ANECDOTE. 015 



they had become mere specks in the sky, they weie 

 observed to pass rapidly towards the north-east, under 

 the influence of a strong south-west wind, and were soon 

 entirely out of sight. 8ome days elapsed without any 

 tidings of the truant falcon ; but before the week had 

 expired, Mr. Sinclair received a letter (forwarded from 

 his home), bearing a Scottish post mark. The letter 

 contained the varvels, and the closing chapter of the 

 poor hawk's history from the hand of her destroj^er, a 

 farmer who resided within ten miles of Aberdeen. He 

 w^as walking through his grounds, when his attention was 

 attracted by the appearance of a large hawk, w^hich had 

 just dashed amongst his pigeons, and was then in the act 

 of carrying off one of them ; running into the house, he 

 returned presently witli a loaded gun, and found the 

 robber devouring her prey on the top of a wheat stack. 

 The next moment the unfortunate falcon's wanderings 

 were at an end; but it was not till he had seen the bells 

 on her feet that he discovered the value of his victim, 

 and upon a more careful examination perceived the 

 name and address of the owuer ; and whilst making him 

 the only reparation in his power, by sending the account 

 of her fate, he unconsciously rendered the story w^orthy 

 of record in a sporting as well as ornithological point of 

 vieAv ; for upon a subsequent comparison of dates it was 

 found that the bird had been shot near Aberdeen, on the 

 eastern coast of Scotland, within forty-eight hours after 

 she had been flowm at a woodcock in a central part 

 of the province of Ulster in Ireland ! 



We know that falconry is practised in Eussia, and in 

 the work on " Falconry in the British Isles " it is 

 there related how Colonel Wilson Patten witnessed the 

 way in which the Eussians, l)y the aid of haw^ks, 



