OTTER HUNTING, FALCONRY, SHOOTING 115 



and partly for the joy of seeing them fly to the lure, in 

 itself one of the most beautiful exhibitions that a man can 

 wish to see. Lord Lilford says in one of his letters, that 

 all that he knew of falconry he learnt from * Dear old 

 Clough Newcome's' practice in the field. Mr. Newcome, 

 of Feltwell Hall, Norfolk, the secretary of the Loo Club 

 and the Old Hawking Club, was ' the ablest and most 

 skilful amateur falconer of the present century.' * 



We will now pass on to a sketch of falconry from an 

 able pen, designed to lead the unlearned, or unpractised, 

 to a better understanding of ' the noble mysterie.' 



It is written by the Rev. Gage Earle Freeman, well 

 known as an accomplished falconer, f 



FALCONS AND FALCONRY. 



Of falconry, Lord Lilford's favourite sport, very little 

 indeed is known in the present day, and such knowledge 

 as exists is confined to but a few sportsmen. 



Upon its antiquity I will say only a few words ; 

 and, to give but two or three facts, I shall have to learn 

 what I myself taught in Falconry, its Claims, History^ 

 and Practice^ which was published in 1859. 



" Mr. Layard, in the second volume of his Nineveh > 

 tells us that he found in the ruins of Kharsabad a bas- 



* Falconry (Badminton Library), by the Hon. G. Lascelles, p. 339. 

 t Mr. Freeman wrote for many years on hawking matters in 

 the Field, under the pseudonym of ' Peregrine.' 



