MR. T. SOUTHWELL ON FALCONRY IN NORFOLK. 
183 
V. 
FALCONRY IN NORFOLK (JOHN DAWSON DOWNES). 
By Thomas Southwell, F.Z.S., Vice- President. 
Read 27th January, 1891. 
Doubtless wo all remember to have seen the very suggestive picture 
—by whom, or where, I cannot call to mind — of the angler who, 
incapacitated by age and infirmities from pursuing his favourite 
pastime, was comfortably seated by the fireside angling, not in the 
purling brook, but in a tub of water. This “ ruling passion ” 
seems by no means confined to anglers, for, says Mr. Lubbock 
(‘Fauna of Norfolk,’ 2nd edition, p. 48), “I find amongst my 
friend Girdlestone’s notes the following : — * Visited Mr. Downes, 
who tells me that, having given up falconry, he amuses himself by 
seeing his tame Shrike catch flies in the room in which lie sits.’ ” 
Little is known about this veteran falconer, and I am sorry that I 
have nothing original to add ; but it seems desirable to collect all 
the scattered notices of ‘Hawking in Norfolk’ in our ‘Transactions,’ 
and I shall be glad to supplement what has already appeared by 
the following additional particulars. 
The late C. J. Palmer, in his ‘ Perlustration of Great Yarmouth,’ 
was at some trouble to gather what information he could with 
regard to Downes, and as this book is not very accessible it may 
be well here to reproduce the few facts recorded of this most 
enthusiastic old falconer by the Yarmouth historian. 
The house at the south-west corner of Row No. 55, called Gurney’s 
Bank Row, says Palmer (vol i. p. 309), “was occupied for many 
generations as a bookseller’s shop. In the early part of the last 
century it was in the possession of William Eaton . . . after his 
death [it] passed into the possession of Messrs. Downes and 
