PEEFACE. Vll 



of the island with my friend, the Honourable W. 

 Hill, then British Llinister at the Court of Sardinia. 

 As far as I have been able to ascertain, httle 

 or no account has been published of the field 

 sports in that island ; and, during the period I 

 resided there, I gained also some information 

 respecting the manners and customs of its in- 

 habitants, which I have communicated to the 

 reader. 



It would afford me much satisfaction if the 

 amusement of falcomy or hawldng Avere more 

 extensively pm'sued. Although much of the 

 United Kingdom has been enclosed within the last 

 century, there are still many open parts where the 

 sportsman may follow this exciting amusement 

 successfidly, without much risk or danger, — an 

 amusement to which our ancestors devoted them- 

 selves, for several centuries, with enthusiastic 

 ardom\ I look upon Freeman and Salvin's work 

 on " Falconry," recently pubhshed, as an indi- 

 cation that this noble sport is likely to be revived. 



