game Birds, their Friends and their Foes," which shows the great length of flight taken sometimes by the peregrine hawk, and the unfortunate fate that befel a peregrine that was particularly dexterous in taking woodcocks, which belonged to Mr. John Sinclair.

This gentleman went to pay a visit to the Hon. R. Westenra, at Rossmore Park, county Monaghan, in Ireland, and whilst there Mr. Sinclair had a most extraordinary flight with this hawk. When Mr. Sinclair and his falconer, Mr. McCulloch (afterwards falconer to Colonel Bonham), were hawking woodcocks in Rossmore Park, a woodcock was flushed, which took the air, closely pursued by the falcon, which had Mr. Sinclair's address on the varvels. In a short time both hawk and quarry had attained such an elevation that is was only by lying down on their backs, and placing their hands above their eyes, so as to screen them from the rays of the sun, and at the same time contract the range of vision, that the spectators could keep the birds in view.

At last, just as

they had become mere specks in the sky, they were observed to pass rapidly towards the north-east, under the influence of a strong south-west wind, and were soon entirely out of sight. Some days elapsed without any tidings of the truant falcon ; but before the week had expired, Mr. Sinclair received a letter (forwarded from his home), bearing a Scottish post mark. The letter contained the varvels, and the closing chapter of the poor hawk's history from the hand of her destroyer, a farmer who resided within ten miles of Aberdeen. He was walking through his grounds, when his attention was attracted by the appearance of a large hawk, which had just dashed amongst his pigeons, and was then in the act of carrying off one of them; running into the house, he returned presently with a loaded gun, and found the robber devouring her prey on the top of a wheat stack. The next moment the unfortunate falcon's wanderings were at an end; but it was not till he had seen the bells on her feet that he discovered the value of his victim, and upon a more careful examination perceived the name and address of the owner; and whilst making him the only reparation in his power, by sending the account of her fate, he unconsciously rendered the story worthy of record in a sporting as well as ornithological point of view; for upon a subsequent comparison of dates it was found that the bird had been shot near Aberdeen, on the eastern coast of Scotland, within forty-eight hours after she had been flown at a woodcock in a central part of the province of Ulster in Ireland!

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We know that falconry is practised in Russia, and in the work on Falconry in the British Isles" it is there related how Colonel Wilson Patten witnessed the way in which the Russians, by the aid of hawks,

managed to approach the partridges in the extensive plains of that country. Horsemen, accompanied by hawks on the wing, and bearing poles, at the top of which are fixed small round platforms, where the hawks have been taught to look for their food: from time to time they fix these poles in the earth, and allow the hawks to light on them, which they readily do in the absence of all trees, and upon the approach of the shooters they proceed forwards as before. The game, being terrified at the sight of the hawks, lie beautifully to the dogs of the advancing sportsmen. The same gentleman also mentioned that when the falcons happen to be lost near a forest, they are brought up by the sound of a large bell, to which they have been accustomed at feeding time. Didlington, the residence of the late Lord Berners*, near Brandon, Norfolk, has long boasted of its heronry, which, I am happy to say, is still carefully preserved. It was near this, at High Ash, that Lord Berners kept his heron hawks for many years. Latterly they became subscription Ławks, and were retained until 1836, when they were given up. These falcons were "passage hawks" from Holland, and the stock was kept up by obtaining fresh birds from that country.†

* I knew the late Lord Berners about the year 1798. He was then Colonel Wilson. He was passing through Bedford, where we had a squadron of the Greys: as he was very intimate with the late Colonel Gillon of that regiment, he politely invited all the officers of the Greys to dine with him at the Bedford Hotel; and we certainly had a most jovial party, which was not an unusual affair at that period. I met his lordship afterwards a few years ago at Bath, where he came to drink the waters; he died shortly afterwards. He was devoted to falconry, and was descended from the Lady Prioress Berners.

On one occasion, soon after the breaking out of the war with France, the falconers, who were bringing a supply of falcons to Didlington, were taken prisoners, and sent to the Hague, and subsequently to Paris. Falconry in the British Isles.