GAME HAWKING— RECORDS OF SPORT 269 



It is, of course, not possible to kill very large bags with hawks, 

 nor is the sport of such a nature that the number of head killed 

 can be always taken as a fair criterion of the amusement which 

 has been afforded. In 1830 the hawks belonging to the Duke 

 of Leeds ' are recorded to have killed 317 head of game, and 

 in 1832 one tiercel of his, 'The General,' killed 129 head out 

 of 134 flights. Most of this work was done at partridges. 



In the season of 1870 that excellent falconer Peter Ballantine 

 killed 269 head of game in Ayrshire, being then in the service of 

 Mr. Ewen, and in 1871 he killed no less than 346 head with six 

 hawks, which is, we believe, the highest score (if ground game 

 killed by goshawks be excluded) that a team of game hawks has 

 yet made. The greater number were, however, partridges, with a 

 few grouse and young blackgame in the early part of the season. 



In 1882 the hawks belonging to the Old Hawking Club 

 achieved what may be termed a ' record ' in the annals of game 

 hawking, killing between August 12 and September 14 exactly 

 one hundred brace of grouse upon the Achinduich moors, in 

 Sutherlandshire, which were taken by Mr. St. Quintin and 

 Colonel Brooksbank for the purpose. The score for this season is 

 sufficiently remarkable to be appended here, and is as follows : — 



' See Falconry in the British Isles, p. 64. 



