206 REMINISCENCES OF A SPORTSMAN. 



cock, the snipe, the woodpigeon, the wild duck, and a 

 variety of water-fowls, most of which show excellent 

 sport in their manoeuvres to avoid the stoop made by 

 their pursuing enemy. With the short winged hawks, 

 such as the merlin, gos- and sparrow-hawk, you may 

 fly them at pheasants and partridges ; and when they 

 are well trained to the fern they will make successful 

 attacks on hares and rabbits. Almost all the feathered 

 tribe that hawks are trained to fly at do little or no in- 

 jury to the farmer, and tliose districts of the country in 

 which the falconers can best enjoy their sport is on 

 moors, plains, downs, and the sides of rivers where 

 there is little or no cultivation. Besides, the expense 

 of hawking is usually much less than that of preserving 

 game. I know from pretty good authority, from a 

 practical falconer in Scotland, that for the annual expense 

 of from one hundred to a hundred and fifty pounds, a 

 man may keep two or three casts of hawks, a horse, and 

 a couple of spaniels, with the understanding that he de- 

 votes much of his time to training his birds, and without 

 this sacrifice it is in vain to expect a successful result in 

 the flight of your hawks at your quarry. 



In the introduction of " Falconry in the British Isles," 

 several districts are mentioned in the United Kingdom 

 suited for falconr}', which I shall here state. The 

 best grass districts are to be met with about East Ilsley 

 in Berkshire, Amesbur}^, Warminster, and Leamington 

 near Devizes, all in Wiltshire, and the Curragh of 

 Kildare, near Newbridge, in Ireland. There must be a 

 good hawking country upon Dartmoor in Devonshire ; 

 also in the vicinity of Portsmouth, Southampton, Win- 

 chester, and Bagshot Heath. About Hitchin in Hert- 

 fordshire the ground is sufficiently open. The neigh- 



