HISTORY AND LITERATURE 5 



charge of the Renfrewshire establishment kept by Fleming of 

 Barochan, and flown chiefly at partridges and woodcocks. 

 During the early years of the same century, until 1814, Colonel 

 Thornton did a great deal of hawking on his own account, at 

 first in Yorkshire, and afterwards at Spy Park, in Wiltshire. 

 From 1823 to 1833 Mr. John Sinclair flew woodcocks with 

 success in Ireland. In 1840 Lord O'Neill and Colonel Bonham 

 took a moor in Ross-shire for hawking; and in the following 

 year the Loo Club was started for heron-hawking in Holland, 

 under the auspices of Mr. E. Clough Newcome. This influential 

 club continued to flourish till 1853. Its place was taken, not 

 many years after, by the Old Hawking Club, which, although it 

 has never undertaken the flight at herons, continues to carry on 

 an annual campaign against rooks and game with great credit 

 and success. In France a hawking club was started in 1865, 

 under the title of the Champagne Club, but was not long-lived ; 

 and several minor attempts at organising new clubs have been 

 made in England during the last thirty years. There are at the 

 present moment at least thirty private establishments in England 

 alone where trained hawks are kept and flown, besides several 

 in Scotland and Ireland. The names of several of the leading 

 amateurs now living will be mentioned in this and following 

 chapters. 



Of professional falconers, the supply has sadly dwindled 

 away since the time when the office of Grand Falconer was 

 something more than the hereditary title of the Dukes of 

 St. Albans. It was not, however, until quite recent years 

 that the supply became quite unequal to the demand. At 

 the death of John Anderson in 1832 there were able suc- 

 cessors to keep alive the best traditions of the old Scotch 

 school. Foremost among them was Peter Ballantine, of 

 whom, as well as of Mr. Newcome, excellent likenesses are 

 published in Mr. Harting's fine work, Bibliotheca Accipitraria. 

 This accomplished trainer survived until 1884. Nearly con- 

 temporary with him were the brothers Barr, whose names 

 are frequently mentioned in these pages. While these and 

 others upheld the sport in Scotland, England, Ireland, and 

 France — for John Barr acted as the falconer of the Champagne 

 Club — John Pells in Norfolk, once falconer to the Duke of 

 Leeds, attained to great efficiency and repute ; and the names 

 of Bots and Mollen became celebrated in Holland as the 

 successful hawk-catchers and servants of the Loo Club. Later 

 still, John Frost acted for eighteen years as the energetic and 

 skilful falconer of the Old Hawking Club. He was succeeded 



