THE TEMPLES OF THE IIII.LS 271 



away and (juit the j^^rove. She would then refuse to 

 come off, even wlicn I would strike loudly on the tree 

 with a stick ; yet on my return on the following day the 

 whole performance would be gone through again. 



Watching these birds from day to day with an endless 

 delight in their beauty and vigour, their dashing flight, 

 and shrill passionate cries of anger and apprehension, 

 I could not help thinking of all the pleasure that hawks 

 in general are to the lover of wild life in countries 

 where these birds arc permitted to exist, and, in a minor 

 degree, even in this tame England — this land of glori- 

 fied poultry-farms. There is no more fascinating spec- 

 tacle in wild life than the chase of its quarry by a 

 swift-winged hawk, and on this account I should be 

 inclined to put hawking above all other sports but for 

 the feeling which some of us can never wholly get away 

 from, that it is unworthy of us as rational and humane 

 beings possessing unlimited power over all other animals, 

 to take and train any wild rapacious creature to hunt 

 others to the death solely for the pleasure of witnessing 

 its prowess. No such disturbing feeling can affect us 

 in witnessing the contests of bird with bird in a state 

 of nature. Here pursuer and pursued are but following 

 their instincts and fulfilling their lives, and we as 

 neutrals are but spectators of their magnificent aerial 

 displays. Such sights are now unhappily rare with us. 

 At one period of my life in a distant country they were 

 common enough and sometimes witnessed every day for 

 weeks at a stretch. Here the noblest of our hawks are 

 all but gone. The peregrine, the most perfect of the 



