160 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



the determination and perseverance with which it 

 will pursue it to such an altitude, before it suc- 

 ceeds in dealing the fatal blow. This time a 

 crow was the object of the chace, and ' took the 

 air' immediately, hotly pursued by the falcon, 

 and soon rose to such an elevation in spiral 

 sweeps directly above the head of the spectator, 

 that both birds were gradually lost to his view. 

 Another minute elapsed, during which he con- 

 tinued to strain his eyes in vain in the hope of 

 catching a glimpse of them in the direction where 

 they had lately vanished from his sight. At last 

 a single dark speck appeared, which quickly be- 

 came larger and larger as it descended, and the 

 next moment the dead body of the crow fell with 

 extraordinary force a few yards from the spot on 

 which he was standing. 



Perhaps few men in these degenerate days have 

 had such opportunities of enjoying the glorious 

 sport of falconry, with every advantage which art 

 and nature could combine, as my friend Colonel 

 Bonham, of the 10th Hussars. Those who know 

 him are aware that a great portion of the early 

 period of his life was devoted to ' the noble craft,' 

 and the same energy and spirit which enabled him 

 to overcome the numerous obstacles to a full 

 enjoyment of this animating pastime in the 

 British islands, has at a later period, since serving 



