xxiv INTRODUCTION. 



Colonel Thornton's " Sporting Tour " (57), though relating 

 to various field sports, is full of allusions to Falconry, of which 

 he was a famous exponent, and illustrates in a delightful 

 manner the practical part of the subject. 



Sir John Sebright's " Observations upon Hawking " 

 (61), originally published in pamphlet form (64 pp. only) for 

 eighteenpence, would now be cheap at a guinea. The author 

 wrote from his own experience, and was assisted by an 

 excellent falconer, Mr. John Dawson Downes, of Gunton, 

 Suffolk, who revised the MS. Some account of the original 

 MS. lately examined by me will be found in The Zoologist, 

 1890 (pp. 417-421). 



The second edition of Lubbock's " Fauna of Norfolk " (65) 

 is to be commended for the sake of the chapter on the re- 

 mains of Falconry in Norfolk (pp. 33-44) and the excellent 

 notes on this subject communicated in an Appendix (pp. 224- 

 239) by Professor Newton. 



Coming now to the recent works by English writers, those 

 by Salvin and Brodrick {6y)y Freeman (68, 71), and Delme 

 Radchffe (72, 73) are indispensable to all who would learn 

 something of the history and practice of a noble and ancient 

 sport ; while, if an author may be permitted to refer to his 

 own labours, it may be hinted that in Nos. 79 and 80 of the 

 present Catalogue the reader will find some information not 

 unworthy of his attention. 



German. — The list of German books contains the titles of a 

 good many that are more curious than useful. The first on 

 the list (87) is regarded as the earliest printed book on 

 Falconry in any language. 



The reader perhaps would do well to begin with Dr, 

 Landau's Beitrdge zur Geschichte der Jagd und der Falk- 

 nerei in Deutschland (121) and the section on Hawking in 

 Die Raubvogel Deutschlands by Riesenthal (127), and then 

 to look back into some of the older authors, such as Eberhard 

 Tapp, Knoblauch, and Hans von Fleming, by which time he will 

 be better prepared to understand their technicalities. One of 

 the best of these is the translation of the work of the French 

 falconer, Charles d'Arcussia (97), published at Frankfort in 



