FALCONRY 287 



for table old inns changed hands. Finally, they 

 were settled at a small cottage at Shrewton, 

 which I bought and made comfortable, and, with 

 rooms at various houses in the village to supple- 

 ment its accommodation, many very enjoyable 

 gatherings have been held within its walls, by 

 the club and its many visitors. But in former 

 days we were sufficiently comfortably housed, and 

 our sport was very good. The Downs then had 

 not been bought by the War Department 

 for military training, nor laid down to grass 

 and covered with enormous camps as they are 

 now. 



There was plenty of arable land to attract 

 rooks, and we could get all the flights we wanted. 

 Most of our members and their friends came 

 down for long or short periods. Our accommo- 

 dation was always strained, our joviality never 

 failed, whatever might be the weather or 

 the sport. Year by year the members of the 

 French Hawking Club would pay us a visit^ 

 when the babel of tongues and the elaborate 

 courtesies exchanged were diverting beyond all 

 expression. 



Some members, again, did not patronise the 

 rook hawking, but relied upon the club and its 

 hawks to provide sport on their moors or manors 

 in the game season. Thus the Duke of Portland 



