80 PHEASANTS 



To us, who only know the London of 

 our own day, a vastly different capital 

 city is suggested by a proclamation of 

 Henry VI H., issued in 1536, to preserve 

 the pheasants, herons and partridges from 

 his palace at Westminster to St. Giles in 

 the Fields, and from thence to Islington, 

 Hampstead, Highgate and Hornsey Park. 



The fowler of other days had need of 

 all his craft when hawking the pheasant. 

 He sought the woods with grey goshawk 

 in hand, ' lusty and high and yet her 

 stomach so sharp that she might fly 

 eagerly,' and a couple or two of spaniels 

 at his heels, and well trained and broken 

 all his companions must have been to 

 ensure any success in the sport. The 

 methods of breaking hawk and spaniels to 

 work together are well described by an 

 early writer on the conduct of sport : — 



Pheasant-hawking is a rural diversion managed 

 with a gosshawk in coverts, of which none but 

 those of a strong and able Body, with Spirit and 

 Courage added thereto are fit ; for this Flight is 

 different from that in the Champaign Fields, 

 where the Hawk and the Game are always in 



