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" But, see ! Thunderbolt has reached her pitch, and soars high 

 above the Heron — she stoops — she has missed him ; the impetu- 

 osity, from which she gained her name, has brought her far below 

 the Heron, and it will be long ere she gets above him again. 



" Now, der Euyter has taken her place. Ha ! der Euyter ! good 

 hawk. Der Euyter has missed him. Again and again the Heron 

 dodges his pursuers, and has risen by this time to an immense 

 height. He has passed since he turned down wind, over a space 

 of nearly two miles in a very short period, rising continually on the 

 wind. At last he is struck ; the other hawk closes rapidly to him, 

 and all three come to the ground together. It is now that the use 

 of the down wind rider is seen ; the flight has been so rapid that 

 the Falconers, who hooded off the birds, are still half a mile dis- 

 tant, and the down wind rider alone is at hand to take them up. 

 In very long flights, when the heron escapes, he is of even more 

 use, and without him the Falcons would frequently be lost. On 

 such an occasion, he should be far a head of the other riders, when, 

 taking a pigeon from his pouch, he swings it in the air as he galops 

 along, and shouting his Falconer's cry at the top of his voice, 

 generally succeeds in taking up the hawks. Towards the end of 

 the season, when the Falconers are not so much afraid of loosing 

 their hawks, they fly the light Herons that are leaving their 

 nests, in preference to those that are coming home so heavily laden. 

 These show very long flights, and sometimes a gallop of three 

 miles at top speed will fail to bring the rider to the end. The 

 first amateur who is up is entitled to the Heron's plume, and after 

 a long and rapid flight there is much rivalry as to who shall have 

 the honour of carrying back that trophy to the hill on which the 

 ladies remain, and with their glasses frequently see as much or 

 more of the flight than the hardest riders. 



"On a perfectly still day the Heron will frequently mount into 

 the air in a continued spiral circle, like a cork screw, and the 

 sportsmen leaning back on their horses, without moving a step, 

 watch the three birds mount into the clear blue sky, to a height 

 at which the human eye can hardly distinguish them. 



"The Falcon generally used for this sport is the female Peregrine; 

 Jer Falcons have been procured from Norway, and Iceland Fal- 

 cons from that island, and flown at Het Loo. These kinds are 

 larger and faster than the Peregrines, but either from their being 

 of a more sluggish disposition, or from their nature and require- 

 ments not being so well understood by the Falconers, the best 

 sport has been usually shown by the Peregrine. In fact, a cast of 

 bold and well trained Peregrines is fully a match for a Heron. 



" The rook will often show a good flight when pursued by a bad 

 falcon or tercel, and a flight of this sort is a pastime that fre- 

 quently enlivens the ride to cover, or the return home ; but the 

 rook is a shuffling, cowardly bird, and endeavours to escape by 

 hiding himself and taking advantage of all sorts of mean subter- 

 fuges, instead of depending nobly on his own powers and facing 

 the clear and boundless sky like the Heron. 



