CHAPTER XIV 



FALCONRY 



ALTHOUGH the New Forest is a country so un- 

 suitable for hawking that, except on a very few 

 occasions I was unable to follow the sport there, 

 yet my life at the King's House, and in fact 

 wherever I have been, was so bound up with the 

 training of hawks and with falconry, that it 

 would be impossible to omit mention thereof in 

 any sketch of my pursuits during my New 

 Forest life. I do not know when I first took to 

 falconry. I cannot remember the time when I 

 was not devoted to that pursuit. Although quite 

 ignorant of its practice, I devoured all books I 

 could get upon the subject, and in my Eton days 

 endeavoured to put in force what I learned from 

 reading them upon any unhappy kestrel I could 

 get hold of. 



But my feet were first set on the right path 

 by the kind teaching of that fine sportsman, the 

 late Sir Charles Slingsby of Scriven, who was as 

 good a falconer as he was a huntsman. 



In my summer holidays I would toil over on 



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