24 BRITISH BIRDS. 



my mouth, which she both knows and obeys ; to accept 

 of meat from my hand, to own me for her master, to go 

 home with me, and be willing the next day to afford me 

 like recreation." 



Sir J. Sebright says : — " The village of Falcons- 

 waerd, near Bois-le-Duc, in Holland, has for many years 

 furnished falconers to the rest of Europe. I have known 

 many falconers in England, and in the service of diflfer- 

 ent princes on the continent ; but I never met with one 

 of them who was not a native of Falconswaerd. It has 

 been the practice of these sober and industrious men to 

 stay with their employers during the season for hawk- 

 ing, and to pass the remainder of the year with their 

 families at home. John Pells, now in the service of my 

 friend, John Dawson Downes, Esq. of Old Gunton Hill, 

 Suffolk, and who also manages the heron-hawks kept 

 by subscription in Norfolk, is, I believe, the only eiBcient 

 falconer by profession now remaining ; all the others 

 whom I remember are either dead or worn out, and 

 there has been no inducement to younger men to follow 

 the employment of their forefathers." 



The Duke of St. Albans, as grand falconer of Eng- 

 land, had, till lately, an establishment for training hawks 

 not far from Colchester ; he also gave, on several occa- 

 sions, a specimen of their skill and power. But although 



