FALCONRY 283 



and I was requisitioned to act as Manager and 

 Hon. Secretary, a position I have held ever since. 

 It now covers forty-four years. 



We began well in 1872, with a remarkably 

 good lot of hawks, such a lot as the Dutchmen, 

 who catch them on their " passage " or migration, 

 do not get hold of every year. With these I 

 was able to show very good sport in the spring, 

 partly at Ashdown, on the Berks Downs (Lord 

 Craven was a supporter of the club), and partly 

 in Wilts. When, a few years after, I took up 

 my appointment in the New Forest, I moved the 

 hawks to the south with me. 



It was a position much more handy for the 

 spring hawking on the Downs than my Yorkshire 

 abode. In these days of motor cars it is easy 

 to make a long day of it, and to go for the 

 day's sport from Lyndhurst. At any rate it 

 was certain that the hawks must be wherever 

 L dwelt, or else I could not supervise all the 

 management and training of them which was so 

 essential if the establishment was ever to play 

 a good part in the field. 



Accordingly, the headquarters of the Old 

 Hawking Club were transferred to Lyndhurst, 

 and, though the hawks were not flown there, 

 the mews where they dwelt was an object of 

 interest to a great many of my neighbours, and 



