SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



pheasants, fir plantations famous for woodcock, 

 bog, river, and harbour ^ for wildfowl, upland and 

 arable for partridges and hares, whilst the heath 

 swarms with rabbits. 



Grouse have been imported, but with no 

 success ; and a few years ago there was a very 

 fair sprinkling of blackgame, but these have 

 steadily decreased of late years. 



The most famous perhaps of all the big shoot- 

 ing manors is Crichel, the home of Lord Aling- 

 ton, where His Majesty the King has shot on 

 more than one occasion. The shooting has 

 steadily improved for many years and some 

 memorable bags ^ have been made. As many as 

 260 hares have been killed in the turnips in one 

 ■day by three guns, and 1,540 in the season. 

 Hungarian partridges reared on the estate have 

 wonderfully improved the stock, and there are 

 now great quantities of birds. 



Lord Wimborne's Canford estate is also a 

 famous shoot, notable as being one of the first 

 places in the county where partridges were 

 reared, as far back as 1886, for driving purposes, 

 150 brace being killed in a day. 



Milton Abbey has always been an estate 

 notable both for pheasants and partridges, the 

 latter having immensely increased of late years. 

 It is almost unique for high pheasants, the coverts 

 all being hanging woods on the side of the hill. 



The Lulworth estate contains the best hare 

 and partridge land in the county, and some re- 

 markable bags have been made there year after 

 year. 



Rushmore, Melbury, and Colonel Brymer's 

 coverts at Ilsington, are all good shoots, while 

 Charborough^ is remarkable for being the first 

 place in the county where pheasants were exten- 

 sively reared. 



On Brownsea Island situated in Poole Harbour 

 Mr. Van Raalte rears a large quantity of game, 

 and round its shores there is exceedingly good 

 wildfowl shooting. 



Encombe, the property of Lord Eldon, is a 

 good shooting manor, but more preserving was 

 done in the past than is now the case. 



Grange Woods used to be celebrated for wood- 

 cock, as many as forty being sometimes flushed in 

 a day, when they had just come in. 



Woodcock and snipe are not nearly so plenti- 

 ful in Dorset as in former days. The writer 

 has seen records of as many as thirty woodcock 

 killed in one day, and it was no uncommon thing 

 for two guns to kill between forty and fifty snipe 

 in a day, whereas now half a dozen woodcock or 

 four couple of snipe would be considered good. 

 Taken all round the shooting in Dorset is of 

 a very fair description, and of a really sporting 

 order with regard to wildfowl. 



FALCONRY 



There are few places in England where the 

 general characteristics of the country are so suited 

 to the sport of falconry as those which are found 

 in the county of Dorset. For here we find large 

 tracts of open moorland, big fields, with here and 

 there broad stretches of open down-land, all of 

 which are essential to the successful pursuit of 

 hawking. Not only is the Dorset falconer 

 favoured with excellent grounds over which to 

 carry on this fascinating sport, but he is also 

 fortunate in living in a county which is still one 

 of the greatest strongholds of our most noble 

 British falcons, the peregrine [Falco peregrinus). 

 Between St. Alban's Head and Bridport there are 



' Those who have turned over the pages of Hawker 

 on Shooting will remember the wonderful bags of duck, 

 teal, and widgeon that Poole Harbour has afforded, a 

 happy hunting ground in days of yore both to the 

 punt gunner and shoreman. 



* The best three days consecutively were in 1900 : — 



Total . . 4,086 256 655 9 17 5,023 

 In one rise on 1 1 Dec. 1 896, 708 pheasants were 

 killed at one stand, the rise lasting three-quarters of 

 -an hour. 



Still several eyries or these falcons, where annually, 

 in spite of wanton destruction by guns and traps 

 and the depredations of egg hunters, a fair num- 

 ber of young peregrines are bred each year. 

 From time to time the lover of bird life may 

 recognize the graceful flight of these splendid 

 falcons, as they sail high over the Dorset 

 moors or open downs. For many years the 

 writer used to employ men to watch and guard 

 most eyries of peregrines along the Dorset 

 cliffs. On occasions certain of the young birds, 

 commonly called eyesses, would be taken from 

 the nests for the purpose of training them, 

 others being left and allowed to fly away. The 

 local cliff climbers were paid a good price for all 

 birds whether taken or not, in order to outbid 

 the professional egg hunters who were always 

 willing to pay a certain price for the eggs. 



It was early in 1887 that the writer first 

 commenced his attempts at falconry. Acting 

 under the advice of an old friend, the late 

 Major C. H. Fisher of Stroud in Gloucestershire, 

 the greatest falconer of his day, he began by 

 training two eyess peregrines taken from a nest 

 near Lulworth Cove. Although he has owned 

 innumerable falcons and hawks and flown them 

 in many lands since those days, his earliest 



' At one time guinea-fowl and wild turkeys were 

 placed in the Charborough coverts for shooting. 



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