284 THE NEW FOREST 



other travellers, from Mr. Gladstone to Kaiser 

 Wilhelm, both of whom paid visits thereto, as 

 did many another distinguished personage. 



But the most attractive sight afforded by 

 the hawks to the people of Lyndhurst came 

 during July and August, when the young 

 peregrines, to the number of eight or nine, were 

 flying "at hack," that is to say, in perfect 

 freedom, all round the village, using, as a rule, 

 the pinnacles and tower of the church as their 

 chief resting place. As they began to get 

 stronger on the wing, their evolutions, as they 

 chased one another around the spire and all 

 over the village, were very beautiful to watch. 

 I have seen six or seven chevying one another 

 all over the village, and perhaps half a hundred 

 visitors and inhabitants standing in the street 

 watching the aerial show. So long as these 

 young hawks come regularly to their food, morn- 

 ing and evening, they are just as secure as fowls 

 let out to feed. But ere long symptoms are 

 shown that they have, one at a time, learned 

 to procure food for themselves. Steps are then 

 at once taken to secure them, and the happy 

 period of liberty, which rarely extends to more 

 than three weeks, is at an end. The hood and 

 the jesses control the holiday maker, but it is 

 only a very short time that elapses before he 



