HARE HAWKING 317 



brighten up and to hear him express himself with uncommon 

 pleasure. 'Ay, that,' he said, * was a nobler kind of hawking ; the 

 hare would be of use a good roast the kite of none.' Desirous 

 to gratify his wishes, and to get quit on easy terms of the trouble 

 the servants would have to carry an old jack hare in the month of 

 May, I begged his acceptance of it, to which he very readily con- 

 sented ; and his servant was ordered to add this trophy to the top 

 of the enormous portmanteau. I leave every sportsman to guess the 

 observations that were made by a set of lively young men on the 

 occasion. 



Apart from the humour of this anecdote, it is clear that 

 the Colonel had in his service at least three good well-trained 

 gerfalcons, and probably others. It is, we believe, on record 

 that * Sans Quartier,' the falcon that was flown single-handed 

 at an old jack hare, was a gerfalcon. Clearly * Icelanderkin ' 

 was one of that species, while the express allusion to * Crocus ' 

 as a 'slight' or peregrine falcon seems to show that both the 

 other two which were flown with her were of another species. 



The kite, however, is no longer to be flown in this country, 

 and with its disappearance the necessity for the gerfalcon as a 

 bird of sport has also vanished. That they can be trained and 

 used has been well proved in these modern times, but they 

 now have to be flown at quarry for which the peregrine is 

 better suited, and therefore it is not to be wondered at if they 

 are beaten out of the field by that most serviceable of all 

 falcons. Their chief excellence is at quarry that mounts high 

 in the air, and we have never known one used successfully at 

 game as yet. 



Merlins are a very beautiful variety of hawk, tiny in size, but 

 full of dash and courage. They are always great favourites with 

 young falconers and with amateurs, because of their docile, even 

 affectionate, nature, and of the ease with which they may be 

 managed. Unfortunately their constitution is so delicate that 

 they require the greatest care to keep them alive, and only few 

 falconers have succeeded in keeping them through the winter, 

 fewer still after the first moult. 



They are not uncommon hawks in this country, breeding 



