278 THE NEW FOREST 



I could feed and handle a hawk properly ; cut out 

 my own tackle, even imp a feather, and, except 

 for rare intervals, I have never been out of reach 

 of a hawk since. 



Soon after this, in 1866, I was allowed to spend 

 part of my Easter vacation on Salisbury Plain, on 

 the invitation of Mr. Cecil Buncombe, who after- 

 wards became one of my best and dearest friends. 

 The hawks were those belonging to the small 

 club that afterwards developed into the Old 

 Hawking Club, and were managed by that famous 

 old sportsman Clough Newcome, formerly one of 

 the shining lights of the Loo Hawking Club in 

 the palmy days of heron hawking in Holland. 



Robert Barr, a member of a famous family 

 of Scotch falconers, was the professional falconer 

 under Mr. Newcome 's superintendence, which was, 

 however, so minute and careful that it left his 

 subordinate very little to do. 



Here at last, and for the first time, I saw real 

 hawking. I studied the use and training of the 

 noble peregrine passage falcon, so great and so 

 powerful compared with the hawks I had handled 

 up to the present. The quarry was the rook, and 

 the hawks of the highest class. And a second 

 visit stimulated my eagerness yet more fully. 



The following year I went to Cambridge, and 

 as Feltwell, where Mr. Newcome lived and kept 



